Free Dissertations - Classics Dissertations

Conveniently, Cartledge Uses The Reign Of King Agesilaos As A Framework For ...

Conveniently, Cartledge uses the reign of King Agesilaos as a framework for discussing this period, as he reigned across this period. Cartledge relies greatly on the works of Xenophon to come to his conclusions, as Xenophon was a contemporary, and indeed friend of, Agesilaos. According to Cratledge, through his readings of Xenophon and also Plutarch, Agesilaos was a pinnacle of Spartan society, shaping Spartan society and culture in terms of its economic, social, political and diplomatic facets.
Cartledge, instead of attributing the fall of Sparta to their loss at the Battle of Leuctra in 371, instead finds a pattern of decline across a much greater part of Spartan history, due to what he terms ‘deep-seated socioeconomic causes', coupled with what he terms its ‘oliganthropia' (borrowing Aristotle's term to describe the pattern of eugenic population control in Sparta). As Cartledge argues, the Spartiate, the hoptile manpower declined in Sparta from about 8000 in 480 to about 1500 at the time of the Battle of Leuctra, mainly tied to economic changes in Sparta, whereby hoptiles fell from the ranks of homoioi to the ranks of hypomeiones. Thus, as Cartledge argues, it was fundamental problems with the political and socioeconomic structure of Sparta that led to its ultimate downfall, following the Battle of Leuctra. This oligarchical pattern of governance was, as Cartledge argues, not good for Spartan society as a whole, and led to massive economic problems which led to the ultimate downfall of the Spartans, as hoptile manpower became eroded, thus leaving Sparta dangerously exposed to attacks.
As seen in the writings of Thucydides, particularly his History, triumph in battle was used as a spiritual foundation for a democratic Sparta (see also Euben, 1986), as an empowering vision of action and being, sustained through emulation and reenactment. Thucydides, although with the purpose of providing a chronological account of the Peloponnesian War, actually provided a guide to those enquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, and, as such, Thucydides can provide some relevant detail on the political structure of Sparta and the Spartan decision-making process. As Fliess (1959) argues, Thucydides explores, ultimately, the struggle between the Spartan oligarchy and the other Greeks, for control of Hellas, was paralleled by the internal strife in Sparta regarding democracy versus eunomic aristocracy, with Thucydides having much more faith in the power of the eunomia to restore faith and order than in the ability of the Athenian isonomia, which gave all citizens an equal share in the control of the affairs of state.

Order Now. It takes less than 2 minutes.

  1.  
  2.  
  1.  

Please note: The above dissertation snippet was written by a student and then submitted to us to display and help others. Thanks to all the students who have submitted their work to us.