Spartan Army and Controlling the Helots

Explain the role of the military and the agoge in controlling the helots. In your response, include:

• - Historical terms and concepts

• - Historical knowledge

• - A range of source evidence

The main unit of Spartan army organisation was called the ​ (a)   . It comprised highly trained ​ (b)   soldiers, so-called after the name of their shields, the ​ (c)   . They wore a ​ (d)   -style helmet, a bronze-reinforced ​ (e)   and greaves to protect their legs.

• phalanx
• hoplite
• hoplon
• Corinthian
• cuirass

The basic unit of the army organisation was the ​ (a)   , four of which comprised a pentecostye and was commanded by a ​ (b)   . Four pentecostves comprised a ​ (c)   . Seven lochoi comprised a ​ (d)   which was commanded by a ​ (e)   .

• enomotia
• pentenkonter
• lochos
• mora
• polemarch

The army was also accompanied by lightly armed foot soldiers who were probably (a)   .

The Spartan king was accompanied in battle by a personal force of 300 ______. These were 300 knights on horseback.

• enomotia

• helots

• hippeis

• lochos

Label the missing words in the Spartan army organisation according to Thucydides.

a

b

c

lochoi

pentekostyes

enomotiai

In earlier times, Greek soldiers had fought in a free for all, or man on man, style. However, by the 5th century BC, this style of fighting had been replaced by the more disciplined (a)   .

Click the disadvantages of the phalanx.

• Not mobile

• Soldiers could be easily replaced in a line

• The rear ranks added wight to the formation

• Useless for besieging a town

In his History of the Peloponnesian War, (a)   gives a lengthy description of Spartan fighting method in his examination of the Battle of Mantinea of 418 BC. By the time of Mantinea, army organisation had long been based on hoplite warfare organised into phalanxes.

Every Spartan from the age of 18 to ​ (a)   was enrolled in the army in one of 42 age classes. Usually the youngest and oldest were not called upon to fight unless there was a real ​ (b)   situation. Most Spartan soldiers were aged 20-50. Thucydides points out that the king could rely on a clear chain of ​ (c)   through which his orders would reach the troops in the field. Immediately ​ (d)   to the king were ​ (e)   who passed on the king's orders to the various officers in charge of units. Accurate numbers for Spartan army organisation are difficult to know.

• 60
• emergency
• command
• polemarchs
• subordinate
• 80