Sparta and Persia

  • The Persian and especially the satraps certainly had their way with Sparta. They provided funding to help them edge out Athens and facilitate them in their bid for hegemony. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazos, satraps, realized the man-power the Spartans had and which they required. They offered her money and ships (yes, Sparta actually develops a navy in the 4thC) in return for help against Athens in Ionia. Athens has been causing many of the cities and islands to riot and the King ordered his satraps to end it. The Spartans went with Tissaphernes, whom Plutarch described as despised by all the Greeks, who had offered them funding. An interesting question is, 'Would future events have been different if the Spartans had chosen Pharnabazos, who was kind to them until the death of Tissaphernes?'

  • One of the more interesting excerpts from Xenophon's Hellenika is a speech given by Teleutias, Agesilaos' half-brother:

    'Think of Sparta. She has the name of a happy prosperous place; but you can be sure that honour and prosperity did not come to her through idleness. No, it was because she was willing to suffer hardship and willing to face danger whenever necessary.'

    From this we can carefully glean a few facts about thoughts within Sparta. First, not all Spartans were supportive of the alliances with the Persians, which quite often came with some type of monetary reward. Second, we also see that the financial situation in Sparta may be different than what is usually reported.