What did Spartans think of foreigners?

What did Spartans think of foreigners?

On the other hand, Sparta’s xenophobic attitude was based on very good practical reasons. They thought that foreigners might (a) spy on their city-state for military purposes and (b) change their spartan (frugal) way of private and social life.

What were foreigners called in Sparta?

metic, Greek Metoikos, in ancient Greece, any of the resident aliens, including freed slaves. Metics were found in most states except Sparta. In Athens, where they were most numerous, they occupied an intermediate position between visiting foreigners and citizens, having both privileges and duties.

Did ancient Sparta welcome foreigners?

Nothing was more likely to retain their respect, which meant that we never needed a foreign general. There were other foreigners whom Sparta was happy to welcome without fear of violating the intentions of its lawmaker.

How did ancient Sparta treat foreigners?

Sparta: In Sparta non-citizens were women, slaves (called the helots), and Perioikoi (free men, usually foreigners). Because the helots outnumbered the Spartans 20 to one, the Spartans feared the helots would revolt against them one day. Because of this, the Spartans treated the helots harshly.

Who was enslaved in Athens?

Athens had the largest slave population, with as many as 80,000 in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, with an average of three or four slaves per household, except in poor families. Slaves were legally prohibited from participating in politics, which was reserved for citizens.

How did Sparta treat foreigners?

How did Spartans view outsiders in their ideas?

How did Spartans view outsiders and their ideas? They were suspicious of them.

What did the Spartans think of alcohol?

Wine was a staple of the Spartan diet, but they rarely drank to excess and often cautioned their children against drunkenness. In some cases, they would even force Helot slaves to get wildly inebriated as a way of showing young Spartans the negative effects of alcohol.

What was the history of Sparta before the Spartans?

Spartan History Before Ancient Sparta. The story of Ancient Sparta typically begins in the 8th or 9th century BCE with the founding of Sparta and the emergence of a unified Greek language. However, people had been living in the area where Sparta would be founded starting in the Neolithic Era, which dates back some 6,000 years.

What did the elders look for in a Spartan?

The elders would look the baby over to see if he could be deemed fit enough for the Spartan life.

What did the Spartiate elite do in Spartan society?

The Spartiate elite, ethnically Doric men who had completed the brutal agoge training regimen, enjoyed quite a lot of privilege within Spartan society, not the least of which was total control of the government and exemption from all manual or commercial labor. All such work in markets or fields was carried out by perioikoi or helots.

Why did the Spartans keep the helots subservient?

In recounting one such failed insurrection, Xenophon says the underclasses of Sparta hated the upper class so much that they “would be glad to eat them raw.” Because of this very real (and deserved) fear of their perpetual underclass, the Spartans took severe measures to keep the helots subservient.