The Ancients - Life in Sparta

Episode Date: July 22, 2021

A legendary city-state in Ancient Greece, we associate Sparta with fierce warriors in battle. But what about the everyday? In this second episode with Professor Stephen Hodkinson, we discuss the eating habits, training and even kingship of Sparta. Stephen is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nottingham.Part 1 - The Truth About Spartan Society: https://podfollow.com/the-ancients/episode/f08dc2f18e4fabe1ecf7ee5bd91d88bc44b2f2b2/view

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like The Ancients ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. what is still being debated. And in this second part, we're going to be focusing in on Spartan food. We're going to be looking at the Spartan military training. We're going to be looking at the mess hall. And we're also going to be looking at the highest levels of Spartan society. We're going to be looking at the kings and the ephors. So without further ado, here is the ancient Sparta guru, that is Stephen Hodkinson.

Stephen, it is an absolute pleasure to have another eminent Spartan historian on the show. It's really great to be here talking to you, Tristan. I'd like to dissect a few truth versus myth, fact versus fiction elements of classical Spartan society. And one thing I'd really like to focus on, and you actually mentioned them earlier, which seems pretty distinctive for classical Greek city-states, was the fact that Sparta had kings. Yes, they had two kings, in fact, yes. Ranging at the same time, two different royal houses, fact, yes. Ranging at the same time, two different royal houses, the Aegead and the Europontid royal houses. Sparta's not totally unusual in having leaders like this. It's unusual in having two kings, but there are certain cities elsewhere in the Greek world, such as Cyrene in North Africa, that had kings down until the middle of the 5th century. And there were kind of quasi-kings in the form of

tyrants who arose in various cities in the Archaic and in the Classical and Hellenistic periods from time to time. So the idea of individual rulers is not totally absent from Greek politics. But the two kings of Sparta are unusual. We really don't know much about their origins, Two kings of Sparta are unusual. We really don't know much about their origins. So we need to just focus on what they did in the classical period. And they're military leaders, but they're also so much more. They're religious leaders too.

They hold some of the main priesthoods. They do sacrifices on behalf of the polis. They have ritual privileges. They're the first to be served at public banquets, they have double portions. As for their military roles they have the right to lead regular campaigns of the Lacedaemonian army and originally both kings went out on campaign together but this was changed because of what happened on an expedition against Athens around 506 BC what happened on an expedition against Athens around 506 BC, when one king, Columnines, called out the expedition on his own, effectively, but the other king, Damaratus, went with him.

And on the point of battle against the Athenians, the Spartans' Corinthian allies withdrew from the battle, and King Damaratus followed suit. then seeing this the other eyes also followed Damaratus and the expedition collapsed. It was a fiasco. So after this the Spartans introduced a law whereby only one king could henceforth go out with the army and this undermined part of the king's powers vis-a-vis war because formerly they may have had the right even to declare war on their own account. Now that only one could go out and it was the effort who chose which of the two kings went out with the army, this effectively removed the king's power to declare war because one king might declare war but the effort could then choose another king to actually get out the army which would frustrate the purposes of the original king. So from after about 500 BC, it's just one king that goes out

with any army. The kings also have political roles. They sit on the Council of Elders, the Gerizia, and they're also part of the limited group that's able to speak at meetings of the assembly. So that's a brief summary of the powers of the limited group that's able to speak at meetings of the assembly. So that's a brief summary of the powers of the kings. And you mentioned the Eiffels there. Who were the Eiffels? Well, they're the five executive officials elected from all the adult citizens. They perform a wide range of duties in internal and in foreign affairs. They preside over the assembly meetings, they call out the army after the assembly has declared war, they choose which king should lead the army, they're members of the supreme court along with the members of the guerrilla,

and it's they that deal with things that come up unexpectedly. We see them in one case dealing with a conspiracy that's suddenly discovered. They also deal with foreign affairs. They receive foreign ambassadors. And two of the five F4s, I should have said at the start there were five of them, two of the five F4s go out with the king on campaign, keeping an eye on what the king is doing. Now, these are immense powers, and some sort of even liken the F4s to tyrants, but they're in office only for one year, and they can't be re-elected. Also, although some of the F4s come from the leading families, many are ordinary or quite poor Spartan citizens, and so their actions may be limited by the fear of what will happen to them

when they're out of office if they cross a powerful person like a king. So Stephen, apart from the kings and the ephors, what were the other main forms of government, the main political bodies in classical Sparta? Well, there were two others. There was the Council of Elders, the Gerizia, and then there was the Popular Assembly. As for the Gerizia, they're a council of 30 men, the two kings are members, and the others are Spartans who are all over the age of 60. And these are elected for life. When a vacancy occurs as a competition, each of the candidates appears before the assembly and they shout for those that they want, and judges in an enclosed room judge which shout was the largest. Their political role is that in principle they decide what motions go before the

assembly, but there's a bit of mystery in that they're rarely mentioned in historical accounts, and some historians think that they were normally bypassed, at least as regards foreign affairs. But certainly in internal affairs, they're more prominent. On the occasion I mentioned earlier, where the F4s had to deal with a conspiracy, they quickly call together as many of the elders as they can to give them advice. And the elders, along with the F4s and the kings, form the Supreme Court that judges capital cases. And the elders, along with the efforts and the kings, form the Supreme Court that judges capital cases. And in general, to be an elder is a very prestigious position. It's the peak of a Spartiate's career. It shows the esteem in which you're held by your fellow citizens who can view

the entirety of your life up to age 60. And then there's the Assembly, which is the meeting of all adult citizens. It's the place where all key decisions are made, especially in foreign affairs, making alliances, declaring war, and so on. Precisely how it operates is a bit uncertain. It wasn't a democratic Assembly. The Assembly could only say yes or no to motions put to it. It couldn't amend motions. It couldn't propose new motions from the floor. Also, only a limited number of officials could speak. So the kings, the affords,

the elders, and perhaps anyone who was specially invited by them. The only time that the Assembly got to hear an independent voice was when it was addressed by foreign ambassadors. And the voting is very distinctive. The Assembly votes by shouting. The loudest shout, yes or no, wins. And it's often dismissed as a rather primitive means, and in some senses it is an early means but it has a function.

I think it preserves harmony. It takes depth of feeling into account. So for example, imagine an issue where there's a large minority, say 48%, who are really passionate about an issue that they can potentially outvote a majority who might be only mildly in favour of the opposite decision. So it prevents a large passionate minority from feeling really disenchanted and fermenting discord. It does sound quite limited, the Assembly, from what you're saying, the amount of people who can actually participate.

the assembly in, from what you're saying, the amount of people who can actually participate? Well, it's only full Spartan citizens. It doesn't include the Paranoikoi, who are not citizens of Sparta, and it obviously doesn't include the helots, and it's only Spartan males. It's uncertain at what age you became a member of the assembly, whether it was age 20 or age 30, but certainly only the males from the elite Spartan group. So 8,000 men at its peak and down to below 1,000 when we get after the Battle of Lutra. Let's talk about food, food and drink. Now, truth or myth, is it the case that Spartan food was as terrible as some ancient sources suggest? Well, you're thinking of the infamous black broth, and that was certainly reckoned to be disgusting by some of the Spartans, but our evidence for this is all late sources. It's either Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus,

or it's the Spartan sayings, or other other late sources. Now the black broth is probably a genuine part of the Spartan meal. It forms part of an extra second course. It seems to be referred to by Aristophanes in his Comedy of the Knights from the late 5th century where he seems to make a pun on its name, zomos meaning soup. And most of the sources however are late and the anecdotes around it they involve an outsider coming to Sparta who thinks oh I'm going to have this marvellous sort of Spartan soup and he finds it really disgusting and he becomes the butt of the joke that you know he's too feeble and sort of hasn't undergone the tough Spartan training that makes this soup be delicious. But it's only a small additional part of a typical Spartan meal. The Spartans had their main meal of the day in the evening

in the common messes, one of the common institutions. And this was attended by all Spartans, rich or poor. And the primary meal was quite plain. It was subsistence foodstuffs only, so barley meal, wine, watered-down course, cheese, figs, and no doubt olive oil mixed into the cereal to make it tasty. And sometimes there was this extra course of which the black broth was sometimes part, but this extra course depended largely upon

voluntary donations by your messmates. And by mess, we're talking about a group of 15 or so men dining together. And if one of your messmates was successful in hunting, he would bring back the meat gained in the hunt and donate it to the mess. And likewise, the richer members of your mess might donate wheat and bread. Wheat was a more luxurious, lighter cereal than barley, but it was less drought tolerant. So ordinary Greeks, including ordinary Spartans, grew barley, and only the rich Spartans had extra lands that they could devote to growing wheat, but they could then use it to patronise their messmates by giving them special extra donations. And going back to the black broth, the story in Plutarch is that some of the older Spartans got so attached to the black broth that

they would part on their meat donation and let the younger men have the meat and they'd be happy just eating this gorgeous black broth. An interesting little story, if I can have a personal aside, is that back in 2010, I was awarded citizenship of Modern Sparta. And as part of the celebration, the hotel where we had the meal afterwards tried to recreate this black broth. I mean, they did a much better job. It was actually quite tasty.

But it's a thing that modern Spartans are still aware of and think is part of the Spartan tradition. Amazing. Yeah, that tradition which has continued on to modern day. Have you heard of the teenage werewolf prosecuted in 1603? Did you know that the 17th century British government relied heavily on female spies? And do you want to know about chin-chucking and thigh sex? Of course you do.

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almost quasi-mandatory for adult Spartans as a means of keeping fit, keeping as fit as the younger men to take part in battle. And here the key thing to note is that hunting took place on foot, not on horseback, And you went out with your hunting dogs and the chase on foot over many hours kept you battle fit. But what's interesting is that not all Spartans were rich enough to afford hunting dogs. So if you were a poorer Spartan, you'd have to invite a richer Spartan to come on hunting with you and along with his dogs and Xenophon says that if the other Spartan, which is Spartan, already had prior engagements he would send his hunting dogs for the poorer Spartans to use as part of the communal sharing of certain

items of property. I guess once again it goes back to what you were saying earlier about the social hierarchy between the helots, periorica and the Spartans, but also how there is this social hierarchy within the Spartans themselves. Yes, now in principle all Spartans are men of leisure. In principle they all have enough land and enough helots to work the land to provide the necessary food contributions to the messes. But within that, certain men have greater capacities. And we see this in many aspects of daily life. There's clear evidence of certain richest Spartans becoming patrons of other ones, the kings most obviously, because of their power, and members of the elders and so on.

And this is partly why Spartan leisure activity, it certainly doesn't involve continuous military training. There's a lot of socialising. You want to develop good links if you're an ordinary Spartan with a wealthier patron who would lend you his hunting dog so you can keep fit for battle, who you might, if you were lucky, be able to marry into his family to boost your own

family's wealth. If you fell into hard times, your patron might help you out with your mess contribution so that you didn't lose your own citizen rights. And so we see quite a lot of the socialising and we see ordinary Spartans going to seek audiences with a king when he's having his early morning bathe. So Spartan leisure activities involve a lot of private concerns, not just public concerns. We hear of Spartans who are doing business in Niagara, Spartans who are out on their estates supervising their helots. That's vitally important to make sure the helots produce

the right mess contributions to attain your system status. So the Spartans have a lot of social and economic concerns to which they devote their leisure time. And in addition, they do things that rich Greeks in other cities do. They take part in wrestling in the gymnasium. They take part in team ball games. And a Spartan particularity, they take part in choral singing and dancing. Choirs in Spartan involve dancing while you sing, and the Spartans are particularly known for their love of dancing. One early poet says the Spartan is like a cicada, always eager for the dance. Good for them. Something you never really hear about, do you, as well? That's amazing.

And I think to wrap it all up all about spartan society there's one aspect that i do need to ask about which is the education and the famous supposed warrior education of the classical spartan is this accurate well the answer is yes and no i'll start with the yes the sp Spartans had the only public education system in classical Greece, and it applied to both boys and girls. In other cities, education was in the hands of the family and of private tutors. Now, the public education of the girls was distinctive for including running and writing, I'm sorry, running and wrestling, I should say, and for being conducted in the open, outdoors, visible to all, and that obviously shocked other Greeks. Sadly, we don't have much further details about the girls' education. We have more about the

boys. It was controlled by a public official, the Paidonomos. It ran from age 7 to age 30. a public official, the Paidonomos. It ran from age 7 to age 30. It had three stages. For the youngest boys, 7 to 14, it was very harsh, physical punishment, deprivations, going barefoot, wearing the same sort of cloak in both summer and winter, so you were too cold in winter and too hot in summer, being deprived of food so that you'd make up for it by stealing. For the next stage, about 14 to 19, its aim is to crush teenage Bolshinists. The Pardiscoi, as they're known, are given an unending round of work.

Their behaviour is meant to be demure, hands inside their cloaks, eyes on the ground, in total silence. And in Conor Carr's third stage, the Hibontes in their 20s, they're meant to be very competitive. 300 of them are selected every year to form the elite hippace who fight around the king. who fight around the king. And those not selected are expected to be at strife with those who were selected and scuffles break out in the street and so on. So very prescribed behaviours and very distinctive. So that's the yes, it's a distinctive public education. But I should say that it's aimed at educating not just the warrior, but the whole citizen. The qualities of respect, of shame, of obedience, apply to civil as well as military life.

Now, the no, in terms of the education not being distinctive, is that the public education covered only the physical side. And that's what captures the attention of ancient writers because it's exotic and unusual. But there's also enough evidence to show that alongside it was a normal elementary education in reading, writing, numbers, poetry, music, song, dance, that any Greek boy would receive. And it's possible, although the evidence isn't totally clear, that this elementary education was in the hands of the family, not the state. So that's the yes and the no. I finally should mention the issue of pederasty, which according to Plutarch at age 12, a boy was adopted by a young man, probably in his 20s. And Sparta wasn't exceptional in having

these relationships. They are attested among the wealthy elite in many Greek cities. It varies as to whether they have a sexual component or not. And whether or not it involves sex, it has an important social role in acculturating the teenager into the ways of being a young adult citizen and what are the norms that you need to adhere to, how should you behave and so on. And in Sparta it had a special function in that it seems to be, if not compulsory at least, very much the norm for all citizens and it may well have been linked to your membership of a common mess, in that when you were age 20 and seeking to apply to a common mess, you probably applied to the mess to which your older lover belonged. In fact, you've probably been attending

that on a probationary basis during your teenage years, so that the existing messmates could decide whether they really wanted you to join their mess or not. From what you're saying from start to finish, it really does feel like the mess was right at the heart of Spartan or classical Spartan culture. Absolutely, it is, yes. As I've said, it's the defining criteria of being a citizen, and it also brings harmony into the system, in that each mess of about 15 men, it comprises all ages. So that you apply to join when you're age 20. If you're lucky and you're not blackballed, you join the mess, you stay in that same mess for the whole of your life. And then as older members die, younger members join. and this mixing of young and old helps to

break down some of the discord that there is in other cities between the youth and the old and the older messmates can keep an eye on the younger ones. The other thing is that the messmates also fight together in the same unit of the army the smallest endermostia, has 30 odd men, so perhaps two or maybe three messes. And so the people who dine together also fight together. And that's very interesting when you think in terms of the army, because you'd imagine that it would be the state or the king or the generals who would decide which spartiate went into which army unit. But in fact, it's a bottom-up exercise. Your army unit is decided by which mess you're elected to by the ordinary citizens who are in that mess. So that's just one further way in which, although much in Sparta is controlled by the state,

there's also a fair amount of room for bottom-up initiative, which we often forget about. I guess it really emphasises that interconnected nature between Spartan society and the Spartan military. I'm afraid we can't really get into the Spartan military in this podcast. We haven't got enough time, but I'm sure we can revisit it at a later date. Professor Stephen Hodkinson, leading light on ancient Sparta. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Well, thank you, Tristan. Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова