Term
| What was the Krypteia? Who formed the Krypteia? |
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Definition
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A responsibility that formed part of the Spartan education system was participation in the Krypteia, or "period of hiding". At this time the boy had to live alone and under cover in the countryside. During this time in the Krypteia, groups of boys roamed the countryside living off the land, stealing, spying and "maintaining order". This keeping of order invariably involved the killing of helots. Strong or athletic helots, or those who showed qualities of leadership or arrogance, were the victims.
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Lycurgus
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Term
| What is the agoge? Who formed it? |
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Definition
- The agoge was the rigorous education and training regimen mandated for all male Spartan citizens, except for the firstborn son in the ruling houses, Eurypontid and Agiad. The training involved learning stealth, cultivating loyalty to one's group, military training, hunting , dancing, singing, and social preparation
- Agoge was introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan law-giver Lycurgus but its origins are thought to be between the 7th and 6th centuries BC
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Term
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Definition
| At the age of 20 Spartan men now tried to get elected to one of the dining clubs, rather like an army "mess", to which the men belonged. There were about fifteen members of each syssition, also known as a phydition. In order to gain membership of syssitia there was a ballot. In the ballot each member of the mess dropped a pellet of bread into an urn, and if a single man squeezed his pellet flat, the candidate was rejected. To fail to win election to any mess at all meant becoming a social outcast. Members of the mess ate all their meals communally, and each man had to provide, monthly, a fixed quota of barley, wine, cheese and figs that were grown on the Spartan's kleros, the plot of land alloted to each Spartan at birth and worked by helots. |
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Definition
| The Gerousia was the Spartan senate (council of elders). It was made up of 60 year old Spartan males. It was created by the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in the seventh century BC, in his Great Rhetra. It consisted of 30 members in total, 28 of them 60 years of age or olderand the two Spartan kings, who could be younger than 60. Elected members had to be over the age of 60 and were elected for life. All members would have, in their youth, gone through the Spartan military training program the agoge |
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Term
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Definition
| An ephor ("one who oversees") was the leader of ancient Sparta and shared power with the Spartan king. There were five ephors elected annually, who "swore on behalf of the city", while the kings swore for themselves.The ephors were elected by the Apella, and all citizens were eligible for election. They were forbidden to be reelected. Ephors did not have to kneel down before the Kings of Sparta and were highly considered by the citizens. |
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Definition
| The Periokoi or "dwellers around," were free men of Sparta, mainly farmers and merchants who lacked the full citizenship of the Spartiates. |
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