Sparta questions?

Question

Did they have a democracy / no slavery as described in the movie?

Would a woman really have had power in Sparta?

Was there actually a war between the Persians and the Spartans?

Is there any real evidence that the 300 men fought off the entire Persian army?

Did they really train young boys to be soldiers at a young age?

Are there any other details in the movie that are historically accurate???

Answer 1

1. Only democracy in a qualified sense-- an aristocratic elite were allowed to vote and only in limited circumstances.

2. Sparta was a slave state whose economy was dependent on slavery.

3. Women were not full participants in Spartan political life, and their cultural significance was primarily as wives and mothers.

4. The story of the Spartan resistance to the Persians at Thermopyle is true. But the presentation in the movie "300" is highly dramatized, almost to the point of becoming fictional.

5. Yes. All Spartan male children were subjected to cruel and rigorous training for battle.

6. A detail that was not addressed, in fact it was somewhat denied, was that Spartan military culture openly encouraged homosexual relationships among its troops because it was believed that the level of emotional attachment to their companions made the men better fighters.

7. Further, the Spartans were not fighting for "reason against mysticism." King Leonides went off to battle because the oracle of Delphi told him that either a king would die at Sparta or Sparta would be destroyed. In other words, his motivations for fighting, was largely about his obedience to the gods-- and if that isn't considered "mysticism over reason", I don't know what is.

Answer 2

The Spartan Constitution is most commonly dated to the early 7th century BC.

Furthermore, Sparta was the only Greek city-state to introduce a land reform, dividing property equally among its citizens.

The native population were relegated to the status of agricultural slavery, or helots, which only amounted to a life of meek serfdom.

Scandalous" Spartan Women
In no other Greek city-state did women enjoy the same freedom and privileges of Spartan women.

Only in Sparta did girls receive public education—in other city-states, most women were completely illiterate.

Only in Sparta were girls allowed to engage in sports.

Only in Sparta did women possess economic power and influence.

395-386 -- Corinthian War: Corinth, Boeotia, Argos and Athens backed by Persia against Sparta

400-387 -- War of Sparta against Persia.

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers (Number vary). The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks.

Children were children of the state more than of their parents. They were raised to be soldiers, loyal to the state, strong and self-disciplined.

It began in infancy. When a Spartan baby was born, soldiers came to the house and examined it carefully to determine its strength.The baby was bathed in wine rather than water, to see its reaction. If a baby was weak, the Spartans exposed it on the hillside or took it away to become a slave (helot).


did not see the movie yet.

Answer 3

They had a kind of democracy but not like the rest of greece. woman did not have all the rights of men but they had more than other greek woman.
Yes
All of a males life was dedicated to war

Answer 4

You might want to read of the power of Greek women and especially Spartan women in Aristophanes "Lysistrata."