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A passage in Suetonius reveals that the Spartans were clients of the powerful patrician clan of the Claudii. Octavians's wife Livia was a member of the Claudii which might explain why Sparta was one of the few Greek cities that backed Octavian first in the war against Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC then in the war against Mark Antony in 30 BC. [143]
The perioeci were allowed to maintain their own infrastructures, administrative arrangements and local economy, but had to pay tribute to Sparta and provide soldiers for the military. The homoioi were the citizens of Sparta. [2] [better source needed] They were the elite class and were the only deserving of the title Spartan. As a result, the ...
The groin and throat were among the favorite targets. According to Plutarch when a Spartan was asked why his sword was so short he replied, "So that we may get close to the enemy." [45] In another, a Spartan complained to his mother that the sword was short, to which she simply told him to step closer to the enemy.
The vast majority of cities did as asked, fearing the wrath of Darius. In Athens, however, the ambassadors were put on trial and then executed; in Sparta, they were simply thrown down a well. [47] This firmly and finally drew the battle-lines for the coming conflict; Sparta and Athens, despite their recent enmity, would together fight the Persians.
The names of the men whose ‘ransom’ had been paid were called out individually. However, when an Argive hoplite stepped out of the Sacred Grove, they were executed by the Spartans. [ 6 ] According to Herodotus, at least fifty Argive men were deceived by this strategy, until one of the men inside the grove climbed a tree and witnessed what ...
Thus the need to keep the helot population in check and to prevent rebellion were major concerns of the Spartans. Helots were ritually mistreated and humiliated. Every autumn the Spartan polis declared war on the helots, allowing them to be killed and abused by members of the Crypteia without fear of religious repercussion.
Until the early 20th century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the theatre, of which, however, little showed above ground except portions of the retaining walls; the so-called Tomb of Leonidas, a quadrangular building, perhaps a temple, constructed of immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; the foundation of an ancient ...
The Theban hegemony; power-blocks in Greece in the decade up to 362 BC.. In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, the militaristic city-state of Sparta had been able to impose a hegemony over the heartland of Classical Greece (the Peloponessus and mainland Greece south of Thessaly), the states of this area having been severely weakened by the war.