warrior from sparta illustration

navigate by keyword : alternative ancient aristocratic aristotle attic based citizens communities democracy described dominated economically elements equality female free group guaranteed helots hybrid illustration larger largest militarily minority monarchy oligarchic oligarchy oppressed order part participation perioeci personally political politically population power presented reserved shaped simplistic small social sparta spartians state structures supplied third unique unlawful

Sparta`s power was based on a unique state and social order that was more militarily shaped than in most ancient communities. Since Aristotle it has often been described as a hybrid of democracy, oligarchy and monarchy, although the oligarchic-aristocratic elements dominated. Political participation in Sparta was reserved for a small minority of full citizens, the Spartians. These were supplied economically by the oppressed helots, who made up by far the largest part of the population. A third group were the personally free but politically unlawful Perioeci. In a simplistic way, these structures are often presented as an alternative to the Attic democracy, which guaranteed a much larger part of the population political equality as citizens.