Sparta's Politics

During the classical period Sparta's politics were different from Athens' politics. Athens used tyranny in their government and also used a form of democracy. Sparta did not like the way tyranny worked so they produced a different form of government. The Spartans had a constitution or what they called a rhetra, which came from the Great Rhetra . The Spartans formed a very complex government mixing democracy and oligarchy, and this form of government was a model for other poleis. The government was made up of three parts, the kingship which was unusual in that there were two kings, the Gerousia (the council of elders), the Ephorate, and the Assembly.

The kingship in Sparta was shared by two kings. These kings inherited their position. They shared equal powers and held responsibilities for life. The kings were so important that they had 100 men as bodyguards! Some of their responsibilities included being active commanders of the army, which gives them power to go to war with any country they choose. There were reforms instituted, that restricted some powers of the kings. They held no judicial power.

The council of elders, called the Gerousia, were elected by the Assembly and held office for life. The Gerousia consisted of 30 men including the two kings. They had to be over sixty years old, except the two kings. This is why they called it the council of elders: 28 of them had to be over sixty years old. Also, to be elected, you had to be a man and come from a noble family. The Gerousia's responsibilities included acting as the judicial power in criminal cases, and preparing measures written by the Assembly, but they could overturn any of these measures if they thought that they were not good.

The Ephorate was the biggest constitutional change which occurred after the first Messenian war. The Ephorate was five men. At first the kings chose these men but then they changed into having these men elected annually. They changed it because their basic role was to keep the kings on the right track, to make sure that they stood by their oaths, and this was to keep the kings from gaining too much power. And if the kings chose these men then the kings and Ephorate could help each other in getting great amounts of power, so they decided having the kings pick the Ephorate would not be a good idea.

The Assembly was made up of male Spartan citizens over the age of thirty. To gain citizenship a man had to pass training courses, and have a certain amount of education. To get this education and attempt the training courses, the Gerousia decided at the birth of the infant if he was to be raised or not. If he was not to be raised he would be exposed. After the age of seven the boy is to live in "herds"; this system was called agoge. The agoge was set up to weaken family ties and to strengthen identity. All adults were responsible for the actions of all children; not only their children, but all Spartan children. When a child starts the agoge they are divided by age into groups and lived with older boys. These older boys supervised their actions. The agoge taught the boys how to read and write, but it put more attention to physical training, and music.

When the boys were twelve the agoge was set up more like a military. If they passed the agoge, then they can be voted into a mess, but if they are not voted into a mess then they could not be a citizen. A mess is a group of fifteen men of all ages who eat and fight together in wars, and they do this throughout their lives. They lived together until age thirty. When they turned thirty they were allowed to set up their own households. This is when they could hold a public office, but they would still have their main meals with the mess. Also men were in the military until the age of sixty. This is when they could be elected into the Gerousia, and they still ate with the mess and helped in training and teaching the younger men and the boys. The Assembly's responsibilities was to elect officials such as the Gerousia, and the Ephorate.

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