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debunking Sparta
2019-12-18 12:10The acoup blogger who analyzed the siege of Gondor and the unrealism of Westeros[1] has more recently given us a seven part series debunking the myths of Spartan equality, virtue, and military prowess. Long but worthwhile. I'll try to call out some highlights:
* Spartans wrote very little, our sources are mostly aristocratic (anti-democratic) Athenians, and Plutarch centuries later. Xenophon was buddies with one of the Spartan kings. So bias.
* Spartan "education" resembles nothing so much as modern indoctrination of child soldiers, except starting at an even younger age. Physical and probably sexual abuse, sealed with ritual murder. The eldest sons of the kings were exempted, perhaps because it was too dangerous.
* Child soldiers are left with loyalty to the system and "emotionally stunted, prone to violence and social isolation – as well as conformist and inflexible" -- so that probably applies to the entire Spartan ruling class.
* The adult male citizens, Spartiates, are but a few percent of the population, if that. 5000-ish of them vs. 200,000 helots. Athens' citizen:slave ratio was maybe 1:1, Sparta's even counting women and children was no better than 1:5, maybe 1:16. Basically "Spartans" are a tiny wealthy aristocracy, even by the standard of other Greek city-states.
* Spartiates were forbidden any productive labor, and we have records of them excoriating other free people for working; Lysander was shocked Cyrus gardened as a hobby.
* Economic equality among Spartan citizens is a myth; all the written sources place it in the past of the writer, and archaeology doesn't support even that much.
* Spartiate women probably did have things better than other Greek citizen-class women, but most women in Sparta were helots, who probably had it worse than other slaves. Killing a slave in Athens or Rome was legally murder, but not in Sparta. There was a whole legally defined free sub-class of 'bastards' from the rape of helot women by Spartan men.
* There are some societies where one could argue "they had slaves but that's just a flaw, not essential." Not Sparta: slaves were the vast majority; more helot women than all free classes of Sparta combined. And the Spartan way of life completely depended on having helots working their land and providing clothing -- Spartan women didn't even weave. They also used free non-citizens and even helots to fill out their armies.
* Two Spartans survived Thermopylae via being absent *on orders*. Nonetheless they were driven to suicide.
* As soldiers, Spartan citizens were probably healthier than others (because wealthier) and their phalanxes were a bit more maneuverable (a low bar); but their combined arms, operations, and diplomacy were worse than other Greeks (also low bars). Their record in winning major battles is like 50%, a coin toss. They struggled to stay in the field even in favorable circumstances and reliably alienated their allies.
* In the end, they did more to turn Greece over to Persian influence than anyone.
* Basically Greek North Korea, a self-abusing terror state producing nothing of value.
[1] Makes an argument somewhere that despite a lack of "Aragorn's tax policy", Tolkien's familiarity with old works, plus his detailed attention to geography, means his military is more in the realm of the possible than Martin's: the force sizes are realistic, their movements are either realistic or explicitly epic.
* Spartans wrote very little, our sources are mostly aristocratic (anti-democratic) Athenians, and Plutarch centuries later. Xenophon was buddies with one of the Spartan kings. So bias.
* Spartan "education" resembles nothing so much as modern indoctrination of child soldiers, except starting at an even younger age. Physical and probably sexual abuse, sealed with ritual murder. The eldest sons of the kings were exempted, perhaps because it was too dangerous.
* Child soldiers are left with loyalty to the system and "emotionally stunted, prone to violence and social isolation – as well as conformist and inflexible" -- so that probably applies to the entire Spartan ruling class.
* The adult male citizens, Spartiates, are but a few percent of the population, if that. 5000-ish of them vs. 200,000 helots. Athens' citizen:slave ratio was maybe 1:1, Sparta's even counting women and children was no better than 1:5, maybe 1:16. Basically "Spartans" are a tiny wealthy aristocracy, even by the standard of other Greek city-states.
* Spartiates were forbidden any productive labor, and we have records of them excoriating other free people for working; Lysander was shocked Cyrus gardened as a hobby.
* Economic equality among Spartan citizens is a myth; all the written sources place it in the past of the writer, and archaeology doesn't support even that much.
* Spartiate women probably did have things better than other Greek citizen-class women, but most women in Sparta were helots, who probably had it worse than other slaves. Killing a slave in Athens or Rome was legally murder, but not in Sparta. There was a whole legally defined free sub-class of 'bastards' from the rape of helot women by Spartan men.
* There are some societies where one could argue "they had slaves but that's just a flaw, not essential." Not Sparta: slaves were the vast majority; more helot women than all free classes of Sparta combined. And the Spartan way of life completely depended on having helots working their land and providing clothing -- Spartan women didn't even weave. They also used free non-citizens and even helots to fill out their armies.
* Two Spartans survived Thermopylae via being absent *on orders*. Nonetheless they were driven to suicide.
* As soldiers, Spartan citizens were probably healthier than others (because wealthier) and their phalanxes were a bit more maneuverable (a low bar); but their combined arms, operations, and diplomacy were worse than other Greeks (also low bars). Their record in winning major battles is like 50%, a coin toss. They struggled to stay in the field even in favorable circumstances and reliably alienated their allies.
* In the end, they did more to turn Greece over to Persian influence than anyone.
* Basically Greek North Korea, a self-abusing terror state producing nothing of value.
[1] Makes an argument somewhere that despite a lack of "Aragorn's tax policy", Tolkien's familiarity with old works, plus his detailed attention to geography, means his military is more in the realm of the possible than Martin's: the force sizes are realistic, their movements are either realistic or explicitly epic.