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The polis of Sparta was the greatest military
land power of classical Greek antiquity. During the classical period, Sparta
governed, dominated or influenced the entire Peloponnese. Additionally, the
defeat of the Athenians and the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War in
431-404 resulted in a short-lived Spartan dominance of the southern Greek world
from 404 to 371. Due to their mistrust of others, Spartans discouraged the
creation of records about their internal affairs. The only histories of Sparta
are from the writings of Xenophon, Thucydides, Herodotus and Plutarch, none of
whom were Spartans. Plutarch was writing several centuries after the period of
Spartan hegemony had ceased. This creates difficulties in understanding the
Spartan political system, which was distinctly different from any other Greek
polis.
History and rise to power:
Main article: History of Sparta:
Map of Sparta
The Spartans had early conquered the southern Peloponnese and incorporated the
territory into the enlarged Sparta state. Spartan society functioned within
three classes: homoioi or spartiates, perioeci, and the helots. The helots were
captives of war and were state-owned slaves of Sparta. The helots powered the
city-state's agrarian economy and were the work force. Additionally, the other
class of working population in Spartan society were the perioeci meaning
“dwellers around” who were free peoples of conquered territories. The
perioeci were allowed to maintain their own infrastructures, administrative
arrangements and local economy, but had to pay tribute to Sparta and provide
soldiers for the military. The homoioi were the citizens of Sparta. They were
the elite class and were the only deserving of the title Spartan. As a result,
the Spartan population was very small in comparison with the working classes.
There was a ratio of 7 or 8 helots to every Spartan citizen. These three
populations performed complementary functions that distinguished Sparta with a
unique economic and social organization. While the helots and the perioeci were
the workforce in agriculture and industry, the Spartans could devote themselves
to training, maintaining, and operating the military. The reason for the
continual strong military existence was to preserve order in Sparta and hold
the large enslaved populations in check.
Sparta's post Peloponnesian War regime:
Lysander was the Spartan who after the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404
established many of the foreign pro-Spartan governments throughout the Aegean.
He also established many Spartan garrisons. Most of the polis ruling systems he
set up were ten man oligarchies called decarchies. Harmosts, Spartan military
governors, were left as the head of the decarchies. As the men appointed were
loyal to Lysander rather than Sparta, this system has been described as
Lysander's private empire. In this establishment of a new Aegean order, many
lost their lives or were exiled but on the other hand Agina and Melos were
restored to their former inhabitants. Sparta was divided over what to do about
Athens itself. Lysander and King Agis were for total destruction as were
Sparta's leading allies Corinth and Thebes. However, a more moderate faction
led by Pausanias gained the upper hand. Athens was spared but her long walls
and the fortifications of Piraeus were demolished. Lysander did manage to
insert the significant condition that Athens recall her exiles. The return of
the exiles to Athens contributed to the political instability of Athens
allowing Lysander to establish shortly the oligarchy that has come to be known
as Thirty Tyrants, composed of men beholden to him. The danger of so much power
being in the hands of one person had become sufficiently clear that both King
Agis and King Pausanias agreed that Lysander's wings needed to be clipped. The
decarchies were declared abolished and Athens quickly benefited when Sparta
permitted democracy to be restored at Athens.
Agesilaus and his campaigns:
Agesilaus II was one
of the two kings of Sparta during Sparta's hegemony. Plutarch later wrote that
Agesilaus was a king of the traditional Spartan ideals, often seen wearing his
traditional cloak which was threadbare. He began his kingship after the end of
the Peloponnesian war after his brother Agis II died and was left without an
heir. (Agis’ son Leotychidas was rumored to be the illegitimate son of the
Athenian Alcibiades. One of Agesilaus’ biggest supporters was the famous
Spartan naval commander Lysander, who was previously Agesilaus’ erastes,
or mentor.
The Campaigns:
Agesilaus’ first campaign was one which trekked into the eastern Aegean
and Persian territories via the Hellespont. He first descended upon the
Phrygians and their leader Tissaphernes who had broken a “solemn
league” with the Greeks and had earned the “downright contempt of the
gods.” He followed Tissaphernes into Persian territory. The Persian king,
fearing further plundering of his country ordered Tissaphernes beheaded. He
then attempted to bribe Agesilaus with money to leave Asia Minor. Remaining
true to the Spartan ideals of austere living practices, Agesilaus rejected the
gold saying “he would rather see it in his soldier’s hands than his
own.” Agesilaus did, however, remove his army into Phrygia, grateful for
the death of Tissaphernes. Dexileos was killed in action near Corinth in the
summer of 394 , probably in the Battle of
Nemea, or in a proximate engagement. Agesilaus soon began another campaign
into the western regions of the Persian Empire. Plutarch states that he wished
to march his armies all the way to the Persian capital of Susa. He was
unfortunately deterred by unpleasant news from Epicydidas that the mainland
Greek poleis were starting war once again. This would later become known as the
Corinthian War (395 -
387) and featured an alliance between the Argives, Corinthians, Athenians and
Thebans against Sparta. The Corinthian war took place between 395 and 386. In
Greece, the Spartans under Agesilaus met the numerous rebelling poleis. Among
the most important battles that the Spartans fought in this war was that of
Coronea, which was fought against a coalition of Greeks but especially the
Thebans. The Spartans sought the aid of the Persians, asking them to cut off
their support of the Thebans, Corinthians and Athenians. The resulting Peace of
Antalcidas, named for the Spartan who negotiated it, was established in 386 and
resulted in Sparta's loss of its Asian territories.
The Boeotian War:
Main article: Boeotian War:
During the winter of 379/378 , a group of Theban exiles were able to sneak into
the city and, despite the 1500-strong Spartan garrison, succeed in liberating
Thebes. During the next few years, Sparta mounted four expeditions against
Thebes, which completely failed to bring Thebes to heel. In 375, Sparta
suffered a symbolically significant defeat at the hands of Thebes in the Battle
of Tegyra. Finally, the Greek city-states
attempted a peace on the mainland by sending diplomats to meet with Agesilaus
in Sparta. Epaminondas, the Theban diplomat, angered Agesilaus by arguing for
the freedom of the non-Spartans of Laconia. Agesilaus then struck the Thebans
out of the treaty. The ensuing Battle of Leuctra in 371 marked the end of Spartan
hegemony. Agesilaus himself did not fight at Leuctra so as not to appear too
belligerent.
Sparta after hegemony:
During the Spartan hegemony in Athens there is evidence of criticism of
democracy. A document in the 420s by a political writer known as the "Old
Oligarch" demonstrates the anti-democratic sentiments in Athens. The
“Old Oligarch’s” political outlook is shaped by his belief that
the economic classes were the source to political motivation; this view is a
direct rejection of democracy's efforts to establish civil unity. The “Old
Oligarch” argues that the polis by nature is a battlefield rather than a
site of public dialogue because individuals side with their socio-economic
rank. Yet, despite this anti-democratic feeling, democracy eventually returned
to Athens after the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants. The importance of Sparta
in politics largely drops off after Sparta's defeat at Leuctra. Following
Agesilaus’ death in 360 , Archidamus III became king and practiced a
policy of non-conflict between Athens and the Second Naval Confederacy (357-355
). Between 355 and 346 , they allied with Athens against Thebes and the
Amphictyonic Council effectively pulling Theban attention away from the
Peloponnese.
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