What did the Spartans fear?
Why did the Spartans fear the Messenians? The Spartans feared the Messenians because they feared they would have another revolt as helots.
What did Sparta fear the most?
All slave-owning societies fear a slave revolt. The Spartans had more to fear than most. The concerted militarism of their society wasn’t an expression of athletic prowess, or an ideal of strength. It was the way they stayed alive.
Who were the Spartans always afraid of?
Xenophon states that the Spartans’ fears were assuaged when they received aid from their allies and Boeotian mercenary forces. All the same, in 424 BC, the 700 helots who served Brasidas in Chalcidice were emancipated, and they were henceforth known as the “Brasidians”.
Why did Spartans fear that contact with other city-states would do?
The Spartans feared that contact with other city-states would lead to new ideas and weaken their government. Trading with Sparta was also diffi- cult because of its system of money.
What Fear changed Sparta way of living?
The helots rebelled many times. Although they greatly outnumbered the Spartans and fought hard, the Spartans put down the revolts. Fear of these revolts led Sparta to become a city-state that focused EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE ON BUILDING A STRONG ARMY.
Who did Sparta enslave?
helots
Helot, a state-owned serf of the ancient Spartans. The ethnic origin of helots is uncertain, but they were probably the original inhabitants of Laconia (the area around the Spartan capital) who were reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians.
Can Helot become a Spartan?
The Helots were slaves of the state, which assigned them to individual citizens to cultivate their lands. Their employers had no power to kill them, to sell them, or to set them free. The Neodamodeis, however, had no civil rights; and indeed it was but seldom that a Helot ever became a Spartan citizen.
Did Sparta fight Athens?
The Peloponnesian War was a war fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta—the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece at the time (431 to 405 B.C.E.). The war featured two periods of combat separated by a six-year truce.
What were slaves called in Sparta?
The helots were the slaves of the Spartans. Distributed in family groups across the landholdings of Spartan citizens in Laconia and Messenia, helots performed the labour that was the bedrock on which Spartiate leisure and wealth rested.
Why did the Spartans become a city state?
When they weren’t fighting another city-state, Spartans were honing their military skills in preparation for the next battle. Early in their history, a violent and bloody slave revolt caused the Spartans to change their society. A Spartan, Lycurgus, drafted a harsh set of laws that required total dedication to the state from its people.
What kind of reputation did the Spartans have?
The Spartans had a ruthless reputation around the ancient world. And it says a lot that their absolute efficiency in warfare is still so widely remembered today. But a reputation like that doesn’t come easily.
Why was the Spartan army so feared by the Greeks?
Subjected to military drills since early manhood, the Spartans became one of the most feared military forces in the Greek world. At the height of Sparta’s power – between the 6 th and 4 th centuries BC – other Greeks commonly accepted that “one Spartan was worth several men of any other state.”
What was the secret police of the Spartans?
The Spartans had a secret police known as the Krypteia who were responsible for keeping helots in check. They would kill any helot found in the countryside during the night and any helots who looked too strong and fit during the day. Perfect for the helot who likes to go to bed early and hates exercise.