Spartiate

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A Spartiate^[1] (Greek: Σπαρτιάτης, Spartiátēs) or Homoios (pl. Homoioi, Greek: Ὅμοιος, "alike") was an elite full-citizen male of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Spartiate-class males (including boys) were a small minority: estimates are that they made up between 1/10 and 1/32 of the population, with the proportion decreasing over time; the vast majority of the people of Sparta were helots (slaves).

Spartan citizenship was restricted to adult males without metic ancestry, as in most Greek poleis. Spartiate-class women could not hold citizenship, but were eligible to marry Spartiates, and their sons could become Spartiates. After the First Messenian War, the mass enslavement of the Messenian population created an extreme slave society (60-79% slaves; by contrast, US slave states generally had 30-65%). This society was recognized as unusual by both modern historians and contemporary non-Spartans. Spartiate-class people came to be barred from work by law and strong social norms, and were supported by the helots. It was acceptable for Spartiates to work as armed forces. Spartiates spent a great deal of effort maintaining their power, facing repeated helot revolts.

Aside from suppressing revolts, Spartiates trained as hoplite forces. They fought along with helot forces; for instance, at the Battle of Plataea, Herodotus says that seven-ninths of the Spartan forces were helots, one-ninth (5000) were Spartiates, and the rest others. This was probably the largest army Sparta ever fielded.^[2] Some Spartan armies, like one led by Brasidas in the Peloponnesian War, consisted entirely of non-Spartiates (excepting Brasidas). These armies maintained Sparta military rule of a large area of southern Greece, from the Second Messenian War (650 BC), until the end of the short-lived Spartan hegemony (404-371 BC).

A certain income was required to maintain syssitia membership, and thus Spartiate status. Rising inequality within the tiny Spartiate elite meant that many fell from citizen status. High rates of violent deaths and low birthrates also caused a decline in the number of Spartiates. Some Spartiates made efforts to reform the system and enlarge the Spartiate class, but these efforts failed, and the Spartiate class became too small to forcibly maintain the Spartan social structure. The helots gained their freedom in 370 BC, effectively eliminating the Spartiate way of life, though some aspects survived into the Roman period.