History of Education

by Levi Seeley

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CHAPTER X

SPARTA

Literature.—(See general literature for Greece.) Sankey, Spartan and Theban Supremacies; Smith, History of Greece; Plutarch's Lives; Mombert, Great Lives; Spofford, Library of Historical Characters.

History.—Sparta was the capital of Laconia, the southern province of Greece. Its inhabitants consisted of:—

1. Citizens, composed of nine thousand families of nobles, who ruled the other classes.

2. Perioeci,[18] composed of thirty thousand families of freemen who lived in the territory surrounding Sparta, but who were subject to the nobles.

3. Helots,[19] about three hundred thousand in number, who were slaves.