Concept
Version 4
Created by Boundless
Culture in Classical Sparta
Structure of Spartan society
Spartan society was highly regimented, with a clearly delineated class system.
Sparta had a pyramidal social structure with Spartiates, or full citizens of the polis, at the top; the Perioikoi, or Lacedaemonians of surrounding territory who did not possess full citizen rights, in the middle; and the Helots, or conquered subjects who were the property of the Spartan State and lived in Eurotas valley and in Messenia to the west, at the bottom. The Spartan army was drawn from five villages (Limnai, Mesoa, Kynosura, Pitane, and Amyklai) each of which supplied a "lochos" of 1,000 Spartiates. The army was commanded by two kings, one from the Agiads dynasty and the other from the Eurypontids dynasty. The Ephori, a council comprised of an annually elected Spartiate from each village, provided oversight for the kings, including sending one of its members on each military campaign. The Gerousia, the Spartan council of elders, consisted of 30 members in total, of whom twenty-eight had to be over the age of sixty, and the remaining two members were the two Spartan kings, regardless of their age. Other than the kings, the members of the Gerousia were elected from the Apella, an assembly of All Spartiates over the age of 18, and served for life.
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