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THE SPARTAN STATE
Other Greeks regarded Sparta with fear and admiration because it was like a huge army camp. Its government was an odd mix of oligarchy, monarchy and democracy.
GOVERNMENT IN SPARTA
Sparta was a city-state in the Peloponnesian Peninsula. The center of Sparta was inland, and Sparta was not a sea power. Neither a democracy. Sparta was ruled by 2 kings. The kings served as military leaders. A Spartan army seldom marched into battle without one its kings as its leader. The kings were the head of Sparta's governing body called the Council of Elders. The council included 28 men over the age of 60. Members were elected for life. This oligarchy was the true government of Sparta. It had a democratic assembly made up of some free adult men. But it had only 9,000 citizens compared to 45,000 citizens that Athens had, this made the Athenian Assembly stronger than the Spartan.
The Spartan Assembly elected 5 EPHORS: responsibles for the day to day operation of the government, they made sure that the kings and the council acted within the limits of Spartan laws. Ephors could remove a king who broke the law.
MILITARY CONQUESTS
To meet its growing need of resources, Sparta turned to Conquest. Spartans conquered the neighboring city of Messenia. Some Messenians became HELOTS: belonged not to individual Spartans but to the polis as a whole. They were forced to farm land and turn over half food they raised to Sparta. They were treated harshly. They were made to wear dogskincaps to show their low status.
THE HELOT REVOLTS
In the early 400's B.C, the Helots launched a violent revolt. Although the Spartans put down the revolt, they lived in fear of further unrest. The Spartans faced a choice: They could give up control of the Helots and the food they produced, or they could strengthen their control turning Sparta into a military state. MILITARY STATE: a society organized for th purpose of waging war. Spartans chose the second option. Not only they created a military state, they also tried to control Helots through terror. Every year the Ephors declared war on Helots. This gave Spartans the right to kill any helts without fear of punishment.