Name______
Date______Period______
Sparta: A Way of Life
Spartan soldiers were the best in Greece, and they were very brave. They did not give up or run. They fought until they won—or died. Spartan fighters were trained to be that way from the time they were born. They were taught to become good soldiers and obey their leaders. They were not allowed to have any job or trade. That was for slaves. Spartan men had to be soldiers, and nothing else.
Why did Sparta raise its boys to become professional soldiers? Like other Greek city-states, Sparta did not have enough land to feed its people. Other city-states solved the problem by sending their “extra” people to overseas colonies. Sparta solved the problem another way: It made war on its neighbor, Messenia. Sparta took over the land of Messenia and made slaves of the people. There were about ten slaves for every Spartan citizen.
About 650 B.C., the slaves rebelled against their Spartan masters. It took the Spartans almost twenty years to put down the slaves. After that the Spartans lived in fear of other slave rebellions. They decided that they should have a strong army ready at all times, so the Spartans were trained to become tough soldiers and obey orders. They spent almost all of their time building their bodies. Spartan girls also had to have strong, healthy bodies. The Spartans cared very little about improving their minds. Usually they looked down on learning any new ideas.
This is how Agis, a Sparta boy was trained:
Soon after Agis was born, a group of Spartan leaders looked him over. They saw that he was a healthy baby and gave him back to his parents. Agis was lucky. Sick or weak Spartan babies, as was customary in Greece, were thrown into a deep hole, or left on the hillside to die.
Agis had nurses who did not spoil him. They taught him to be content with very plain food. They taught him not to fear the dark and never to cry.
At the age of seven, Agis had to leave home and live in a camp with the other young boys. He slept on a hard bed and wore very little clothing even in cold weather. A trainer taught him:
To stand pain,
To speak only when spoken to,
To answer in a few words,
To respect his elders without question,
To obey every order completely,
To harden his body, and
To eat very little.
When Agis became a teenager, he was sometimes sent to live alone in the woods. He was given no food. He had to find food, or steal it. If he didn’t, he would starve. If caught, he would be whipped. This was to train the future soldier to take care of himself.
Agis and the other boys in his camp played rough games. In one game, two teams of fifteen players each fought to keep a ball. There were no rules. Biting, punching and kicking were allowed and encouraged. The winning team was the one that had the ball when time was called. In another game, two teams fought each other on an island in a river. The team that pushed the other into the river won.
Spartan sports were not always so rough. Agis was taught to drill and exercise with music playing. Agis liked that. He and the other boys were taught to read and write, but they had very little use for books.
At eighteen, Agis reached manhood. He trained with the army and was allowed to let his hair grow long. Spartans believed that long hair was a sign of manliness. They liked to curl and adorn it too. At twenty-four, Agis became a first class soldier. At thirty, he became a full citizen. He was now allowed to live at home with his wife and young children. It was the first time since he was a small boy that he had lived in a real home.
Even so, Agis had to eat dinner every day with other soldiers rather than with his family. When war came, he had to put on his armor and march off. He had to serve in the army until he was sixty.
It was better for Agis not to give up or run away in battle. The Spartans were rough on “cowards.” Soldiers who quit in a battle lost all rights. Other Spartans would have nothing to do with them or their families Spartan women had the same spirit. When a soldier went to war, his mother told him: “Come back with your shield, or on it.”
Answer the following questions based upon the knowledge of Sparta that you acquired from this reading as well as your textbook.
1. True or False- All Spartan men had to be soldiers.
2. Why did Spartans feel that they needed to have a strong army ready at all times?
______
3. What happened to babies that were not healthy?
______
4. A boy left his home to begin training to become a soldier at the age of ______.
5. Name some of the things that a Spartan boy was expected to do.
1.______
2.______
3. ______
4.______
5.______
6. What kind of training did a Spartan boy receive as a teenager?______
7. A Spartan boy was able to wear long hair only after he reached age 18 because it symbolized ______.
8. A Spartan became a first class citizen at the age of ______.
9. Spartans served in the military until the age of ______.
10. What happened to cowards? ______
11.Thought Question- In what ways is military training different in the United States from that of Ancient Sparta?______
Using the diagram on social structure above, answer the following in complete sentences that reflect the questions.
1. Why do you suppose that only men of Spartan birth were regarded as citizens and outsiders were not truly accepted?
______
2. What types of jobs do you think that the perioikoi performed?
______
3. In Ancient Sparta a helot would be similar to a ______.
Answer the following questions from the pictures at the left and from things you have already learned:
Name______
Date______Period_____
Athens and Democracy
Rule by the people-A new way of government
“The World is full of wonders, but nothing is more wonderful than man.”
A Greek writer said this in the fifth century B.C. In one sentence, he summed up the most important beliefs of almost all Greeks:
Humans were something special;
They were worthy of honor and respect;
They were worthy of being free.
What made humans more wonderful than anything else the gods had made? A Greek would say: Only humans can build cities, create works of art, and develop sciences. They alone have the intelligence to guide their own lives and to know right from wrong.
Ideas such as these were very unusual in the world outside of Greece. In the Middle East and Egypt, people still bowed down to god-kings. The people never asked questions of their rulers.
The Greeks thought that such people were not much better than slaves. They believed that people could think and act for themselves. They could rule themselves better than any king could do. From these ideas came the idea of democracy, a Greek word meaning “rule by the people.” The Greeks too had once had kings, but by the 5th century B.C., most of the Greeks lived in small city-states in which free men ruled themselves. These city-states had the world’s first democratic governments.
After reading the introduction, answer the following questions. This must be done in complete sentences in order to get credit.
1. Why did the Greeks consider people special?
______
2. How did Greeks feel about being ruled by kings?
______
3. What new idea did the Greeks (especially the city-states of Athens) have about government?
______
Athens Sparta Study Guide
Athens, Sparta, or both: On this quest you will read statements about Athens and Sparta. You will respond with Athens, Sparta, or both. You will need to be able to tell if the statement applies to Athens, Sparta, or both. You will be able to find examples on page 12 of your packet.
Milestones of a Spartan Soldier: On this quest you will need to know the milestones of a Spartan soldier. From the beginning of a Spartan soldiers life to his end. You can find the milestones of a Spartan soldier on page 5 and 6 of your packet.
Important People and Places: Acropolis / Cleisthenes / Helots/ Perioikoi / Solon / Athena / Parthenon
Vocabulary: Polis / reforms / democracy / pure democracy / limited democracy / monarchy / aristocracy / Patriarchal
Map Identification: Athens / Sparta / Ionian Sea / Aegean Sea / Peloponnesus / Adriatic Sea (You can find your map of Ancient Greece on page one of your Early Greeks packet)
Athens and Sparta
Directions: Fill in the blank with the city-state of Athens or Sparta or both.
______1. City-state where boys studied music and poetry.
______2. People of this city-state went to plays and festivals.
______3. A newborn baby of this city-state could be left outside to die if it was not a strong child.
______4. People of this city-state built many statues and beautiful buildings.
______5. People of this city-state were known for being the bravest people in all of Greece.
______6. The most important job in this city-state was serving the city-state.
______7. Boys in this city-state had slaves who took them to school and helped them with their schoolwork.
______8. The people of this city-state did not care much about studying or learning new ideas.
______9. Boys of this city-state left home to live with other boys after the age of seven.
______10. Great thinkers, called philosophers, lived in this city-state.
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