The Spartans and Thermopylae Military

Running Head : SPARTAN MILITARY AND THE BATTLE IN THERMOPYLAE

Spartan Military and the Battle in Thermopylae

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Social Structure in Ancient Sparta

Sparta is a city of ancient Greece . It is the capital of Laconia on the Eurotas River in the Peloponnesus . The Spartan city-state (polis ) is located in a fertile , mountain-walled valley , created by invading Dorian Greeks . It is known to have cradled the strongest militia who claimed to have built monuments in flesh - their greatest monuments were their

br citizens . As a manifestation of this strength , for a long time Spartans had no city walls and depended only for protection on the strength of their army against invaders and against their subjects , the Laconian and Messenian (Cartledge 2004

Although residing in a fertile soil , the increase in population in Sparta in the 8th century B .C demanded more fertile lands . They decided to take the neighboring lands which happened to be fertile but owned by the Messenians who weren 't eager to give up their land . For 10 years the Sparta and the Messenians fought over the property which ended with the victorious Sparta . Sparta turned the Messenians as subjects to comprise their agricultural labor force so the latter were known as "Helots . After some time , the Helots rebelled at the time the Spartan population was in decline . Although outnumbered by the Messenians in a ratio of 10 to 1 , Sparta still won the Second Messenian...