Fall of Sparta

Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on the Ancient Civilizations continues with an episode on the fall of Sparta, as we discuss the events after the Lacedaemonians gained the hegemony over Greece. We will describe various political, economic, social and military reasons why Sparta stopped being prominent and then lost its independence through the wars with Thebes, Aetolian League, Epirus, Macedon and finally Rome and look at the reigns of Agesilaus, Pausanias, Cleombrotus, Archidamus, Agis, Areus and Nabis, and the battles of Haliartus, Nemea, Cnidus, Coronea, Lechaeum, Leuctra, Mantinea, Siege of Sparta and Sellasia

Artwork: Vyacheslav Sheo, Vadym Berkutenko
Script: Mat Hollis, Peter Voller, Christos Nicolaou

#documentary #Sparta #Ancient

[tsarzamancorpdna]

The ghost of Xerxes seeing Sparta get turned into a Roman tourist trap:
Nah that's crazy

[pingu]

It's really fascinating how Sparta, being a militaristic state, didn't seem bothered enough over centuries by how small their army got.

[patri]

Spartans' way of life, culture and thinking is what made them fall. Their egoism of being "the supersoldiers" of their era, the belief that Sparta is perfect as it is, no reforms needed, that was their downfall. But that also is what made them legends until today and for centuries to come.

[Michael-kdho]

The Spartan king Agesilaus is considered both the most influential and the last truly great warrior king of Sparta, having reigned for roughly 40 years during Spartas' heyday and subsequent decline following the Peloponesian War. Ironically, he was a good friend of Xenophon - an Athenian - who wrote a history of his reign.
It is to Xenophons' account that history attributes one of the most famous laconic phrases, supposedly said by Agesilaus during his campaign in Asia Minor, when he learned that the Persian satrap is bribing other Greek polises to war on Sparta - "I am driven from Asia by ten thousand archers." Persian coins had images of Median archers on them.

[abcdef]

"This city was famous for it's warriors... What happened here?!" - Alaric the Goth, during his campaign in Age of Empires II.

[petervoller]

Hi all, I was one of the sriptwriters and researchers for this series, hope you enjoyed it! If you've got any questions or feedback for me, please do leave them below, I do my best to get around to all of them!

ERRATA: The video says only women could inherit land, which was not the case, men could as well. I explain the problem more below:

To focus on women for a bit, we first need to establish the idea that Spartiates each had a designated plot of land, a farmstead basically. In order to maintain rank as a Spartiate, each male Spartiate had to contribute a certain amount towards their communal mess. This is fine, in theory, because each Spartiate has a farmstead to supply the resources needed to keep their Spartiate status. The fact that women could inherit land is not, in and of itself, a problem (Roman women could and they got by just fine). The problem is that when combined with the laws that meant a Spartiate had to contribute to the mess. Imagine, for example, that you have a family of a mum, dad, a son and a daughter. If the son dies, then when the parents die, the land is likely to be inherited by the daughter. Now say that this daughter has two sons. Once she dies, the land is now going to have to be split two ways between the sons. So, the farmstead that was originally only for one Spartiate is now divided into two. This would still be the case though if it was a man passing land to his two sons. The point here is that the inheritance laws were crap from the start because it would inevitably result in land becoming more and more divided and Spartiates having smaller and smaller farmsteads.

The real problem here is that men had to contribute to the mess or else lose their citizen status, while women did not. This means that Spartiate men were often being kicked out of the citizen ranks, while women weren't. Because only Spartan citizens could own land, this led to Spartan women owning a ton of land in Sparta. As more and more men lost their status, their little bits of land were being absorbed by the few rich Spartiates left, men and women. As a result, but the the 330s, for example, about 40% of land was owned by women. That's not the cause of the problem though, it's a *symptom* of the problem.

To try and counter this, the Spartans took some pretty grim measures to try and ensure that women were having kids (husbands leasing them out to younger men to 'breed' and other nasty stuff). The video cites Doran saying that female emancipation leads to lower birth rates, which is true, but the problem is that women in Sparta were not that emancipated. By Greek standards, they did have some notable advantages over, say, Athenian women, but they were still subjected to laws and customs created by men that tried to control what they did with their bodies. The video does not explain this well and is flawed there.

Obviously, the problem here is not women inheriting land (which is what Aristotle claimed) or them having rights, the problem is the archaic system that required male Spartans to produce a certain amount to be able to remain citizens. If you want a system where everyone has their own plot of land in order to give back to the state, then the only way to do that is to make sure that land is not inherited by ANYONE and is redistributed upon the death of a Spartiate. Or you need to revise the laws that say that for men to be citizens they need to contribute a certain amount to the mess. The fundamental flaw of Sparta was always it's gross inability to adapt and change the laws regarding citizen status, compounded by the inheritance laws.

[limmeh]

There’s probably a civilisation out there that was badass, went out in a blaze of glory, and was forgotten.

[jedisith]

I love these long version of any series. Thank You!

[razzaus]

Everybody always says "this is sparta"
But no one ever asks "how is sparta"

[sirunklydunk]

Don't feel bad for the man who dies in a blaze of glory, feel bad for the one who died with a whimper

[georgepatton]

The decline and fall of Sparta is the textbook examples of so many noteworthy scenarios. It showed how long term economy and social planning can affect a civilization, it showed how stagnation can affect a civilization, and it shows how a 3rd party, ie the Persians, can used a cluster fk of a mess in Greek and keep their enemies weak and divided, a scenario we see so many empires practice in the future, and we can also see how a during a fall, a civilization like Sparta can still have some chances to change and recover, but it required too many things going right for it, but credits to the Sparta that they at least try to adapt, they were just becoming a small fish fighting with other medium fishes in a small pond, and about to be swallowed up by a certain apex predator from the West

[realtomic]

“Come back with your shield or upon it” - Spartan Mother … definitely one of my favorite quotes, I remember back in the day it was featured in the original Rome Total War, and has stuck with me ever since.

[ArchonShon]

Almost two hours!? The amount of work that went into this video must have been immense.

[OriginsandFirsts-]

The fall of Sparta began with its defeat at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE, which ended its military dominance in Greece. The liberation of the Messenian helots further weakened its economy and population. Although Sparta continued as a city-state, it never regained its former power, ultimately becoming a minor player in Greek affairs by the time of the Roman conquest.

[beyondeconomics]

I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into the making of this video, and I am not even a third of the way through it.

[thomasrinschler]

Good to see some coverage of Epaminondas, even if just incidentally. It's almost criminal how one of the greatest military minds of Classical Greece gets so overlooked.

[MichaelSmith-ijut]

As a Lacedaemonian myself, I'm glad to see our story being told

[captainroyalty]

I would love to buy an army of those plushies, and surround myself with them as I sleep in the night. As my fluffy warriors watch my every flank as they struggle against the bugs, darkness, and other horrors of the night till the blessed sun arises. (Also awesome video as always, I would love to buy the plushies to support your channel, but I'm still a senior high school student)

[ericbruce]

You guys are amazing! Thank you for this

[bigjimtimes]

I've watched this channel so much that I hear OffyD's voice in my head; narrating everything historical and fantasy-like that I have in mind.