Of all the empires and city-states in the ancient Mediterranean world, Sparta was the most feared because of its military prowess. At the same time, paradoxically, it was the most praised by philosophers because of the political consistency and social stability it provided to its citizens.
Founded by the legendary law giver Lycurgus sometime between the end of the Mycenean period in the 10th century B.C. and the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 8th, Sparta evolved into the city-state that needed no walls for protection—and the society that has been portrayed by political scientists as the model for the totalitarian dictatorships of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Fascist Italy, and Communist China.
Spartan society was founded on the philosophy that the whole is greater and more important than any of its parts and that an individual can only find true happiness and fulfillment when part of something larger. At the heart of the Spartan constitution was the idea that economic inequality is the cause of all social problems, and to achieve that end the Spartans abolished money and private property, transforming citizens into cogs to keep the great wheel turning. When the end came for the Spartans, their legacy was consistency purchased at the expense of creativity, and a reputation for an undefeatable military machine that relied on training, discipline, and organization to succeed.
In this century, Sparta has become the template for repressive regimes such as those in North Korea and Iran, while commentators are fearful that given the present political drift toward authoritarianism, the advent of an all-encompassing technology, and a wholesale turn away from the humanities, it could become the repressive future for our own country. John Prevas, an historian, classics scholar, and author, analyzes ancient Sparta’s approaches to education, government, and social relations, drawing parallels to modern dictatorships and the prospects for America.
General Information
