Who defeated Sparta. Why was ancient Sparta so powerful

The Spartan kings considered themselves Heraclids - the descendants of the hero Hercules. Their militancy became a household name, and quite rightly so: the combat formation of the Spartans was the direct predecessor of the phalanx of Alexander the Great.

The Spartans were attentive to signs and prophecies and listened very much to the opinion of the Delphic oracle. Cultural heritage Sparta is not known as well as Athenian, largely due to wariness warlike people to writing: for example, their laws were transmitted orally, and it was forbidden to write the names of the dead on non-military tombstones.

However, if not for Sparta, the culture of Greece could have been assimilated by foreigners who constantly invaded the territory of Hellas. The fact is that Sparta was actually the only policy that not only had a combat-ready army, but whose whole life was subordinate to the army order, passed according to the strictest schedule, designed to discipline the soldiers. The emergence of such a militarized society, the Spartans were due to unique historical circumstances.

Early 10th century BC e. It is considered to be the time of the first large-scale settlement of the territory of Laconia, that is, the future Sparta and the lands adjacent to it. In the VIII century, the Spartans undertook expansion into the nearby lands of Messenia. During the occupation, they decided not to destroy local residents, but to make them your slaves, who are known as helots - literally "prisoners". But the creation of a colossal slave complex led to inevitable uprisings: in the 7th century, the helots fought the enslavers for several years, and this became a lesson for Sparta.

The laws established according to the legend by the Spartan king-legislator named Lycurgus (translated as “working wolf”) as early as the 9th century served to regulate the internal political situation after the conquest of Messenia. The Spartans distributed the lands of the helots among all citizens, and all full-fledged citizens formed the backbone of the army (about 9,000 people in the 7th century - 10 times more than in any other Greek policy) and had hoplite weapons. The strengthening of the army, dictated, perhaps, by the fear that another uprising of slaves would break out, contributed to an extraordinary increase in the influence of the Spartans in the region and the formation of a special way of life, characteristic only of Sparta.

In order to optimally train the warriors of Sparta, from the age of seven they were sent to centralized state structures, where they spent time in intense training until the age of 18. This was a kind of initiation stage: in order to become a full-fledged citizen, it was necessary not only to successfully pass all the tests of 11 years of study, but also to kill a helot alone with a dagger as proof of their skills and fearlessness. It is not surprising that the helots constantly had a reason for the next speeches. The widespread legend about the execution of handicapped Spartan boys or even babies, most likely, has no basis in reality. historical basis, since in the policy there was even a certain social stratum of hypomeions - physically or mentally handicapped "citizens".

Perhaps there is no such person who would not have heard of the Spartans. The first associations that arise at the mention of the state Sparta, are “great warriors”, “dumping unhealthy newborn children into a pit”, “cruel parenting”, “300 Spartans”. This is part stereotype, part exaggeration, part truth. Today we will try to figure out what's what.

Sparta or Lacedaemon

The names "Sparta" and "Spartans" appeared thanks to the Romans and took root. Their self-name is Lacedaemonians, that is, citizens of the policy of Lacedaemon. That is why the Greek letter "Λ" (lambda) was depicted on the shields of their soldiers. Laconic speech is a concept denoting laconicism, brevity, clarity of explanation. We also got it thanks to the Spartans, since Lacedaemon was located in the region of Laconia (Greece, south of the Peloponnese peninsula).

Did they kill children?

There is an ingrained myth, spread by the ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch (c. 46-127 AD). Here is what he reports: “The father was not entitled to dispose of the upbringing of the child himself, he took the newborn to a place called forestry, where the oldest relatives in the fillet were sitting. They examined the child and, if they found him strong and well-built, they ordered him to be brought up, immediately assigning him one of nine thousand allotments. If the child was frail and ugly, he was sent to Apothetes (the so-called cliff in the mountains of Tayget), believing that his life was not needed either by himself or by the state, since he was denied health and strength from the very beginning.

However, there are counterarguments against Plutarch's evidence. Firstly, Plutarch lived quite late, when Greece was already part of the Roman Empire for about 200 years, that is, the philosopher might not really know all the circumstances of the life of the Spartans in their heyday. Moreover, he gives us information about such a cruel selection of children in the biography of Lycurgus (approx. IX century BC), the ancient Spartan legislator, to whom ancient writers attribute the famous political structure Sparta. Secondly, Plutarch, although a Greek by birth, was a subject of Rome. Ancient Greek historians had the ability to embellish and exaggerate reality, which is known from a comparison of Greek and Roman written sources telling about the same events. Thirdly, in Sparta there was a class of hypomeions ("descended") - impoverished or physically handicapped citizens of Sparta. Finally, archaeological data do not allow us to confirm the massive and long-term ( we are talking about several centuries) the practice of killing handicapped newborns. However, scientists have not come to a consensus on this issue. We only add that in other areas of Ancient Greece there was also the practice of infanticide (deliberate infanticide), probably, it concerned noticeably sick and premature babies.

An unequal society

Spartan society was very complex structure and was not at all primitive, although it was not built on the principles of freedom and justice. Let us outline only its general structure. The first estate - those who can be conditionally called the aristocracy. These are Gomei ("equal") - full citizens, they are also Spartans or Spartans. The second estate - conventionally called the common people. It included the already mentioned hypomeions, mofaks (children of non-Homeans who received a full Spartan upbringing and a probable right to citizenship); neodamodes (former helots who received incomplete citizenship); perieki (free non-citizens). The third estate - dependent farmers - helots - Greeks enslaved by the Spartans who came to their lands. Sometimes helots received freedom, others were in varying degrees unfreedom. Some of the representatives of the second and third estates arose at different times in connection with various historical processes. It was from the helots that the main threat to Lacedaemon came. After strong earthquake when Sparta was shaken in every sense of the word, the helots rebelled. The suppression of the uprising took decades. Since then, they have been closely watched, and killed for disobedience. Otherwise, Sparta lived according to the principle "Lacedaemon is not protected by walls, but by brave warriors."

Severe upbringing and the army

Sparta is a state - a military camp. The children of the Spartans were taught to read and write as much as it was enough for military service, all the rest of the education was reduced to endurance training, to obedience and the art of war. Spartan boys were deliberately fed poorly, which, naturally, led to theft - this was how the ability to survive on their own was brought up. If the boy was caught, then they beat him.

Each soldier was given 3.5 buckets of barley, about 5 liters of wine, 2.5 kg of cheese, a little more than 1 kg of dates and quite a bit of money to buy meat and fish every month. Spartan money was pieces of rusty iron and served for internal trade, so that a love of luxury and enrichment would not be brought up.

For a Spartan, belonging to a detachment of warriors was his position in society. A man without a squad is like a soldier without an army. Life in the detachment was as harsh as the Spartan upbringing. One visiting guest was so struck by the paucity of Spartan food that he said: "Now I understand why they are not afraid of death." Kill or be killed. Return with a shield or on a shield. Moreover, the coward was stigmatized, his children were forbidden to marry and have children, unless the warrior could justify himself.

At about 30 years old, the Spartan warrior went through the last stage of development, thanks to which he could get the right to leave the barracks and lead privacy. From that moment on, he served the state and the war, could not trade or engage in agriculture (for this there were incomplete free residents of Lacedaemon and helots) and had to start a family and children. Bachelors and the childless were condemned.

An invincible army?

Of course, the Spartan army was a formidable force and the main tool for conducting foreign policy with its neighbors. The Romans themselves admired the strength of Sparta's army. However, the Spartan army, which gave the world such concepts as military discipline, laconic speech, building troops in a phalanx, was low-tech, did not know engineering, and did not really know how to take enemy fortresses. In the end, Lacedaemon succumbed to the onslaught of Rome and became part of it in 146 BC. e.

Where did the Spartans come from

Who are the Spartans? Why is their place in ancient Greek history singled out in comparison with other peoples of Hellas? What did the Spartans look like, is it possible to understand whose generic features they inherited?

The last question seems obvious only at first glance. It is very easy to consider that Greek sculpture, representing the images of the Athenians and inhabitants of other Greek policies, in equally represents the images of the Spartans. But where are the statues then? Spartan kings and military leaders who over the centuries acted more successfully than the leaders of other Greek city-states? Where are the Spartan Olympic heroes whose names are known? Why was their appearance not reflected in ancient Greek art?

What happened in Greece between Homeric period”and the beginning of the formation of a new culture, whose origin is marked by a geometric style - primitive vase paintings, more like petrogryphs?

Vase painting from the Hermetic period.

How could such a primitive art, dating from the 8th century. BC e. turn into magnificent examples of painting on ceramics, bronze casting, sculpture, architecture by the 6th-5th centuries. BC e.? Why did Sparta, having risen along with the rest of Greece, experience a cultural decline? Why did this decline not prevent Sparta from holding out against Athens and a short time become the hegemon of Hellas? Why military victory was not crowned with the creation of a common Greek state, and soon after the victory of Sparta, the Greek statehood was destroyed by internal strife and external conquests?

Many questions should be answered by returning to the question of who lived in ancient Greece, who lived in Sparta: what were the state, economic and cultural aspirations of the Spartans?

Menelaus and Helen. The winged Boread hovers over the scene of the meeting, reminiscent of the story of the abduction of Orthia, similar to the abduction of Helen.

According to Homer, the Spartan kings organized and led a campaign against Troy. Maybe the heroes of the Trojan War are the Spartans? No, the heroes of this war have nothing to do with the state of Sparta known to us. They are separated even from the archaic history of ancient Greece by the "dark ages", which did not leave any materials for archaeologists and were not reflected in the Greek epic or literature. The heroes of Homer are an oral tradition that survived the heyday and oblivion of the peoples who gave the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey the prototypes of characters known to this day.

The Trojan War (13th-12th centuries BC) took place long before the birth of Sparta (9th-8th centuries BC). But the people who later founded Sparta could well exist, and later participate in the conquest of the Peloponnese. The plot of the abduction by Paris of Helen, the wife of the "Spartan" king Menelaus, is taken from the pre-Spartan epic, born among the peoples of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture, which preceded the ancient Greek. It is connected with the Mycenaean sanctuary of Menelaion, where in the archaic period the cult of Menelaus and Helen was performed.

Menelaus, copy of a statue of the 4th century BC e.

The future Spartans in the Dorian invasion are that part of the conquerors of the Peloponnese that went ahead, sweeping away the Mycenaean cities and skillfully storming their powerful walls. It was the militant part of the army itself that advanced the farthest, pursuing the enemy and leaving behind those who were satisfied with the results achieved. Perhaps that is why in Sparta (the very farthest point of the continental conquest, after which only the islands remained to be conquered) a military democracy was established - here the traditions of the people-army had the most solid foundations. And here the pressure of the conquest was exhausted: the Dorians' army was greatly thinned out, they were a minority of the population in the most southern lands Hellas. This is what determined both the multinational composition of the inhabitants of Sparta and the isolation of the ruling ethnic group of the Spartans. The Spartans ruled, and the process cultural development continued subject - free inhabitants of the periphery of Spartan influence (Perieks) and helots assigned to the land, obliged to support the Spartans as protecting them military force. The cultural demands of the Spartan warriors and the Periek merchants bizarrely mixed up, creating many mysteries for modern researchers.

Where did the Dorian conquerors come from? What were these peoples? And how did they survive the three "dark" ages? Let us assume that the connection of the future Spartans with the Trojan War is reliable. But at the same time, the roles are reversed in comparison with the plot of Homer: the Trojan Spartans defeated the Achaean Spartans in a punitive campaign. Yes, and remained in Hellas forever. Achaeans and Trojans lived side by side after that, going through the hard times of the "dark ages", mixing their cults and heroic myths. In the end, the defeats were forgotten, and the victory over Troy became a common tradition.

The prototype of a mixed community can be seen in Messenia, neighboring Sparta, where the state center, palaces and cities were never formed. The Messenians (both the Dorians and the tribes they conquered) lived in small villages that were not surrounded by defensive walls. In many ways, the same picture is observed in archaic Sparta. Messinia 8th–7th centuries BC e. - a cast of the earlier history of Sparta, perhaps giving a general picture of the life of the Peloponnese in the "dark ages".

So where did the Trojan Spartans come from? If from Troy, then the epic Trojan War over time, it could be assimilated in a new place of settlement. In this case, the question arises why the conquerors did not return to their lands, as did the cruel Achaeans who ravaged Troy? Or why did they not build a new city at least somewhat approaching the former splendor of their capital? After all, the Mycenaean cities were in no way inferior to Troy in the height of the walls and the size of the palaces! Why did the conquerors prefer to abandon the conquered fortress cities?

The answers to these questions are connected with the riddle of the city excavated by Schliemann, which has been known as Troy since ancient times. But does this "Troy" coincide with Homer's? After all, the names of cities have moved and are moving from place to place until today. A city that has fallen into decay may be forgotten, and its namesake may become widely known. Among the Greeks, the Thracian city and island of Thasos in the Aegean Sea corresponds to Thasos in Africa, next to which Miletus was located - an analogue of the more famous Ionian Miletus. Identical city names are present not only in antiquity, but also in modern times.

Three can be attributed to a plot related to another city. For example, as a result of exaggerating the significance of a single episode of a long war or exalting an insignificant operation in its finale.

We can say for sure that the Troy described by Homer is not Schliemann's Troy. Schliemann's town is poor, insignificant in terms of population and culture. Three "dark" ages could play a cruel joke on the former Trojans: they could forget where their wonderful capital was located! After all, they appropriated the victory over this city, exchanging places with the winners! Or maybe they still carried in their memory vague memories of how they themselves became the masters of Troy, taking it away from its former owners.

Excavations and reconstruction of Troy.

Most likely, Schliemann's Troy is an intermediate base for the Trojans expelled from their capital as a result of a war unknown to us. (Or, on the contrary, well known to us from Homer, but not associated with Schliemann's Troy at all.) They brought a name with them and, perhaps, even conquered this city. But they could not live in it: too aggressive neighbors did not allow them to quietly manage their household. Therefore, the Trojans moved on, entering into an alliance with the Dorian tribes who came from Northern Black Sea along the usual transit route of all steppe migrants coming from the distant South Ural and Altai steppes.

The question "where is the real Troy?" is unresolvable at the current level of knowledge. One hypothesis is that the Homeric epic was brought to Hellas by those who recalled the wars around Babylon in oral traditions. The splendor of Babylon, indeed, may resemble the splendor of Homeric Troy. The war between the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia is indeed a scale worthy of an epic and centuries-old memory. An expedition of ships that reaches poor Schlimann's Troy in three days and fights there for ten years cannot be the basis for a heroic poem that has worried the Greeks for many centuries.

Excavations and reconstruction of Babylon.

The Trojans did not recreate their capital in a new place, not only because the memory of the real capital had dried up. The forces of the conquerors, who tormented the remnants of the Mycenaean civilization for many decades, also dried up. The Dorians, probably for the most part, did not want to look for anything in the Peloponnese. They had enough other lands. Therefore, the Spartans had to overcome local resistance also gradually, over decades and even centuries. And keep a strict military order, so as not to be conquered.

Mycenae: Lion's Gate, excavations of the fortress walls.

Why didn't the Trojans build cities? At least on the site of one of the Mycenaean cities? Because there were no builders with them. In the campaign there was only an army that could not return. Because there was nowhere to go. Troy fell into decay, was conquered, the population was dispersed. The remains of the Trojans turned out to be in the Peloponnese - the army and those who left the devastated city.

Future Spartans were satisfied with the life of the villagers, who were most threatened by their closest neighbors, and not by new invasions. But the Trojan legends remained: they were the only source of pride and a memory of past glory, the basis of the cult of heroes, which was destined to recover - to go from myth to reality in the battles of the Messenian, Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

If our hypothesis is correct, then the population of Sparta was diverse - more diverse than in Athens and other Greek states. But living separately - in accordance with a fixed ethno-social status.

Settlement of peoples in ancient Greece.

We can assume the existence of the following groups:

a) Spartans - people with eastern (“Assyrian”) features, related to the population of Mesopotamia (we see their images mainly on vase paintings) and representing the southern Aryan migrations;

b) Dorians - people with Nordic features, representatives of the northern stream of Aryan migrations (their features were embodied mainly in sculptural statues of gods and heroes of the classical period of Greek art);

c) the Achaean conquerors, as well as the Mycenaeans, the Messenians - the descendants of the indigenous population, who in ancient times moved here from the north, partially represented by the flattened faces of distant steppe peoples (for example, the famous Mycenaean masks from the "Palace of Agamemnon" represent two types of faces - "narrow-eyed "and" pop-eyed ");

d) Semites, Minoans - representatives of the Middle Eastern tribes who spread their influence along the coast and islands Aegean Sea.

All these types can be observed in the fine arts of the Spartan archaic.

In accordance with the usual picture that school textbooks give, I would like to see Ancient Greece homogeneous - inhabited by Greeks. But this is an unjustified simplification.

In addition to related tribes, which at different times inhabited Hellas and received the name "Greeks", there were many other tribes here. For example, the island of Crete was inhabited by autochthonous peoples under the rule of the Dorians, the Peloponnese was also inhabited mainly by the autochthonous population. Surely the helots and perieks had a very distant relation to the Dorian tribes. Therefore, we can only talk about the relative kinship of the Greek tribes and their difference, fixed by a variety of dialects, sometimes extremely difficult for the inhabitants of large cities to understand. shopping centers where the common Greek language was formed.

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Of course, I won't surprise anyone if I say that the movie "300" is not a historically accurate depiction of them, but this picture actually relies on an existing myth. We all grew up believing that the Spartans were real tough warriors. Is this true?

Triumphs of the Spartans

No one will deny that the Spartans were one of the most impressively organized military cultures in history. Their manner of warfare, using an unshakable formation and a wall of shields and spears eight deep, allowed them to defeat almost any opponent that fought against them. Them intense training Starting at the age of eight and officially lasting 10 years - and unofficially they never stopped - contributed to the formation of absolute discipline. Their participation in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 is rightly recognized as one of the turning points in history.

In a sense, it can be said that the virtues of the Spartans are too underestimated. They were not the simple, monotonous and blunt instrument that they are often made out to be. They had various combat units - the army, navy, as well as elite troops. Like all successful military societies, they employed and promoted skilled military tacticians.

The Spartans were among the first military formations to realize the importance of espionage and infiltration. A specially trained unit (kryptea) functioned as a cross between a spy agency and a secret police, monitoring conquered territories as well as troops at home. The Spartan empire cannot be compared with other world empires, but, nevertheless, it was quite large in comparison with its neighbors. This went on for several centuries. And it wasn't an accident.

Features of society

Everyone knows today that Sparta was a slave-owning society. Defeat by the Persians would mean enslavement for the Spartans, but at the same time it could also mean liberation for conquered neighboring territories. However, the question of how the slave society influenced Sparta is not often discussed. Almost from the beginning, the slaves - the helots - were more numerous than the Spartans.

All slave societies fear a slave uprising. The Spartans had even more reason for this kind of fear. The generally accepted militarism of their society was not a manifestation of their athletic perfection or ideal of strength. This was due to the way they survived. The more Sparta expanded, the more its inhabitants had to pay attention to their own safety. Sparta, like many other cultures that had secret police, was a culture of paranoia.

During the uprising of the helots, Athens sent its troops to help Sparta suppress it. The Spartans sent the Athenians home. They did not want Athenian values to spread among the Spartan population, especially among the helots. Today, the Spartans are portrayed as freedom-loving people. In reality, their actions and thoughts were completely determined by the government and the law.

But this does not mean that the Spartans did not have any freedoms at all. Their women had the greatest freedom in ancient Greece - reading, writing, land ownership, expression of their opinion in political issues as well as sports activities. The upper echelons of warriors who survived the battles and reached high rank and authorities in society, were revered and had freedom of action.

The dark side of this freedom of action can be demonstrated in at least one of those 300 legendary Spartans. Aristodemus was one of the warriors who took part in the Battle of Thermopylae. He and one of his soldiers began a battle with an eye infection. Leonidas, their king and commander, ordered them to return home.

This other soldier, accompanied by a slave, appeared on the battlefield on the last day of the battle. Whereas Aristodemus carried out the order and headed home. He was called a "coward" and the fate of all those who lacked courage awaited him. An appropriate inscription was sewn to his cloak so that everyone would know about his cowardice. All his friends turned away from him. If someone ordered him to give way during public events, he had to obey, regardless of the status of the person.

The Spartans were already eugenics at that time, and Aristodemus showed that his genes contained a flaw, and therefore his daughters were forbidden to marry.

A year later, when the Spartans clashed with another invading force, the Persians, Aristodemus was allowed to participate in the hostilities, and he clearly sought death in battle. His wish to die was noticed, his status as a coward was officially revoked, and his children were no longer prohibited from marrying after that. Spartan soldiers either had to fight to their death or Spartan society forced them to wish for death themselves.

None of this detracts from the impressive military victories of the Spartans, but simply puts them in context. When we try to think of a "warrior culture" or a "militarist society," we often see them as cultures focused on honor, courage, freedom, or even the simple joy of battle. This is how many people see the Spartans, and this is probably how the Spartans perceived themselves - but it was by no means idealism that created their society. Their military system was a practical way to deal with issues. In the end, it turned out to be the only solution to the existing problems.

And although individual warriors were taught - and they believed in it - that courage is the most important virtue, their idealism was not only morally cemented. Every soldier knew that he could risk his life and get everything, or keep it and have nothing. Not that death was better for them than shame. In fact, death was better than endless insults and contempt.

The Spartans weren't alone at Thermopylae

Wayfarer, go erect to our citizens in Lacedaemon,

That, keeping their covenants, here we perished with bones.

it famous poem Simonides of Ceos is dedicated to the memory of the most famous battle in Western history. The attacking Persian army was forced to pass through a narrow gorge, and its advance was held back by only 300 Spartans. As well as several hundred of their slaves. And a few hundred more Greeks from other city-states. In addition, unfolded nearby naval battle, the meaning of which was that the Persians could not "send everything to hell" and bypass ships on ships spartan forces.

The Persian invasion came at an inconvenient time for the Spartans. It coincided with the Olympic Games and also with a religious holiday. If there was one thing the Spartans took as seriously as their battles, it was their religion. They could not refuse religious holidays, but everyone, including the inhabitants of other Greek city-states, was aware of the danger posed by the Persians. Ultimately, Leonidas led an elite group of 300 Spartans into battle. (Leonidas probably felt particularly strong pressure to participate in the fighting, since at the time there were rumors that he allegedly killed the previous king of Sparta and married the king's daughter in order to ascend the throne). Other city-states also sent their soldiers, and as a result, their total number at Thermopylae was 5,000.

After several days of fighting, during which the Greeks held this narrow passage, the Persians found a mountain (goat) path that allowed them to outflank the Greeks. It remains unclear whether its existence was betrayed by a traitor among the Greeks, or whether the Persians simply managed to find it during the reconnaissance of the area. (We have the right to blame the goats for this).

The Greek messengers who participated in the campaign warned Leonid, and he ordered most of the remaining soldiers to return home. No one doubted that the Spartans would stay. In addition, they graciously allowed their slaves to stay with them. Surprisingly, at least a thousand other Greeks also decided to stay, even though they knew they would be destroyed. The Spartans led the armed detachments at Thermopylae, and their courage is beyond doubt. But they were not the only soldiers who, having shown courage, continued the fight. Not only did the Spartans die at Thermopylae, they weren't even in the majority. But they had better PR.

Spartan defeats

But even at that time, the Spartans were revered for their ability to fight. Their actions at Thermopylae have become an eternal myth, and some historians do believe that as a result the Greeks, by joining their forces, successfully resisted the Persian invasion. However, the Spartans were not actually invincible.

The most famous defeat of the Spartans occurred during Peloponnesian War- this decades-long armed conflict between Athens and Sparta, which arose shortly after the Persian threat ceased to exist. The defeat of the Spartans shocked all the Greeks, including Athens and Sparta, because the Spartans were not just defeated. They gave up.

We are talking about the battle of Sphacteria in 425 before the birth of Christ. Sphacteria is a small island where the Spartan forces became isolated after one major battle went wrong. The Athenians besieged the Spartans who had taken refuge in the rocky area, they rained down on them with a hail of arrows and eventually surrounded them. 120 Spartans laid down their weapons and surrendered.

Even at the time, it was considered unheard of for the Spartans to surrender. When one Spartan was asked about the reasons for the defeat, he blamed the Athenians, who, in his opinion, used "spindle" arrows instead of the usual "male weapons". And again: "They behaved so unworthily that we were forced to surrender." In general, this defeat turned out to be so crushing that Sparta asked for peace. Confident, the Athenians broke off the peace talks - something they probably regretted when they ended up losing the war in 404 BC (characteristically, Sparta asked for money from Persia to build a whole fleet of ships that were needed to defeat Athens ).

There was another famous group that managed to defeat the Spartans: this is the Sacred Band from Thebes. Thebes had their 300 super soldiers, but no film was made about them, and perhaps this is due to the fact that they were all lovers. It is also possible that the film was not made about them because by the time the Sacred Band from Thebes appeared, the Spartans had already experienced several setbacks. The Thebans formed this detachment after they had driven the Spartans out of their capital. The sacred band from Thebes won three battles against the Spartan forces.

One of them was a battle in 378 BC, and they won simply because they refused to follow the Spartans to a disadvantageous place for them. The Spartans broke through the outer blockade in front of Thebes, after which the Theban army retreated behind the inner walls of their city. When the Spartans launched an offensive in the hope of disrupting the ranks of the enemy, the Thebans gave the order to rest, calling the actions of the Spartans a bluff. The Spartans left, and then, acting predictably, declared that they should be recognized as the winners, since the Thebans did not fight them correctly.

The sacred band from Thebes fought directly with the Spartans on two different occasions, and each time they conceded in quantitatively to your opponent. At the battle of Tegyra, this superiority was two to one, but they nevertheless managed to kill the Spartan commander and advanced so boldly that the Spartans opened a passage for them, believing that the Thebans were using it to retreat. Instead, the Thebans attacked them from the inside, after which they began to pursue the Spartan soldiers. At the battle of Leucra, the Theban cavalry quickly dealt with the Spartan infantry, despite the fact that there were 6,000 Thebans and 10,000 Spartans.

In fact, the biggest defeat for the Spartans was inflicted by their own slaves. Military defeat affected the fate of Sparta, and a slow increase in the number of enemies played a role in this. In the end, the catastrophe that Spartan culture was aimed at preventing occurred, and the helots organized a successful uprising. Sparta was founded on slavery, and when most of the slaves left it, it became impoverished. Sparta turned into a kind of Disneyland, where traditional Spartan rituals were shown to visitors for money. Its last king died while trying to raise funds for the city and offering his services as a mercenary.

No country collapses beautifully, and no community lives up to its myth. The point of myth is to take an inspiring story and turn it into a perfect plot. The Spartan legend - the legend of the super-soldiers - was based on reality, but it did not fully correspond to reality even in the time of the Spartans. The myth of 300 Spartans, of Thermopylae, and of Sparta as a culture of perfect warriors has a certain meaning. But the reality of Sparta, as an imperfect society, also makes sense.

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Sparta was the most brutal civilization in human history. Around the dawn of Greek history, while it was still going through its classical period, Sparta was already undergoing radical social and political revolutions. As a result, the Spartans came up with the idea full equality. Literally. It was they who developed the key concepts that we partially use to this day.

It was in Sparta that the ideas of self-sacrifice for the sake of the common good, the high value of debt and the rights of citizens were first voiced. In short, the goal of the Spartans was to become as perfect people as far as it is within the power of a mere mortal. You will not believe it, but every utopian idea that we still think about today draws its origins from Spartan times.

The most a big problem, associated with the study of the history of this amazing civilization, is that the Spartans left very few records, and did not leave behind monumental buildings that could be explored and analyzed.

However, scholars know that Spartan women enjoyed the right to freedom, education and equality in such high degree in which women of no other civilizations of that time could boast. Each member of society, woman or man, master or slave, played a special valuable role in the life of Sparta.

That is why it is impossible to talk about the famous Spartan warriors without mentioning this civilization as a whole. Anyone could become a warrior, it was not a privilege or duty for individual social classes. For the role of a soldier, there was a very serious selection among all the citizens of Sparta, without exception. Carefully selected applicants were raised to become ideal warriors. The process of hardening the Spartans was sometimes associated with very tough methods of preparation and reached extremely extreme measures.

10. Spartan children were raised from an early age to participate in wars.

Almost every aspect of Spartan life was controlled by the city-state. This also applied to children. Each Spartan infant was brought before a board of inspectors who checked the child for physical defects. If something seemed to them out of the norm, the child was withdrawn from society and sent to perish outside the walls of the city, throwing him off the nearest hills.

In some happy cases, these abandoned children found their salvation among random wanderers passing by, or they were taken in by the "gelots" (lower class, Spartan slaves) working in the nearby fields.

In early childhood, those who survived the first qualifying round bathed in wine baths instead. The Spartans believed that this strengthened their strength. In addition, it was customary among parents to ignore the crying of children so that they get used to the "Spartan" lifestyle from infancy. Foreigners were so delighted with such educational methods that Spartan women were often invited to neighboring lands as nannies and nurses for their iron nerves.

Up to the age of 7, Spartan boys lived with their families, but after that they were taken away by the state itself. Children were moved to public barracks, and a training period called "agog" began in their lives. The goal of this program was to educate youngsters into ideal warriors. The new regime included physical exercise, training in various tricks, unconditional loyalty, martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, the development of pain tolerance, hunting, survival skills, communication skills, and morality lessons. They were also taught to read, write, compose poetry and orate.

At the age of 12, all boys were stripped of their clothes and all other personal belongings, except for a single red cloak. They were taught to sleep outside and make their own bed out of reeds. In addition, the boys were encouraged to dig through the trash or steal their own food. But if the thieves were caught, the children were severely punished in the form of flogging.

Spartan girls lived in their families even after the age of 7, but they also received the famous Spartan education, which included dancing lessons, gymnastics, throwing darts and discs. It was believed that it was these skills that helped them best prepare for motherhood.

9. Hazing and fights among children

One of the key ways to mold boys into ideal soldiers and develop a truly stern disposition in them was considered provoking fights with each other. Older guys and teachers often started quarrels among their students and encouraged them to get into fights.

main goal agoge was to instill in children resistance to all the hardships that will await them in the war - to cold, hunger or pain. And if someone showed even the slightest weakness, cowardice or embarrassment, they immediately became the objects of cruel ridicule and punishment from their own comrades and teachers. Imagine that at school someone is bullying you, and the teacher comes up and joins the bullies. It was very unpleasant. And in order to “finish off”, the girls sang all sorts of offensive slogans about the guilty students right during ceremonial meetings in front of high-ranking dignitaries.

Even adult men did not avoid scolding. Spartans hated fat people. That is why all citizens, including even kings, daily participated in joint meals, “sissits”, which were distinguished by deliberate scarcity and insipidity. Together with daily physical activity, this allowed Spartan men and women to keep themselves in good shape throughout their lives. Those who got out of the main stream were subjected to public censure and even risked being expelled from the city if they were not in a hurry to cope with their inconsistency with the system.

8. Endurance competition

An integral part of Ancient Sparta, and at the same time one of its most disgusting practices, was the Endurance Competition - Diamastigosis. This tradition was intended to commemorate the incident when residents from neighboring settlements killed each other in front of the altar of Artemis as a token of veneration for the goddess. Since then, human sacrifices have been performed here every year.

During the reign of the semi-mythical Spartan king Lycurgus, who lived in the 7th century BC, the rituals of worshiping the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia were relaxed and included only the spanking of boys undergoing the agoge. The ceremony continued until they completely covered all the steps of the altar with their blood. During the ritual, the altar was strewn with cones, which the children had to reach and collect.

The older guys were waiting for the younger ones with sticks in their hands, beating the children without any compassion for their pain. The tradition, at its core, was the initiation of little boys into the ranks of full-fledged warriors and citizens of Sparta. The last child standing received great honors for his masculinity. Often, during such initiation, children died.

During the occupation of Sparta by the Roman Empire, the tradition of Diamastigosis did not disappear, but lost its main ceremonial significance. Instead, it became just a spectacular sporting event. People from all over the empire flocked to Sparta to watch the brutal flogging of young guys. By the 3rd century AD, the sanctuary had been converted into a regular theater with stands from which the audience could comfortably watch the beatings.

7. Cryptory

When the Spartans reached the age of 20 or so, those who were marked as potential leaders were given the opportunity to participate in Crypteria. It was a kind of secret police. Although it was mostly partisan detachments, who periodically terrorized and occupied neighboring Geloth settlements. Best years of this unit occurred in the 5th century BC, when Sparta had about 10,000 men capable of fighting, and civilians gelots surpassed them by a few units.

On the other hand, the Spartans were constantly under the threat of rebellion from the Geloths. This constant threat was one of the reasons why Sparta developed such a militarized society and prioritized the militancy of its citizens. Every man in Sparta, by law, had to be raised as a soldier from childhood.

Every autumn, young warriors got a chance to test their skills during an unofficial declaration of war against enemy Geloth settlements. Members of the Crypteria went out on missions at night armed only with knives, and their goal was always to kill any geloth they encountered along the way. The bigger and stronger the enemy, the better.

This annual slaughter was carried out to train the neighbors into obedience and reduce their numbers to a safe level. Only those boys and men who participated in such raids could expect to receive a higher rank and a privileged status in society. For the rest of the year, the "secret police" patrolled the area, still executing any potentially dangerous gelot without any trial.

6. Forced marriage

And although it is difficult to call it something frankly horrific, but forced marriages by the age of 30 today, many would consider unacceptable and even frightening. Until the age of 30, all Spartans lived in public barracks and served in the state army. At the onset of 30 years of age, they were released from military duty and transferred to the reserve until the age of 60. In any case, if by the age of 30 one of the men did not have time to find a wife, they were forced to marry.

The Spartans considered marriage important, but not the only way to conceive new soldiers, so girls were married no earlier than 19 years old. Applicants must first carefully assess health and physical form their future life partners. And although he often decided between his future husband and father-in-law, the girl also had the right to vote. Indeed, according to the law, Spartan women had equal rights with men, and even much greater than in some modern countries to this day.

If the men of Sparta married before their 30th birthday and still during their military service, they continued to live separately from their wives. But if a man went to the reserve still single, it was believed that he was not fulfilling his duty to the state. The bachelor was expected to be publicly ridiculed for any reason, especially during official meetings.

And if for some reason the Spartan could not have children, he had to find his wife the right partner. It even happened that one woman had several sexual partners, and together they raised common children.

5. Spartan weapons

The bulk of any ancient Greek army, including the Spartan, were "hoplites". They were soldiers in bulky armor, citizens whose armaments took a decent amount of money so that they could participate in wars. And while the warriors from most of the Greek city-states did not have sufficient military and physical training and equipment, Spartan soldiers knew how to fight all their lives and were always ready to go to the battlefield. Bye bye Greek city-states built defensive walls around their settlements, Sparta did not care about fortifications, considering hardened hoplites as their main defense.

The main weapon of the hoplite, regardless of its origin, was a spear for the right hand. The length of the spears reached about 2.5 meters. The tip of this weapon was made of bronze or iron, and the handle was made of dogwood. It was this tree that was used, because it was distinguished by the necessary density and strength. By the way, dogwood wood is so dense and heavy that it even sinks in water.

In his left hand, the warrior held his round shield, the famous "hoplon". 13 kg shields were used primarily for defense, but were also occasionally used in close-range striking techniques. Shields were made of wood and leather, and covered with a layer of bronze on top. The Spartans marked their shields with the letter "lambda", which symbolized Laconia, a region of Sparta.

If a spear broke or the battle got too close, the hoplites from the front would take up their "ksipos", short swords. They were 43 centimeters long and were intended for close combat. But the Spartans preferred their "kopis" to such ksipos. This type of sword inflicted especially painful chopping wounds on the enemy due to its specific one-sided sharpening along the inner edge of the blade. Kopis was used more as an axe. Greek artists often depicted Spartans with copies in their hands.

For additional protection, the soldiers wore bronze helmets that covered not only the head, but also the back of the neck and face. Also among the armor were chest and back shields made of bronze or leather. The shins of the soldiers were protected by special bronze plates. The forearms were closed in the same way.

4. Phalanx

There are certain signs of what stage of development a civilization is in, and among them is just how nations fight. Tribal communities tend to fight in a chaotic and haphazard fashion, with each warrior brandishing his ax or sword as he pleases and seeking personal glory.

But more advanced civilizations fight according to well-thought-out tactics. Each soldier plays a specific role in his squad and is subject to a common strategy. This is how the Romans fought, and the ancient Greeks, to whom the Spartans belonged, also fought. By and large, the famous Roman legions were formed precisely following the example of the Greek "phalanxes".

Hoplites gathered in regiments, "lokhoi", consisting of several hundred citizens, and lined up in columns of 8 or more rows. Such a formation was called a phalanx. The men stood shoulder to shoulder in tight groups, protected on all sides by comradely shields. In between the shields and helmets was a veritable forest of spears jutting outward in spikes.

The phalanxes were distinguished by very organized movement due to rhythmic accompaniments and chants, which the Spartans intensively learned at a young age during training. It happened that the Greek cities fought among themselves, and then in the battle one could see spectacular clashes of several phalanxes at once. The battle continued until one of the detachments stabbed the other to death. It could be compared to a bloody skirmish during a rugby match, but in ancient armor.

3. Nobody gives up

The Spartans were brought up to be extremely loyal and despised cowardice above all other human failings. Soldiers were expected to be fearless in all circumstances. Even if we are talking about the last drop and to the last survivor. For this reason, the act of surrender was equated with the most unbearable cowardice.

If, in some unimaginable circumstances, the Spartan hoplite had to surrender, he then committed suicide. The ancient historian Herodotus recalled two unknown Spartans who missed an important battle and committed suicide out of shame. One hanged himself, the other went to a certain redemptive death during the next battle in the name of Sparta.

Spartan mothers were notorious for often telling their sons before battle, "Return with your shield, or don't return at all." This meant that they were either expected with victory or dead. In addition, if a warrior lost his own shield, he also left his comrade without protection, which jeopardized the entire mission, and was unacceptable.

Sparta believed that a soldier fully fulfilled his duty only when he died for his state. The man had to die on the battlefield, and the woman had to give birth to children. Only those who performed this duty had the right to be buried in a grave with a name engraved on the tombstone.

2. Thirty tyrants

Sparta was famous for the fact that she always sought to spread her utopian views to neighboring city-states. At first it was the Messenians from the west, whom the Spartans conquered in the 7th - 8th century BC, turning them into their Geloth slaves. Later, the gaze of Sparta rushed even to Athens. During the Peloponnesian War of 431 - 404 BC, the Spartans not only subjugated the Athenians, but also inherited their naval superiority in the Aegean region. This hasn't happened before. The Spartans did not raze the glorious city to the ground, as the Corinthians advised them, but instead decided to mold the conquered society in their own image and likeness.

To do this, they installed in Athens a "pro-Spartan" oligarchy, infamously known as the "Thirty Tyrants" regime. The main goal of this system was the reformation, and in most cases the complete destruction of the fundamental Athenian laws and orders in exchange for the proclamation of a Spartan version of democracy. They carried out reforms in the field of power structures and lowered the rights of most social classes.

500 councilors were appointed to carry out judicial duties previously held by all citizens. The Spartans also elected 3,000 Athenians to "share power with them." In fact, these local managers simply had a few more privileges than the rest of the residents. During the 13-month regime of Sparta, 5% of the population of Athens died or simply disappeared from the city, a lot of other people's property was confiscated, and crowds of adherents of the old system of governance in Athens were sent into exile.

A former student of Socrates, Kritias, the leader of the "Thirty", was recognized as a cruel and completely inhuman ruler who set out to turn the conquered city into a reflection of Sparta at any cost. Critias acted as if he was still on post in the Spartan Cryptea and executed all the Athenians whom he considered dangerous to establish a new order of things.

300 bannermen were hired to patrol the city, who ended up intimidating and terrorizing the local population. About 1,500 of the most prominent Athenians, who did not support the new government, forcibly took the poison - hemlock. Interestingly, the more cruel the tyrants were, the more resistance they met from the locals.

In the end, after 13 months of a brutal regime, a successful coup took place, led by Trasibulus, one of the few citizens who escaped from exile. During the Athenian restaurant, 3,000 of the aforementioned traitors received an amnesty, but the rest of the defectors, including those same 30 tyrants, were executed. Critias died in one of the first battles.

Steeped in corruption, treachery and violence, the short rule of the tyrants led to a strong distrust of the Athenians towards each other even during the next few years after the fall of the dictatorship.

1. The famous Battle of Thermopylae

Best known today from the 1998 comic book series and the 2006 film 300, the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC was an epic massacre between the Greek army led by the Spartan king Leonidas I and the Persians led by King Xerxes.

Initially, the conflict arose between these two peoples even before the accession of the mentioned military leaders, during the reign of Darius I, the predecessor of Xerxes. He expanded the boundaries of his lands far into the depths of the European continent and at some point fixed his greedy gaze on Greece. After the death of Darius, Xerxes, almost immediately after taking over as king, began preparations for the invasion. This was the greatest threat Greece has ever faced.

After long negotiations between the Greek city-states, a combined force of about 7,000 hoplites was sent to defend the Thermopylae Pass, through which the Persians were going to advance into the territory of all Hellas. For some reason, in the film adaptations and comics, those very few thousand hoplites were not mentioned, including the legendary Athenian fleet.

Among the several thousand Greek warriors were the glorified 300 Spartans, whom Leonidas led into battle personally. Xerxes raised an army of 80,000 soldiers for his invasion. The relatively small defense of the Greeks was explained by the fact that they did not want to send too many warriors far to the north of the country. Another reason was a more religious motive. In those days, the sacred days were just passing Olympic Games and Sparta's most important ritual festival, Carneia, during which bloodshed was forbidden. In any case, Leonidas was aware of the danger that threatened his army and convened 300 of his most devoted Spartans, who had already had male heirs.

Located 153 kilometers north of Athens, the Thermopylae Gorge was an excellent defensive position. Only 15 meters wide, sandwiched between almost vertical rocks and the sea, this gorge created a great inconvenience for the numerical army of Persia. Such a limited space did not allow the Persians to properly deploy all their power.

This gave the Greeks a significant advantage along with the defensive wall already built here. When Xerxes finally arrived, he had to wait 4 days in the hope that the Greeks would surrender. That did not happen. Then he sent his ambassadors for the last time to call on the enemy to lay down their arms, to which Leonidas replied "come and take it yourself."

Over the next 2 days, the Greeks repelled numerous Persian attacks, including a battle with elite detachment"Immortals" from the personal guard of the Persian king. But betrayed by the local shepherd, who pointed out to Xerxes about a secret detour through the mountains, on the second day the Greeks nevertheless found themselves surrounded by the enemy.

Faced with this unpleasant situation, the Greek commander dismissed most of the hoplites, except for 300 Spartans and a few other selected soldiers, to give the last stand. During the last attack of the Persians, the glorious Leonidas and 300 Spartans fell, honorably fulfilling their duty to Sparta and her people.

To this day, there is a tablet in Thermopylae with the inscription "Traveler, go to erect to our citizens in Lacedaemon that, observing their precepts, here we died with our bones." And although Leonidas and his people died, their joint feat inspired the Spartans to gather their courage and during the subsequent Greco-Persian Wars overthrow the evil invaders.

The Battle of Thermopylae forever cemented Sparta's reputation as the most unique and powerful civilization.