Words for Board: Corinth, Oligarchy, Corcyra, Sparta, Messenian Wars, Helot, Peloponnesian League

WARNING: The first exam is coming!!!!! (Arghghghghghgh!) It will probably happen within the next week so you'd better find out exactly when. You have got to know all the words backwards and forwards (NOTE CARDS!!!!). You also have to know when things happened cuz you'll have to put some things in chronological order. There's also multiple guess and short answer. You might take a look at a general map of the area and know the general position of all the civilizations you've heard about so far (you will have to draw a map on the exam). But almost half of the test is an essay question that is chosen from random draw the day of the exam. So don't bother to outguess Stockmyer cuz he doesn't know which one he's asking until someone draws it in class. Actually the gods are controlling your essay question!! And don't bother to try and answer it with what might be politely called the Golden Scoop. You have got to answer the question with everything you know including the all of the "Words for Board" pertaining to the question. Stockmyer has an outline of each question that he checks off your essay again and if you don't have the words (correctly defined) and stuff, forget it. On the other hand, if you're one of those conscientious students who start studying the minute you hear there's going to be a test, you have an advantage. (You are also an endangered species.) You can make an outline before the test and ask Stockmyer to check it out for you and he will tell you where you're deficient before you commit the whole thing to memory.
The possible essay questions you might be asked are: (Check with somebody form your class and make sure this information is correct–Stockmyer may change it some year.)
1. RELIGION: You've had 3 major religions: Egyptian, Jewish, and Greek. You may have to fully discuss any of these 3 or you may get to compare/contrast them.
2. GEOGRAPHY: How is it important in the development of the countries? How does it influence them? Start with Toynbee and tell everything you know about any of the countries he might ask about.
GOOD LUCK (You'll need it, the first time)!!
OK, back to Lecture 10 . . .

What were Greek city-states like? I will tell you. There were 3 biggies. The most typical one was Corinth. It was similar to almost all other city-states in government and custom. It was in the northeast end of the Peloponnesus. It included part of the isthmus that connected north and south Greece. It was really a little city in area, only 15 X 4 miles but it was the 3rd largest state in Greece in power. It had a total population of 150,000 people and 352 miles of territory. It was the big trade and commerce city. It controlled the isthmus as well as having a navy on both sides of it. See, in the ancient world, nobody knew how to tack against the wind (that means sail into the wind). So, if somebody wanted to sail from eastern Greece to western Greece, they had to travel around the bottom of Greece and wait for the right winds and watch out for the currents. But for a small fee, you could sail to the isthmus, unload you boat onto donkeys, and drag your boat out of the water to be carted on wooden rollers across the isthmus (4 miles wide at the narrowest point). The Corinthians charged just enough that it was cheaper than sailing around Greece. Corinthian land was better than most of all other Greek land too. (It was only poor as compared to terrible.) They also exported manufactured goods (not machine-made but handmade). Especially pots. Pots were bestsellers cuz there were no tin cans to store goods in. Plus they break easily and have to be replaced (Crazy Glue has not yet been invented).

Corinthian government was by an Oligarchy ("rule by the few"). Not everyone could vote. It was rule by the rich and educated. It implies rule by the best. Generally, oligarchies were just and stable. Stockmyer is for them in the ancient world. Usually, the rich and educated did a good job back then.

Corinthians have a problem! All Greeks have a problem! It is called overpopulation by Toynbee. What to do? There are many solutions. The Corinthians used one idea and exported their people to colonies. One of the biggie colonies was Corcyra, an island northwest of Greece. It became a big power later on. They also founded Syracuse on the island of Sicily that became the biggest city-state of all Greece. Greeks thought of colonies differently than we do. Greek colonies were independent, for the most part, of the mother state. They usually had some favorable trade ties and, of course, the folks back home, but, otherwise, the mother country and colony left each other alone. Corinth was basically a Westward-looking power and traded mostly in the West. (The rest of Greece is Eastward-looking.)

Another of the 3 biggie city-states was Sparta. It is a freak-o state. There was no other city-state like it. It had lots of territory. Early in its development, it had a problem of overpopulation. So it conquered its neighboring state named Messina. That was the Messenian Wars. Sparta totally subjugated Messina which was just as large as Sparta. Sparta eventually subjugated the whole southern part of the Peloponnesus. There was 10,000 citizens, let alone all the other people (citizens are usually a small class compared to the total population). It had over 3,000 miles in territory. There were 150,000 Helots. They were agricultural slaves who had NO rights. You could kill your Helots without reason. How did they get to be Helots? They used to be Messenians, 2nd class. When Sparta conquered them, they bumped all their social classes down one notch. So that Messenian nobility became middle class Spartans, and the middle class became slaves. There were more Helots than Spartans eventually.

There was no city of Sparta. It equaled 5 inhabited villages. There were no walls around their territory cuz they were such a big military power they didn't need walls. There was no trade and commerce. There was no city-state like it at all. Supposedly, they had a democracy government. Actually, there were 2 kings and 2 royal families at all times. One king marched with the army and one stayed home and minded the government. The kings were the military generals and served some religious functions. Actually, the government was ruled by the Ephor made of 5 men all over 60 years old. They were advised by a board of old men. In general, old people were conservative. And military men are more conservative than civilians. So there should be nothing more conservative than an old military man! Spartans tried to never make changes. They did the old things well and never had to change for a long time.

If you were born a Spartan male, you automatically became a soldier. At birth, you were reviewed by the draft board and dunked in all sorts of neat stuff (ice water, urine, etc.) to test your strength. If you failed, you were dumped in the woods to die. There's no sense wasting good food on a scrawny runt of a kid. From 0-7 years of age, you live with mom (cuz she probably can't ruin you in that short a period of time). From 7-18, you went into the barracks and started learning to be a soldier–playing war games and learning dirty songs. At 18, you went in to the secret police who sniff out revolt plans by the Helots which you could dispose of. From 19-21, you were in the frontier guard, standing out there in all kinds of weather looking for enemy attacks. (Nobody in their right mind would attack Sparta, but standing out there toughened you up.) From 21-45, you were in the Hoplite infantry. At 45, your legs go and from then til 60 you were in the home guard. At 60, you were given a key position in the government (if you lived that long). Sparta was truly a military dictatorship.

There was a story told in Sparta about a boy and a fox. See, they underfed their kids deliberately so they would learn where a farmer hides his food and how to steal. Cuz when Spartan soldiers march, they don't take food–just their armor. So at night, the soldiers fan out and bring home dinner. It's also forbidden to steal and punishable by whipping til you bleed. (You were whipped once a year as a boy anyway to toughen you up.) So you have to be even sneakier. It's also forbidden to lie. Lying and stealing were considered Spartan virtues. Anyway, this boy was out hunting and found a fox and knocked it unconscious. He stuffed it in his shirt to take back to camp. The guard stopped him on the way in and questioned him. (You aren't stealing, are you? What are you doing out?, etc.) While they were standing there chitchatting, the boy turned pale and dropped dead. It seems the fox had come alive inside his shirt and was gnawing out his intestines. But they aren't supposed to feel pain and he didn't want to get caught stealing. This story may or may not have been true. But the Spartans told it and soon their enemies told it and believed it as part of how tough (and weird) they were.

As a Spartan adult, you were given a piece of land and Helots to work it. There was lots of homosexuality in the army (too much time with the guys). They always wore long hair which they combed before battle. (Don't get the wrong idea about the Spartans primping with their hair–they were a mean bunch!) They used round shields (everyone else used oval shields). They wore red uniforms to hide the bloodstains. They ate black gruel (made of salt, pork, vinegar, and blood–umm, umm, scrumpdilicious!!). They loved to feed the gruel to foreign ambassadors cuz they had to eat it out of politeness. (One ambassador supposedly said he knew why Spartans lived so long, they weren't living!) They didn't have gold or silver. They used iron money. That way nobody would trade with them and they won't be talking to foreigners and finding out Sparta isn't all that great. To build a barracks, the only tool allowed was an ax. They were compelled to marry. If they didn't marry by middle age, they started losing their privileges. If they didn't marry then, all the unmarried bachelors and unmarried ladies were herded into a barn-like structure and the lights were turned off and you married whoever you groped out. You were also supposed to impregnate your wife as often as possible. If your wife didn't get pregnant after a reasonable amount of time, you were to invite the biggest, strongest male in your barracks to go home and visit your wife so you'd have healthy kids. Spartan women were supposed to be the most beautiful in Greece but nobody but the Spartans wanted them. They were the ones who ran the arms while hubby lived in the barracks and fought wars. They were used to having Helots and kids take their orders and were considered very mouthy by other Greeks. As a loving mother, you told your grown sons to come back with their shield or on it. That meant to come back carrying it or shields were big enough to use to carry wounded or corpses. If you returned without your shield, you had obviously chucked it while deserting.

Sparta produced the greatest land army in the world and absolutely nothing else. At one time, their army marched 150 miles in 3 days to get to a battle on time. That included their armor (puff, pant). Between 550 and 500 BC, the Spartans founded the Peloponnesian League. It was a mutual defensive league of Greek city-states. Sparta was the #1 power and Corinth the #2. If there was a war, every city was supposed to donate part of their army which was lead by the Spartans.

Why were Spartans so tough? By the year 500 BC, there was a ratio of 12 Helots to every Spartan soldier. That meant every Spartan male that to be good enough to beat 12 men who were trying to revolt against him every time he turned around. The Helots had trapped the Spartans into their military system so they wouldn't get overwhelmed by helots. The Spartans had the proverbial "tiger by the tail." (If you are holding a tiger's tail, you better not let go or you're going to be ripped to shreds.) Spartans were very peace-loving cuz they can't afford to lose any males that were defending their country. That's why they needed the League. You can bet that in battle, the Spartans sent out your army first before joining the battle. Why didn't they just free the Helots? Cuz they needed them to grow the food cuz they had absolutely no trade.