EXTRACT FROM WARRIOR HEROES BY FINN BLADE
Spartan society was ordered in a very strict way.
•At the top were the kings. There were two kings at any one time so that each could make sure the other conducted himself properly and in the interests of Sparta.
•Next were the full Spartan citizens, the Spartiates. To become a full Spartan citizen as a man you had to complete your military training in the Agoge and then be accepted into a military unit as a full warrior. With very few exceptions, you also needed to be Spartan by blood – related to the families who lived in and around the city of Sparta.
•Then there were the perioeci. These were free men who were not Spartan by blood, were not warriors, and were not full citizens. As the Spartan warriors were not allowed to engage in business for profit, the perioeci were the ones who made and traded goods.
•Finally there were the helots. They were slaves, although they had better lives than many slaves. They were mostly farmers who worked land and gave a high percentage of what they grew to the Spartan state to feed its warriors. The helots were the conquered people from lands surrounding Sparta. Because there were so many more helots than Spartans, the Spartans were always on their guard against rebellions.
Although the Spartans were very proud of their status as the finest warriors in Greece, that did not mean they didn’t allow helots or perioeci to fight in the army. In fact often they forced them to. At the Battle of Thermopylae, Sparta contributed 1200 men to the Greek army. Only 300 were full Spartan warriors – the rest were helots or perioeci.