The Spartans: as extreme religious fanatics as warriors

A statue of Apollo, one of the main Spartan gods. http :// tinyurl . com / d552frq

Spartan soldiers, ready for battle.http :// tinyurl . com / cnyglyj

Who were these Greek gods?

• Major Greek gods included Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.

• All Greeks- Athenians, Spartans, etc.- worshipped the same gods, but some gods were more important for certain polises.

• For example, the Spartans especially worshipped Ares, the god of war and Zeus, the king of all gods and the sky.

Would they sacrifice animals or people?

• The Spartans often made animal sacrifices. • They would rarely, but sometimes use people

for their sacrifices. • Sacrificing people continued through the

classical era, which humanitiesweb.org says is from around 1750-1820.

Info on this slide comes from Bestia Bortale at widdershins.org

The religious festival of Carneia

• Carneia was a religious celebration where skilled runners ran a marathon.

• This was celebrated in August, and was a wine festival.

• It could have been dedicated to the success of the harvest, but later was about military success.

The info on this slide and the next 2 come from schools.nsw.edu.au

Gymnopaedia

• This festival was in the hottest part of the year, July.

• Art performances and athletics were done at this festival.

• In this festival, soldiers were initiated.• This was involved with thanking Apollo for

military success.

Hyakinthia

• This is the most important festival, I assume it was practically Christmas for them.

• This was held at Amycla, I assume that that’s a city within the polis.

• It originated when Apollo threw a discus at Hykinthos (the vegetation god), and felt sorry so he made this holiday.

More facts

Religion dominated all aspects of Spartan society. According to schools.nsw.edu.au:

• All kings were priests, and they, along with other priests, were the descendents of Hercules. There was no separation of church and state.

• Even when they were conquered in 146 BC, their beliefs were fused with Roman gods, like Poseidon with Neptune and other gods fused with other gods.

Why were the Spartans so religious?

• Even though the Spartans were warlike, they had a lot of free time. They used helots, (slaves), for their farming and chores.

• At the same time, they had little use for art or music. The English word ‘’Spartan’’ means very simple or strict, with no luxuries.

• The Spartans needed an outlet, meaning a way to express themselves. For them, religion and war were their outlets.

Archeological evidence According to The

Spartan Project online, pottery showed the Spartans used their free time for religion in addition to athletics and hunting.

sources

• http://0.tqn.com/d/atheism/1/0/R/R/Sacrifice-l.jpg

• http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/spartan

• http://spartanproject.wikispaces.com/Daily+Life+and+Leisure

• http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/dict/asp/dictionarybody.asp?name=dioskouroi