[Teaser] The True Size of a Spartan Army

I wanted to give you all a sneak peak of the script for the upcoming True Size of a Spartan Army documentary (release date TBD). The script is still a work in progress.

Disclaimer

Before we begin it is important to note that our understanding of the ancient Spartans is based on limited sources whose interpretation is the subject of continued academic debate. Even if we were able to agree on an army model, its form would never be able to represent every incarnation of a Spartan host across the classical period. Our army today takes as its basis the organizational structure described by Xenophon in his work on the “Constitution of the Spartans” and will therefore best be understood as a rough approximation of an army which might be fielded around the time of the Peloponnesian war in the late 5th century BC.

Please keep this in mind as we are forced to make some assumptions and simplifications in this video for the sake of both visual and narrative clarity. While we will do our best to maintain historical accuracy, at the end of the day we suggest you consult the work of experts for the best understanding of these subjects. With that being said, let us get started.

Soldiers

The foundation of the Spartan army rested upon its individual soldiers. These came in a variety of forms including the Spartiates, the Perioikoi, the Helots, and allied or mercenary forces.

The Homoioi, were the citizens of Sparta proper who were required by law to live in the central villages of Lakonia. These now began to present themselves as a closed body of absolute equals whose name literally meant the “same ones”. Even the hippeis dismounted to join them in a mass hoplite militia. Yet we should note that this idea of uniformity did not extend to their appearance. For the most part, each man armed himself according to his means with general trends in gear changing over time. Only in later years was there an attempt to encourage or enforce the use of the lambda blazon.

The next group of soldiers were the Perioikoi whose name meant “those dwelling around”. Frustratingly little is known about them besides the idea that they were essentially free non-citizens which occupied the physical and social space between the full Spartans and the Helots. Generally speaking they were parallel to the Spartan communities that had parallel social hierarchies of their own. As such, in battle, many would have fought as hoplites, but others as light-armed troops or cavalry, depending on their means. Initially such troops likely fought on their own but would later be mixed in with the citizens when Sparta faced manpower issues in later years.

The last category of the three groups were the Helots. To put things crudely,  they were essentially slaves or serfs who were excluded from all parts of free society. Herodotus claims that the Helots accompanied the Spartans into battle as servants and even took up arms as light troops in certain situations.

Together these three groups formed the core of the Spartan army which hailed from Lakonia. However in war, these would be reinforced and often outnumbered by additional forces from the the rest of the Peloponnese or the wider Greek world in the form of allies and mercenaries. One community worth noting among these were the Skiritai which inhabited the mountainous region just to the north of the valley of Lakonia. As stalwart allies to the Spartans they could be counted upon to answer the call to war. In what capacity they did so may have changed over the years and is open to interpretation. This ranges from acting as foot or mounted skirmishers which screened the main army to regular hoplites which anchored the left flank.

With these atomic units of the Spartan army now defined, let us begin to build up its organizational structure.

Small Groups

At the lowest level there existed several groups of soldiers which are NOT organizational units with their own officers but which will nonetheless be worth mentioning.

For instance, there is the near universal military concept of a tent group which would have existed as a matter of practical necessity. Xenophon, in his description of later mercenary armies, conveniently names them for us as the syskenoi or tent-mates. This would likely have been a handful of men who shared a shelter or encamped close enough to cook together.

However, overlapping with this was a system of mess groups. These syssitia, as they were called, existed across other Greek societies but it was the Spartans who most formalized this practice. Here, around 15 men from across the various age groups were admitted into a mess group on condition that they uphold their regular contributions which Plutarch describes as consisting of barley meal, wine, cheese and figs, and a sum of money for fish or meat. It was within these social groups that Spartans bonded with their peers, learned from their elders, and were thus molded to the standards of their society. Such mess groups presumably marched and fought together. As a result they would likely have had greater social pressure and motivation to perform well than if they had been placed with others of a more distant connection within their polis. This foundational concept would have contributed to the overall performance of the Spartan army.

One final group worth mentioning would be the file. This is a generic military term which refers to any number of troops drawn up in a line, one behind the other as in a column. Within the context of antiquity, files would be the formations which walked together and formed up into their blocks of fighting units in battle. The size of a file varied greatly from around 6 to 16 men based on the needs of a particular situation.

For reference we will now present a description of file-drill described by Xenophon, though please note that he does so in the context of a later, non-Spartan army. Here 16 men approach the battle line. Their front man leads them to a spot on the right. The next leader of 16 men deploys similarly to his left, leaving a gap between their columns. This continues on in a regular pattern for the entire unit. The gaps will then be filled by a process known as doubling. Here each column of men will split in half with the rear portion advancing to the front. If needed this process will be repeated until the desired formation is achieved. Thus we see the interplay of both frontage and depth that can be achieved by the manipulation of the file.

In practice the movement of a file is a relatively simple process of follow-the-leader without much need for extended training. In most Greek militias, the role of a file-leader seems to have been a rather ad-hoc responsibility adopted by the best-men of a file rather than any specially trained officer. However the Spartans, and the troops they commanded, paid more attention to this practice than their peers. Xenophon comments on this as follow:

"For in the Spartan order the front-rank-men are all leaders, so that each file has everything necessary to play its part efficiently. In fact, this disposition is so easy to understand that no one who can distinguish one human being from another can fail to follow it. One set have the privilege of leaders, the other the duty of followers"