The Spartan Army

The Spartan Army was the military force of Sparta. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary and sole obligation was to be good soldiers. Subject to military drill from infancy, the Spartans were one of the most disciplined, well-trained and feared military forces in world history. At Sparta's heyday in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, it was commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state".

Army Organisation:

The Spartan people were divided in three classes: Full citizens, known as the Spartiates proper or Homoioi ("equals"), who received a grant of land (kleros) for their military service. The second class were the Perioeci, free non-citizens, generally merchants, craftsmen and sailors, who were used as light infantry and on auxiliary roles on campaign. The third and most numerous class were the Helots, state-owned serfs used to farm the Spartiate kleros. By the 5th century BC, the helots too were used as light troops in skirmishes. The Spartiates were the core of the Spartan army: they participated in the Assembly (Apella) and provided the hoplites in the army. Indeed, they were supposed to be soldiers and nothing else, being forbidden to learn and exercise any other trade. To a large degree, the necessity for the constant war footing of the Spartan society was the need to keep the vastly more numerous helots subdued. One of the major problems of the later Spartan society was the steady decline in fully enfranchised citizens, which also meant a decline in available military manpower: the number of Spartiates decreased from 6,000 in 640 BC to 1,000 in 330 BC. The Spartans were therefore forced to use helot hoplites, and occasionally they freed some of the Laconian helots, the neodamodeis, and gave them land to settle in exchange for military service.
The Spartiate population was subdivided into age groups. The youngest at 20 were counted as weaker due to lack of experience, and the oldest, up to 60 or in a crisis 65, were only called up in an emergency, to defend the baggage train.

Tactical Structure:

The principal source for the organization of the Spartan Army is Xenophon, who admired the Spartans and whose Constitution of Sparta offers a detailed overview of the Spartan state and society at the beginning of the 4th century BC. Other authors, notably Thucydides, also provide information, but it is not always as reliable as Xenophon's first-hand accounts.

Little is known of the earlier organization, and much is left open to speculation. The earliest form of social and military organization (during the 7th century BC) seems to have been the three tribes who appear in the Second Messenian War (685-668 BC). A further subdivision was the "fraternity" (phratra), of which 27, or nine per tribe, are recorded. Eventually this system was replaced by five territorial divisions, the obai ("villages"), which supplied a lochos of ca. 1,000 men each. This system was still used during the Persian Wars, as implied by references to the lochoi made by Herodotus in his history.

The changes that occurred between the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars are not documented, but according to Thucydides, at Mantinea in 418 BC there were 7 lochoi present, each subdivided into four pentekostyes of 128 and 16 enōmotiai of 32 men, giving a total of 3584 men for the main Spartan army. By the end of the Peloponnesian War, the structure had evolved further, both to address the shortages in manpower and to create a more flexible system that allowed the Spartans to send smaller detachments on campaign or to garrisons outside their homeland.

According to Xenophon, the basic Spartan unit remained the enōmotia, with 36 men in three files of twelve under an enōmotarches. Two enōmotiai formed a pentēkostys of 72 men under a pentēkontēr, and two pentēkostyai were grouped into a lochos of 144 men under a lochagos. Four lochoi formed a mora of 576 men under a polemarchos, the largest single tactical unit of the Spartan army. Six morai composed the Spartan army on campaign, to which were added the Skiritai and the contingents of allied states.

The Kings and the Hippeis:

The full army was nominally led in battle by the two kings, initially both went on campaign, but after the 6th century BC only one, with the other remaining home. With enough forces to maintain stability and to stop any attempt of a Helot revolt.

Unlike other states, their authority was severely circumscribed; actual power rested with the five elected ephoroi. The kings were accompanied by a select group of 300 men as a royal guard, who were termed hippeis ("cavalrymen"). Despite their title, they were infantry hoplites like all Spartiates. Indeed, the Spartans did not utilize a cavalry of their own until late into the Peloponnesian War, when small units of 60 cavalrymen were attached to each mora.

The hippeis belonged to the first mora and were the elite of the Spartan army, being deployed on the honorary right side of the battle line. They were selected every year by specially commissioned officials, the hippagretai, from among experienced men who had sons, so that their line would continue. It was the hippeis who participated in a celebrated contest in 546 BC against the Argive knights, and it was these who accompanied king Leonidas in his famous last stand at Thermopylae.

The Army on Campaign:

Like the other Greek states, the Spartan army was an infantry-based army fighting in the Phalanx formation. The Spartans themselves did not introduce any significant changes or tactical innovations in hoplite warfare, but their constant drill and superb discipline made their phalanx much more cohesive and effective. The Spartans employed the phalanx in the classical style in a single line, uniformly deep in files of 8 to 12 men. When fighting alongside their allies, the Spartans would normally occupy the honorary right flank. If, as usually happened, the Spartans achieved victory on their side, they would then wheel left and roll up the enemy formation.
During the Peloponnesian War, engagements became more fluid, light troops became increasingly used and tactics evolved to meet them, but in direct confrontations between two opposing phalanxes, stamina and "pushing ability" were what counted. It was only when the Thebans, under Epaminondas increased the depth of a part of their formation at the Battle of Leuctra that the Spartan phalanx broke.

The Hoplite:

The hoplite phalanx was a formation in which the hoplites would line up in ranks in close order. The hoplites would lock their shields together, and the first few ranks of soldiers would project their spears out over the first rank of shields. The phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults much more difficult. It also allowed a higher proportion of the soldiers to be actively engaged in combat at a given time (rather than just those in the front rank).

The phalanx usually advanced at a walking pace, although it is possible that they picked up speed during the last several yards. Herodotus states, of the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon, that "They were the first Greeks we know of to charge their enemy at a run". Many historians believe that this innovation was precipitated by their desire to minimize their losses from Persian archery. The opposing sides would collide, possibly shivering many of the spears of the front row. The battle would then rely on the valour of the men in the front line; whilst those in the rear maintained forward pressure on the front ranks with their shields. When in combat, the whole formation would consistently press forward trying to break the enemy formation; thus when two phalanx formations engaged, the struggle essentially became a pushing match, in which, as a rule, the deeper phalanx would almost always win, with few recorded exceptions.

On The March:

According to Xenophon, the army was mobilized by the ephors, and after a series of religious ceremonies and sacrifices, the army assembled and set out. The army proceeded led by the king, with the skiritai and cavalry detachments acting as an advance guard and scouting parties. The necessary provisions (barley, cheese, onions and salted meat) were carried along with the army, and each Spartan was accompanied by a helot manservant. Each mora marched and camped separately, with its own baggage train. Sacrifice was given every morning and before battle by the king and the officers if the omens were not favourable, a pious leader might refuse to march or to engage the enemy.

Clothing, Arms and Armor:

The Spartans used the same typical hoplite equipment as the other Greek neighbors; the only distinctive Spartan features were the crimson tunic and cloak and the long hair, which the Spartans retained to a far later date than most Greeks. To the Spartans, the long hair retained its older Archaic meaning as the symbol of a free man, to the other Greeks by the 5th century, its peculiar association with the Spartans had come to signify pro-Spartan sympathies.

Thanks Rob