Sparta

__ **Sparta** __ Enter ancient Greece, a land famous for democracy, philosophy, and war. Here in Greece is the birthplace of one of the fiercest civilizations to exist in the ancient world, Sparta, the home of the mighty Spartans, A city where war and brutality were taught and embraced to the highest degree, a city-state so cunning and ferocious that its power allowed it to take over Greece. Sparta was ultimately famous for its soldiers and wars to the modern world, but to the ancient world it was feared for the same reason and famous for its youth academy and its song, dance, and culture. Through and through, Sparta was a great and mighty civilization. Today in are world it is famous for stories such as the 300 Spartans and other heroic battles, but in the Ancient world it was admired for many different reasons. What is Sparta? __** Sparta was a city state located in Greece (“Ancient Greek”). It was also the first democracy predating every other Greek city state including Athens (Schrader). Sparta could be considered a democracy, monarchy, military oligarchy rolled into one (“Ancient Greek”). The city was originally founded with aristocra tic interests; they managed to keep a little bit of these ideas by keeping a lineage of two kings through its existence (“Ancient Greek”).
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Sparta is situated on the southern Peloponnesus (“Ancient Greek”). There were three types of people in Sparta. There were the helots, slaves that farmed food for the Sparta there whole life. Then there were the Periocci, these people were the merchants, traders and foreigners of Sparta. They were allowed more freedom then the helots. Finally there were the Spatiates, these men and women were the citizens of Sparta and had full political rights. However they were required to serve in the army if they were men (“Ancient Greek”). In Sparta boys were allowed to live with there mothers until the age of seven. Then they were taken to an academy for boys called the Ugoge. There the boys were trained to be Spartan soldiers until they hit the age of 20. Life in the academy was brutal. This was to prevent the boys from becoming to pamper. Boys were routinely beaten, and were forced to brawl and dance in the hot sun to toughen each other up. The where underfed and weren’t fed. They were expected to steal there food, and if caught they were beaten and punished. Finally to rap it all up they were forced to sleep on a bed of reeds on the ground (Brown). This System surprisingly was famous throughout ancient Greece. In Spartan women enjoyed exception rights that no other Greek women were allowed to. They received public education in other city states, and were allowed to engage in sports. They could influence political and economical activity. Husband of Spartan women took there wives opinions very seriously. Spartans were also famous for song and dance in the ancient world. They had the first recorded love poem from a Spartan poet to a Spartan maiden. Spartan use and mastery of rhetoric were also famous throughout Greece, many scholars collected Spartan saying and the “Laconic” style of speech (Schrader).
 * __ Where was Sparta and what was it like? __**

In 430 B.C., Sparta joined Athens to help fight off Might Persia. During one of the most famous battles in history, 300 Spartans held of thousands of Persians in a mountain pass in Thermopylae. According to legend, a Spartan was told that there was so many Persian archers that they would blot out the sun. The Spartan replied “Good. Then we will fight in the shade” (Brown). Spartans were a very militaristic people who where brutal and cunning. The power sent there King, Leonidas, and 300 of his personal body guard of his choosing. These men defended a small narrow pass called Thermopylae for 3 straight days. Because of the Olympics, it was a bad time for the Spartans to send there whole army. Thermopylae was a narrow pass that lead to a narrow sea strait between Euboea and the Mainland. It wasn’t only defended by the Spartans but also Thebes and Thespian’s, so about 4300 people were fortified at Thermopylae. When the Persian army came they offered free passage, but the Spartans held out. For sixth days they fought. On the sixth night the Immortals (Persian Elites) found a small pass that allowed them to catch the Spartans in a pincer, this lead to a Persian Victory. Leonidas was aware of this pincer coming. Determined to keep his promise to defend Thermopylae, he scarified his entire army of 300 Spartans and had the rest of the Greek forces leave. Ultimately Leonidas, his Spartans, and all who stayed were wiped out (Wilde).
 * __ Who were the 300 Spartans? __**

1.Ancient Greek Civilizations - Sparta." //Minnnesota State Unviversity Mankato//. Minnesota State University, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2010. . 4. Warner Bros. //Gerard Butler as King Leonidas in Warner Bros. Pictures' 300 - 2007//. 2007. Photograph. Yahoo Movies .com. 5. Wilde, Robert. "Historical Myths: The 300 Who Held Thermopylae." //About.com: European History//. The New York Times Company, Fall 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. .