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The perioeci were obliged to follow Spartan foreign policy, and supplied men to fight in the Spartan army. [8] Like the hómoioi (ὅμοιοι, full Spartan citizens), the perioeci fought in the army as hoplites, probably in the same units. [9] The perioeci had the right to own land, which would have been necessary to support those in the army ...
Besides the Spartiate class, there were many free non-citizen underclasses. The Perioeci, literally meaning "dwelling around", were citizens of smaller Laconian polises that were subordinate to Sparta. [3] The Skiritai were similar to the Perioeci but fought as light infantry instead of hoplites.
Full citizens, known as the Spartiates proper, or Hómoioi ("equals" or peers), who received a grant of land (kláros or klēros, "lot") for their military service. Perioeci (the "dwellers nearby"), who were free non-citizens. They were generally merchants, craftsmen and sailors, and served as light infantry and auxiliary on campaigns.
Mothakes were not able to contribute to the syssitia, the core civic daily institution for citizens, and thus were not allowed to maintain an "equal" status. They were, however, permitted to fight as troops along with perioeci. Though free, they were not Spartan citizens but were brought up alongside Spartan boys as their foster brothers.
The Spartan citizens relied on the labor of captured slaves called helots to do the everyday drudgework of farming and maintenance, while the Spartan men underwent a rigorous military regimen, and in a sense it was the labor of the helots which permitted Spartans to engage in extensive military training and citizenship. [16]
Besides the Spartiate class, there were many free non-citizen underclasses, many of them poorly described in classical sources. The Perioeci or Períoikoi, a social class and population group of non-citizen inhabitants. The Perioeci were free, unlike the helots, but were not full Spartan citizens. They had a central role in the Spartan economy ...
In other Greek city-states, free citizens were part-time soldiers who, when not at war, carried on other trades. Since Spartan men were full-time soldiers, they were not available to carry out manual labour. [89] The helots were used as unskilled serfs, tilling Spartan land. Helot women were often used as wet nurses. Helots also travelled with ...
Phylarchus mentions a class of men who were at the same time free and non-citizens: the μόθακες / mothakes, who had undergone the 'agoge', the Spartan educational system. [53] Classical historiography recognizes that the helots comprised a large portion of these mothakes. Nevertheless, this category poses a number of problems, firstly ...