Changes

Sparta was much admired in Greece. The Greeks admired the harmony and order produced by the Spartan Constitution. Indeed many Greeks wanted their polis to adopt a similar form of government The city-state system also influenced philosophers such as Plato and its influence can be seen in his great work the Republic. The Spartan system was based on the idea that the collective came before the individual. The state demanded total obedience from the citizen whose service to the state came before, their family and personal wishes. The Spartan warrior and indeed other citizens saw themselves as members of the collective and this is best seen in the agoge system. The Spartan was expected to renounce personal wealth and gain and to use all their personal resources for the good of the state and the citizen-body<ref> Pausanias. Description of Greece. with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones (Boston, Cambridge University Press, 1918), p. 345</ref>. The citizen body was a band of equal all committed to the defines and glory of Sparta. However, over time these values were eroded and Sparta came to resemble its turbulent and very individualistic neighbors. This was a long-term process and there were many reasons for the decline in the traditional Spartan values, that underpinned its political system. However, the Peloponnesian War accelerated this trend <ref> Thucydides. 6. 7</ref>. The booty from the war led to a growing divide between the Spartan citizens. A wealthy class of citizen emerged rich from booty and payments from Sparta’s allies. This meant that many citizens could no longer be members of the agoge system but that they were under the control of a wealthy elite<ref>Cartledge, 2002, p. 176</ref>. It is also believed that the growing inequality in wealth also resulted in a falling birth-rate. Then Sparta was increasingly bedeviled by internal dissent and political in-fighting. This was because many Spartans had experience of leadership outside the city-state and they were no longer willing, to obey the old elite. Spartan generals such as Lysander began to seek personal power and this led to growing instability, in a political entity that seemed so fixed and stable, through the centuries. Before the fateful battle of Leuctra, Sparta was no longer as unified as it once was and this was a factor in its decline.

==Conservatism==

The Spartan system and the entire society was built around one aim and that was to maintain the existing order. They sought to preserve their ascendancy over the helot population and their leadership of the Geek world. It was a society that distrusted change and believed that it was destabilizing. Sparta’ Constitution was handed down from generation to generation and it was not altered or changed. The system or society that was sanctioned by the constitution did not change either. The Spartans were notoriously conservative and they refused to countenance change, unlike the rest of Greece who was constantly changing, especially the Athenians. The conservatism of the Spartans was often a strength but also a weakness. The state or society did not change and adapt to new social, political and military realities. Sparta was unable to change- this meant that it was inflexible and many even at the time saw it as a society that was petrifying <ref>Forrest, W.G., A History of Sparta, 950–192 B.C., New York: W. W. Norton & C, 1968), p. 113</ref>. The Spartans did not change their military tactics and still used the traditional tactics even when other states in Greece, such as Thebes were updating the phalanx formation. Then the Spartans could not change even when the citizen body went into a precipitous decline, there was no meaningful effort to reform the agoge system. The society seemed incapable of dealing with many of the problems that it faced in the wake of its victory in the Peloponnesian War<ref>Forrest, p. 145</ref>.

==Conclusion==

Spartan was the victor of the Peloponnesian War and by 400 BCE it was the greatest power in the Greek world and a major player in the eastern Mediterranean. However, by 377 BCE the Spartans had been defeated in battle for the first time and it lost the leadership of Greece. The decline in Spartan power was due to military, social and cultural factors that allowed other states to challenge its preeminent position in the Greek world. Among the longer-term trends that undermine Sparta was the decline in the numbers of citizens and since they formed the backbone of the army, this greatly weakened Spartan power. The premium placed on stability and order meant that the Spartans distrusted change and this conservatism meant that Sparta could not change to meet the challenges that it faced. Then the Peloponnesian War produced tensions in society and the increasing wealth as a result of war-booty, created growing inequality between the citizens.