Hellenistic%20and%20Roman%20Sparta

1
Hellenistic and Roman Sparta

• (323 BC. 476 AD.)

2
Important Events of Global Significance

• 330-323 Alexander the Great conquers the Persian
  Empire

3
323 After his Death the empire is broken to
pieces by his generals (Diadochi)
4
The Roman Conquest

• 146 BC The Romans complete the conquest of
  Greece and turn it into a Roman province
• 48 Caesar v. Pompey
• 42 Antony v. Brutus
• 31 Octavian v. Antony
• After 31 BC Empire

5
The Roman World

• Under Rome there is widespread peace within the
  borders of the empire (Pax Romana)
• 313 The Edict of Milan allows for tolerance of
  all religions in the Roman Empire and stops the
  persecution of Christianity
• Under Constantine Christianity florishes
• 391 An edict of Theodosius makes Christianity
  obligatory and the official religion
• 476 The western part of the Roman Empire is
  overrun by the barbarians. The Christianized and
  Hellenized eastern part continues the name and
  traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Modern
  scholars have called this Byzantium, and was
  destined to last until the late middle ages. The
  fall of Byzantium jump-starts the Renaissance
  and the modern Era.

6
Byzantium under Basil II (around 1000)
7
The Roman Theater at Sparta
8
Areus (309-265 BC)

• Sparta, although diminished and demoralized was
  not yet finished at the time of Alexander
• She abstained from the Lamian war (a revolt of
  the southern states from Macedonian control,
  after Alexanders death)
• Under King Areus the dual kingship will start to
  falter and eventually will disappear, as Sparta
  increasingly becomes a true Hellenistic monarchy
• Whatever is left of the Lycurgan laws is
  sidelined
• Areus partially succeeds in re-establishing local
  dominance for Sparta as a Hellenistic Kingdom
• Now Sparta has silver coinage, with Areus head
  on it

9
Agis IV (265-241) Eurypontid Line

• With youthful enthusiasm he wished to restore
  Sparta to its past glories and restore the
  Lycurgan system
• He proposed a land re-distribution (4500 lots of
  homoioi 15000 lots of perioikoi)
• He planned to repopulate the homoioi with
  naturalizations from respectable perioikoi
• The Ephors, gerousia and Agiad King Leonidas II,
  serving the interests of the rich resisted his
  plan fiercely
• Agis overturned the ephors
• When he was on campaign the exiled Leonidas II
  returned and staged a revolt
• Agis was arrested and hurriedly executed
• His widow Agiatis became the wife of the heir to
  the Agiad throne Cleomenes III
• Character noble, well-intentioned but not
  decisive enough to quash opposition

10
Cleomenes III (R 235-222 BC.)

• Through his wife he came to admire the plan of
  Agis
• Unlike the idealistic Agis, a more pragmatic
  Cleomenes began his reform with the assassination
  of the Ephors
• He then proceeded with the redistribution of land
• He created 4000 new homoioi and equipped them
  Macedonian Style with long, heavy spears
• He restored, at least nominally, the Lycurgan
  order
• Characteristically in this period the ephors are
  no longer seen as the guardians of the state, but
  as an instrument for the rich and the privileged

11
Greece around 200 BC
12
The Battle of Sellasia (222 BC)

• Cleomenes was a great man, perhaps the last truly
  great man in the Greek World
• However, the tide of history was against him
• The Achaean League, which dominated northern
  Peloponnese and Boeotia, finally moved to annex
  Sparta
• Cleomenes was decisively defeated at Sellasia by
  the superior forces of the League, Sparta was
  eventually annexed, and lost its independence

13
Nabis The Last Stand (207 - 192)

• He claimed descent from the Eurypontid line
• In reality a usurper and dictator, who killed the
  descendants of the two royal households
• He seized power, and tried to introduce reforms
  by force
• He adhered to the policies of Cleomenes, but
  imposed them with violence and extreme measures
• He finally built walls around Sparta
• Famous for his cruelty, he even invented a
  torture machine Apega of Nabis.
• In his foreign policy, like his predecessors,
  opposed the Achaean League and concluded peace
  with Rome
• He re-conquered Messenia but was forced to
  abandon it, when he was defeated by the brilliant
  general of the Achaean League Philopoemen.
• Under Nabis Sparta became again a credible power,
  but since he was seen as a threat by the Achaean
  and Aetolian League and Rome too, eventually he
  was assasinated in 192 and Sparta was annexed
  into the Achaean Leagure.
• With Nabis ends Spartan Independence

14
The Roman Period

• Roman Sparta becomes a tourist attraction for
  people drawn to her glorious past
• Since it was the only Greek city which supported
  Augustus in his struggle with Marc Antony,
  generous gifts brought prosperity
• More monumental structures than ever before are
  constructed (e.g. the large theater)
• The re-instituted agoge becomes like a Roman
  theme park
• This re-invented Sparta lasts well into the
  Christian era, when Sparta drops out of the
  picture, and at some point the site of the
  ancient city is abandoned altogether
• In the late Byzantine period (2nd millenium)
  Mystras, a new development on a fortified
  position west of the ancient city, dominates the
  Peloponnese, and becomes an important center as
  the ailing capital Constantinople comes under
  constant pressure by Latin invaders and then the
  Ottoman Turks