3.1 land ownership: agriculture, kleroi, helots

The Spartan Economy

Each man was given a kleros by the state at age 30 to grow produce. It was a requirement of citizenship. Each kleros had helots assigned to it, who were responsible for the agricultural production of crops and other resources.

They needed to produce enough for a monthly contribution to the syssitia, and according to Plutarch this was, “monthly a bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a half of figs, and a very small sum of money to buy flesh or fish”. Although the kleros belonged to the man, his wife would oversee the running of this kleros. The main aim of this system was to both free the men so they could commit to the state (military) and also to create equality of wealth among the Spartiates.

However, this equality that Lycurgus so desired appears to have been problematic. The reasons are as follows:

1. Each man was given a kleros at age 30 to grow produce. But not every kleros was equally productive. Difference in fertility levels of kleroi meant that some citizens couldn’t produce enough food to make their monthly contribution to the syssitia. Therefore, many spartiates lost their citizenship and gained inferior status.

2. Secondly, the fact that land could be inherited, meant that some Spartiate families held larger quantities of land. A man would have to divide his land among sons after his death. So small families with only 2 sons, would get a larger portion of the land, whereas a family with 7 sons would get a much smaller portion of land. According to Aristotle, toward the end of the Spartan historical period, some Spartans had quite small properties, while others had very large ones. The distribution became extremely uneven.

Questions

Discuss the issue of land distribution within Sparta.
How did this land distribution impact of the Spartan economy?

3.2 Technology: weapons, armour, pottery

Economic activity was carried out by the helots in agriculture and by the Perioikoi in industry and trade.

Without the Periokoi’s contribution in the making of weapons, armour and other necessities the Spartan economy would have been highly unsuccessful.

There were good supplies of iron ore in Laconia but copper and tin may have been imported to mix with the iron to make bronze.

Archaeological evidence shows that high quality bronze work was being produced and exported from Laconia throughout the 6th Century BC.

Laconia bronze workers used different techniques, including beating sheets of bronze to form large vessels such as cauldrons, and pouring molten bronze into casts or molds. Several bronze sculptors are known from Sparta. In particular one named Telestas. According to Pausanias there is a bronze statue of Zeus on a bronze base about 5.5m high, which was the work of this famous Spartan artist.

Found in a celtic tomb at Vix in Burgundy. Apparently Spartan work of the sixth century B.C. five feet tall. The frieze is made up of twenty-three reliefs fastened to the neck with rivets

Bronze statuette of a Spartan Hoplite. The statuette provides evidence of the hoplites dress, we can see the long cloak and bronze helmet with horsehair

Spartan hoplites were equipped with high quality weapons and armour made from bronze. Once again this would have been produced by the Perioikoi. The armour consisted of a: bronze helmet crowned with horse hair; breastplate that was sculpted to resemble chest muscles; shield called a hoplon, one metre in diameter, made of wood and covered with a sheet of bronze; greaves also made of bronze covering the lower leg; wooden spear, between 2.5 and 3 metres long with a bronze spear point; and a short sword made of iron was carried as a last resort.

Painted Laconian pottery was popular in Greece and beyond. Remains of Spartan pottery has been found in Egypt, Italy, Rhodes, France and North Africa. Local clay was abundant, but little is known about the Spartan methods and who made it. The remains we have suggest that they were interested in displaying human subjects, the figures are painted in black and sometimes there is a small use of colour.

The Arcesilas cup ( 20cm high and 38cm in diameter), found in central Italy, of spartan origin. It depicts scenes of trade or tribute in Dorian Cyrene- mid 6th century

3.3 economic roles of the periokoi (‘dwellers around’) and helots

We know who significant the roles of these two classes were in keeping Sparta and its economy afloat. The Periokoi were the professional craft workers, traders, miners, metal workers, and fishermen. They monopolised all trades, businesses and professions. The helots were the property of the state and were attached to kleroi. They could not be bought or sold but were controlled by the owner of the land they were assigned to. Helots did the farming and general manual labour for the Spartiates, so they could make their contributions. Helot women did the spinning and weaving and other domestic activities which led the privileged Spartan women to live their lifestyle.

Question

Explain the economic role of the periokoi and the helots within Sparta

3.4 economic exchange: use of iron bars, trade

Lycurgus banned the use of metal coins for currency in Sparta and he instead introduced the currency of iron bars. These iron bars symbolised a transaction rather than acting as cash. They couldn’t be used anywhere else in Greece and the bars were supposedly heated and then dipped in vinegar so that they could not be reworked into something of value. If this is true it would have obviously restricted the hoarding of money and supported Lycurgus’ reforms of equality and austerity. According to Plutrach Lycurgus introduced the iron bars as,

“who would set out to steal, or accept as a bribe, or rob, or plunder something which could not be hidden, excited no envy when possessed, and could not even be profitably chopped up”. (Plutarch)

Whilst examples of the iron bars have been found in Laconia, there is no evidence in any ancient source that suggest Spartans used iron bars as currency. Many modern scholars seem to believe that the banning of gold and silver seems unlikely or that they could acquire money in other ways. Sparta would have needed to use Hellenic currency when negotiating with other States and when paying for mercenaries.

According to Plutrach, gold and silver “wormed its way into the city” during the 4th century BC.

The Perioikoi were allowed gold and silver and were not required to live austere lives like the Spartiates. They needed currency to conduct trade and therefore most of the wealth in Sparta belonged to the Perioikoi.

The Spartiates were also forbidden to engage in trade, and once again it was the Periokoi who were responsible for the importing and exporting of goods. Trade was conducted through the port of Gytheum (46km outside the city) where the Periokoi exported wool, wine, oil, pottery and bronzes. It was a small but successful port, and without the Perioikoi's contributions and transactions Sparta would not have been able to survive financially.