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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 Spartans eventually breached the fortifications and entered the Theban countryside, devastating the Theban fields in their wake. Though the Athenians had at this time joined the Theban forces, they were still outnumbered by the Spartans; their combined forces numbering only at 1,700 cavalry, 12,000 hoplites, and around 5,000 light infantry.
Only native Spartans were considered full citizens and were obliged to undergo the training as prescribed by law, as well as participate in and contribute financially to one of the syssitia. [ 130 ] Sparta is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity, and some scholars claim that it was also the first to formalize pederasty. [ 131 ]
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.
In his reports on Plataea, he makes multiple accounts of Helots which accompanied the Spartans on the battlefield and made up the mass of the army. In Greek military practice, the standard depth of the army's phalanx was eight men, having known this, Herodotus deducted that there was a soldier ratio of seven Helots to one Spartan at Plataea.
Modern humans ventured into northern Europe under extremely cold climate conditions and were living side by side with Neanderthals more than 45,000 years ago, according to new evidence.
The word hoplite (Greek ὁπλίτης, hoplitēs) derives from hoplon (ὅπλον, plural hopla, ὅπλα) meaning the arms carried by a hoplite [1] Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greek City-states (except Spartans who were professional soldiers). They were primarily armed as spear-men and fought in a phalanx (see below).