The Life of a Spartan Citizen (700BC-371BC)

• At the center of the life of all Spartans was the city-state and the military. This emphasis
on military fitness began at birth.

• When a baby was born it was dipped into a tub of wine; if the baby could survive this test
it was brought before the Gerousia who would decide whether it should be reared. ‘Puny
and deformed’ offspring were usually thrown into a chasm on Mount Taygetos known as
the ‘Apothetae’ from the Greek word ‘αποθετας’ or ‘deposits’. Some unwanted babies were
given to the helots to be brought up as slaves. This was effectively the first recorded
instance of a systematic eugenics policy by a state.

• Having completed the Agoge, a Spartan man aged somewhere between eighteen and
twenty would be subjected to a tough test of military fitness and strength. If he passed it he
would become a member of one of the syssitia, or dining messes. If he did not pass he
would become a perioikos.

• The syssition and its purpose was described by Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus: The
public mess-halls were divided into tables of fifteen men. Each man was required to bring
a quota of food and wine every month. The Spartans would send their children to these
tables as to a school of wisdom. There, they would listen to the men discuss the business
of the state, and they learned how to talk politely and to the point like men. Especially
important was giving and taking jokes with good humor. To insure frankness, the oldest
man said to each of them as they came in: "Through this (pointing at the door) no words
go out." The main meal eaten at the syssition was the ‘black broth’ which consisted of
pork, salt, vinegar and blood boiled together. Game, poultry and fruit were also served
following this.

• The other members of the syssition (or pheiditia φειδίτια, from ἔδω / edō, to eat, as
they were known in Sparta) also held a vote as to approve any new memberships. Plutarch
describes the process in his Life of Lycurgus: ‘Whenever anyone requested to be admitted
to one of these little societies, the members took a vote on him by secret ballot. Each
member threw a ball of dough into a bowl, and signified disapproval by squashing the ball
flat. If any ball in the bowl had been squashed, the candidate failed.’

• While they were between the ages of twenty and thirty, male Spartan citizens were on
active military duty and were known as eirens. They ate, slept and trained with their fellow
soldiers in the barracks. One they turned thirty, they became part of the militia, a sort of
reserve for times of need, and were known as equals, or homoioi. They were required to
marry at that age, and assumed the full duties and privileges of Spartan citizenship at that
age, such as being able to participate in the city-state’s government. At this age they were
also allowed to live in a separate house with their wife and children.

• Men who did not marry were publicly humiliated by women, who sang degrading songs
about them. They were also banned from festivals and were forced to parade naked in te
streets in winter singing that that their disobedience deserved such punishment.
 The Life of a Spartan Citizen (700BC-371BC)
• Indeed, the duty to bear children was almost as important as the duty to die for Sparta.
Men who fathered three sons were exempt from military duty, and men who fathered four
sons exempt from all taxes.

• Spartan clothing was no different to any aspect of their life: it was plain and simple. Most
Spartiates would have had one cloak, which was was handmade with great effort. It was
not uncommon to borrow the neighbour’s cloak while yours was being washed.

• Houses: Lycurgus stated that a house’s ceiling could be fashioned only from an axe,
gates and doors only with a saw. This would have made a Spartan’s house look very plain
and simple, to the extent that ornate furniture would look so out of place that it would not
be worth having.

• Music, like everything else, was moulded to re-enforce the Spartan ideal of bravery and
sacrifice for Sparta. It tended to be choral, and competitions were held between choruses.
It was also used to instil discipline, much like the armies of today. The songs of Tyrtaeus
were used to encourage bravery in battle and would have been sung around the tables of
the syssition.

• Military service carried on until the age of sixty. Few Spartans would have lived far past
that age.

• Spartan life can be summarised in three words: austere, militaristic and communistic.
Plutarch put it beautifully in this section of ‘Lycurgus’: ‘To be brief,-he did accustom his
citizens so, that they neither would nor could live alone, but were in manner as men
incorporated one with another, and were always in company together, as the bees be
about their maister bee: still in a continual love to serve their country, to win honour, and to
advance the common-weal. ‘