Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with the chosen one. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favor of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king of Sparta.
Later, Hermione married Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Clytemnestra had Agamemnon murdered after his return from Troy and Orestes avenged his father’s death by having his mother murdered eight years later. Hermione’s son Tisamenus ruled Sparta until the Heraclidae invaded the Peloponnesus. The Heraclidae were the grandsons of Herakles. They claimed the Peloponesus because of descent from Alcmena, the mother of Herakles and daughter of a Mycenaean king. As a result of their victory they divided up the Peloponesus. Then the twin sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles jointly ruled and set up the lines of the historical kings of Sparta.
After graduation, the soldier could marry, but still he ate the evening meal with his 288 man Lochos. Each soldier took his turn finding food for the meal which usually featured the Spartan “black” broth, made of pig’s blood, pork, and vinegar. No Spartan soldier worked; work was for the helots. The soldiers needed only to train, socialize with their peers, and go to war. It was agreed that war was a relief from having to train, and much easier.
Aristotle was critical of the Spartan system, saying, “The Spartans turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of a city’s life, end up making them inferior to even that”. True enough, but Aristotle was looking through the lens of his own time rather than the past when an army was the foundation of the polis. It’s interesting that the Spartans built their political system when the military was most important to the state, but then never evolved because their system was so stable.
And austerity – in spades! Spartan youth were allotted one cloak per year and slept on a bed of rushes gathered from the riverbank. All had to find their own food or steal it, whatever was required. And no alcohol -- only the helots could drink, so they could set an example of bad behavior.
Immediately upon hearing of the defeat at Thermopylae, Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies began building a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth. The first step was to block the Scironian Way, an important road connecting Megara to Corinth. Then the wall itself was started – 3.6 miles long. Herodotus tells us the wall was mostly complete as the Battle of Salamis approached.
The Greek commander, Themistocles, concerned that the Peloponnesian Navy would not fight, removed their chance of escape by conning the Persians. He sent a false message to the Persian commander declaring that he was disloyal and letting them know that the Greek Navy was about to withdraw. He suggested that if the Persians attacked quickly they could destroy the Greeks. The Persians believed the story and immediately sent their fleet into the Saronic Sea near Athens. The Spartans, trapped by the blockade, were forced to fight along side the rest of the Greek Navy. The result was a great victory and the end of the Persian advance into Southern Greece.
Were the Spartans Penniless?
We’ve talked about money on this blog before: specifically how the Romans used bronze coins until they converted to silver in the late third century B.C. The Greeks were way ahead of the Romans, producing silver coins in the mid-sixth century B.C. They were early active traders, while the Romans did not trade in earnest until the time of the Punic Wars.
What about the Spartans? What was their coinage and how did they use money?
Sparta was a closed society. It used Messenian people (Helots) as an underclass, so the elite could spend their time on military training. There was also another race tightly connected to the Spartans – The Perioeci. These people lived primary in the hills around Sparta as autonomous cities, and also controlled the important Laconian Island of Cythera. They had no foreign policy of their own but served in the Spartan Army.
More importantly the Perioeci acted as the merchants for the Spartans, who shunned practical business dealing. The Spartans did not like money and had no coinage of their own. According to tradition, the man who designed the Spartan government, Lycurgus, banned gold and silver coins as decadent. From that time until the third century B.C. the Perioeci used awkward iron bars as currency for Spartan transactions. After the third century, the Spartans began to strike their own coins.
After losing 400 ships in storms, the Persians struggled to keep their fleet together but were finally able to anchor at Aphetae at the Southeast point of Thessaly. The Greeks located themselves across the Straight of Artemisium so they could block Persian path to Phocis and Boetia. In an initial skirmish on the first day, the Greeks were able to capture 30 Persian ships. Stung by the defeat at the hands of such a small force, the Persians put a larger battle fleet together and fought the Greeks to a draw on the third day. The Greeks could not afford a draw because they had fewer ships, so they were considering a withdrawal when they heard about the military defeat at Thermopylae. They retreated back to Salamis, leaving the door open to a Persian invasion of Attica.
A force was sent north by sea under the command of the Spartan Euaenetus and the Athenian Thermistocles to take a position at the Line. Later, a warning was delivered from a loyal Macedonian, named Alexander, who had observed the Perisan Army on the move. He explained that the Greek position was vulnerable because of an alternative route around the pass which could be used to flank them. Realizing they had no other option, the allies returned to Corinth to modify their plan.
Xerxes ending up using the alternative route the Greeks were warned about, and once he arrived, the Thessalians proved their disloyalty by taking the side of the Persian invader.
When the loyalists met again, they decided Thermopylae would be the best place to form a line of defense.
The Spartans were unique among Greeks because the political system they developed never quite made it to a democracy. Elsewhere kings were overthrown by an aristocratic class, which became the governing body of the Polis, and later extended democratic rights to the common people. In Sparta, however, the kings came to some kind of accommodation with the wealthy where they would give up some power in return for the continuation of their authority. This sharing of power created the stability Sparta needed to survive for six centuries.
There is one other component of the Spartan political system we have not mentioned – the Ephors. The creation of Ephoric office was said to have been part of the mid-seventh century reforms of Lycurgus. Five were elected by the assembly each year, and their powers were varied and extensive. They had disciplinary control over other magistrates, conducted foreign policy, and presided over the assembly and council. Their powers even included some controls over the king. For example, they could summon the kings to a meeting, fine them for bad behavior, or even recommend the king be impeached. Perhaps the Ephors most powerful role was in foreign policy, because they were to ones who met with foreign dignitaries and negotiated treaties.
What is it about the Spartans that made them carry on a model of hereditary kings and go down a path different from all of Greece? Somehow they developed a unique character: secretive, organized, and religious -- closed to the outside. We will look at them again in coming posts to see what they have to teach us.
!summarize #costofliving #generations
!summarize #simulation #elonmusk #physics #theory
!summarize #peterdoocy #doge #agencies
!summarize #magenticfield #earth #science
!summarize #elonmusk #babymama
Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with the chosen one. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favor of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king of Sparta.
Later, Hermione married Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Clytemnestra had Agamemnon murdered after his return from Troy and Orestes avenged his father’s death by having his mother murdered eight years later. Hermione’s son Tisamenus ruled Sparta until the Heraclidae invaded the Peloponnesus. The Heraclidae were the grandsons of Herakles. They claimed the Peloponesus because of descent from Alcmena, the mother of Herakles and daughter of a Mycenaean king. As a result of their victory they divided up the Peloponesus. Then the twin sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles jointly ruled and set up the lines of the historical kings of Sparta.
!summarize #nhl #sports
After graduation, the soldier could marry, but still he ate the evening meal with his 288 man Lochos. Each soldier took his turn finding food for the meal which usually featured the Spartan “black” broth, made of pig’s blood, pork, and vinegar. No Spartan soldier worked; work was for the helots. The soldiers needed only to train, socialize with their peers, and go to war. It was agreed that war was a relief from having to train, and much easier.
Aristotle was critical of the Spartan system, saying, “The Spartans turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of a city’s life, end up making them inferior to even that”. True enough, but Aristotle was looking through the lens of his own time rather than the past when an army was the foundation of the polis. It’s interesting that the Spartans built their political system when the military was most important to the state, but then never evolved because their system was so stable.
And austerity – in spades! Spartan youth were allotted one cloak per year and slept on a bed of rushes gathered from the riverbank. All had to find their own food or steal it, whatever was required. And no alcohol -- only the helots could drink, so they could set an example of bad behavior.
!summarize #carljung #psychology
Immediately upon hearing of the defeat at Thermopylae, Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies began building a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth. The first step was to block the Scironian Way, an important road connecting Megara to Corinth. Then the wall itself was started – 3.6 miles long. Herodotus tells us the wall was mostly complete as the Battle of Salamis approached.
The Greek commander, Themistocles, concerned that the Peloponnesian Navy would not fight, removed their chance of escape by conning the Persians. He sent a false message to the Persian commander declaring that he was disloyal and letting them know that the Greek Navy was about to withdraw. He suggested that if the Persians attacked quickly they could destroy the Greeks. The Persians believed the story and immediately sent their fleet into the Saronic Sea near Athens. The Spartans, trapped by the blockade, were forced to fight along side the rest of the Greek Navy. The result was a great victory and the end of the Persian advance into Southern Greece.
!summarize #ukraine #minerals #deal #unitedstates #trump
!summarize #kathyhochul #trump #newyork #governor
!summarize #dreamlife #success #motivation
!summarize #income #skills #money #success
!summarize #habits #millionaires #success
!summarize #scottjennings #ccn #media #cablenews #cnn
!summarize #boomers #aisles #generation
!summarize #women #man #relationships #dating
!summarize #diddy #hollywood #sex #crimes
Were the Spartans Penniless?
We’ve talked about money on this blog before: specifically how the Romans used bronze coins until they converted to silver in the late third century B.C. The Greeks were way ahead of the Romans, producing silver coins in the mid-sixth century B.C. They were early active traders, while the Romans did not trade in earnest until the time of the Punic Wars.
What about the Spartans? What was their coinage and how did they use money?
Sparta was a closed society. It used Messenian people (Helots) as an underclass, so the elite could spend their time on military training. There was also another race tightly connected to the Spartans – The Perioeci. These people lived primary in the hills around Sparta as autonomous cities, and also controlled the important Laconian Island of Cythera. They had no foreign policy of their own but served in the Spartan Army.
More importantly the Perioeci acted as the merchants for the Spartans, who shunned practical business dealing. The Spartans did not like money and had no coinage of their own. According to tradition, the man who designed the Spartan government, Lycurgus, banned gold and silver coins as decadent. From that time until the third century B.C. the Perioeci used awkward iron bars as currency for Spartan transactions. After the third century, the Spartans began to strike their own coins.
After losing 400 ships in storms, the Persians struggled to keep their fleet together but were finally able to anchor at Aphetae at the Southeast point of Thessaly. The Greeks located themselves across the Straight of Artemisium so they could block Persian path to Phocis and Boetia. In an initial skirmish on the first day, the Greeks were able to capture 30 Persian ships. Stung by the defeat at the hands of such a small force, the Persians put a larger battle fleet together and fought the Greeks to a draw on the third day. The Greeks could not afford a draw because they had fewer ships, so they were considering a withdrawal when they heard about the military defeat at Thermopylae. They retreated back to Salamis, leaving the door open to a Persian invasion of Attica.
!summarize #elonmusk #cust #doge #government #democrats
!summarize #fakemasculinity #women #men #relationships
A force was sent north by sea under the command of the Spartan Euaenetus and the Athenian Thermistocles to take a position at the Line. Later, a warning was delivered from a loyal Macedonian, named Alexander, who had observed the Perisan Army on the move. He explained that the Greek position was vulnerable because of an alternative route around the pass which could be used to flank them. Realizing they had no other option, the allies returned to Corinth to modify their plan.
Xerxes ending up using the alternative route the Greeks were warned about, and once he arrived, the Thessalians proved their disloyalty by taking the side of the Persian invader.
When the loyalists met again, they decided Thermopylae would be the best place to form a line of defense.
!summarize #robertgreene #jordanpeterson #shadowself
!summarize #jamiedimon #housing #realestate #market #crash #economy
!summarize #polling #doge #democrats #government
!summarize #speaker #house #vote #budget
!summarize #democrats #elections
!summarize #trump #zelenskyy #minerals #ukraine #Unitedstates
!summarize #irs #layoffs #fraud #abuse #government #Tax
!summarize #divorce #relationship #marriage #life
The Spartans were unique among Greeks because the political system they developed never quite made it to a democracy. Elsewhere kings were overthrown by an aristocratic class, which became the governing body of the Polis, and later extended democratic rights to the common people. In Sparta, however, the kings came to some kind of accommodation with the wealthy where they would give up some power in return for the continuation of their authority. This sharing of power created the stability Sparta needed to survive for six centuries.
There is one other component of the Spartan political system we have not mentioned – the Ephors. The creation of Ephoric office was said to have been part of the mid-seventh century reforms of Lycurgus. Five were elected by the assembly each year, and their powers were varied and extensive. They had disciplinary control over other magistrates, conducted foreign policy, and presided over the assembly and council. Their powers even included some controls over the king. For example, they could summon the kings to a meeting, fine them for bad behavior, or even recommend the king be impeached. Perhaps the Ephors most powerful role was in foreign policy, because they were to ones who met with foreign dignitaries and negotiated treaties.
What is it about the Spartans that made them carry on a model of hereditary kings and go down a path different from all of Greece? Somehow they developed a unique character: secretive, organized, and religious -- closed to the outside. We will look at them again in coming posts to see what they have to teach us.