The Ancient Spartan Reforms
The need for progressive change in the face of a conservative society
Ancient Sparta, the home of the legendary Hoplites, the city that bore the weight of the Persians at Thermopylae, the first “army with a state”, was a glorious city only in the imagination of proud and bloated Spartan Puppets by the Hellenistic Age. Its population; decimated, its poor; desperate, and worst of all, the rich; scandalized with Eastern luxuries and overspending. In turn, it is clear as day that the late Spartans were in desperate need of change and reform, but whom can modernize a backwards society overnight?
Trick Question
The answer is…no one. Like the posh written introduction, the Spartans fell before their story finished. However, there were attempts, and at its fullest potential, it could have reshaped Sparta into a Hellenistic Superpower.
The Situation
By the second century BC, the Spartan citizenry had declined to only 700, while the rise of the Eastern Hellenistic Empires made the small city-state unable to compete and stay politically relevant. In addition, it was so South of mainland Greece that the Macedonians, Egyptians and Greeks all opted to confine Sparta in an isolated bubble of decay instead of outright conquering it.
