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The Society and Politics of Sparta, 478–404 BC

Great debates and influential individuals in Spartan politics

  • 3 things to know
  • Component Group 1

Overview

Recall questions on the regent's conduct at Byzantium, the debate of the 470s on sea power, the assembly of 432 and how its vote was taken, Alcibiades' advice, and Lysander's rise.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was the long-term consequence of Sparta's decision in the 470s BC not to contest the sea?

Key term

What brought the Spartan assembly together to hear complaints in 432 BC?

Key term

What did the Spartan assembly decide in 432 BC, and what happened next?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the conduct of the regent Pausanias at Byzantium after 478 BC affect Sparta's position?

    Model answer

    His arrogance and harshness towards the Greek allies drove them to ask Athens to lead them instead, so the command against Persia at sea passed from Sparta to Athens.

  2. 2

    What accusations were brought against Pausanias, and how did he die?

    Model answer

    He was accused of treasonable dealings with Persia and of stirring up the helots, and when the ephors moved to arrest him he took refuge in the temple of Athena of the Bronze House, where he was walled in and starved.

  3. 3

    Who was Hetoemaridas, and what did he argue in the debate of the 470s BC?

    Model answer

    He was a member of the gerousia who argued that it was not in Sparta's interest to fight Athens for the leadership at sea, and he persuaded both the council and the assembly to leave the sea alone.

  4. 4

    What was the long-term consequence of Sparta's decision in the 470s BC not to contest the sea?

    Model answer

    Sparta withdrew from the naval war against Persia and left the Aegean to Athens, so the Delian League grew into an Athenian empire unopposed for a generation.

  5. 5

    Our account of the debate of the 470s BC comes from a much later historian. Why does that matter?

    Model answer

    It survives only in Diodorus, writing in the first century BC from a lost fourth-century history, with no contemporary account to check it against, so both the speech and the debate itself have been doubted.

  6. 6

    What brought the Spartan assembly together to hear complaints in 432 BC?

    Model answer

    Sparta's allies, and above all Corinth, demanded action over Athenian interference at Corcyra and Potidaea, while Megara complained of being shut out of the empire's harbours and markets.

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The Society and Politics of Sparta, 478–404 BC
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Athens allied with Argos, and Elis.
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AThe tradition speaks of about seventy.
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Themistocles was ostracised in the 470s BC and Cimon in 461 BC.
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