Spartan uniformity

[ocollens]

Sparta was unusual in ancient Greece in presenting a fairly uniform appearance in its army. In the fourth century, when the number of Spartiates was quite small, did periokoi, freed helots and landless Spartans who made up most of the army still retain the traditional Spartan look (red tunics, long hair and beards, lambdas). I realise that the answer may be 'we do not know' but would welcome speculation.

[Erpingham]

Nice to see a new person posting Andrew.  We have been discussing the look of Spartans only this week http://soa.org.uk/sm/index.php?topic=2340.0 which may gave you some useful information.

[Jim Webster]

Actually the uniformity might be enhanced by relative poverty.
If the state provided the shield, and there was little or no armour, then getting your other tunic dyed red and having a red cloak and keeping your hair long isn't going to break the bank.
It is probably with the wealthy that you start seeing the most variety as they can afford more and different stuff

I'd suggest that the biggest problem for uniformity is that the reds would tend to be at different stages of fading and unless there was a tradition of re-dying your tunic just before the start of campaign, 'red' could cover a multitude of shades 

Jim Webster

[Erpingham]

I'd suggest that the biggest problem for uniformity is that the reds would tend to be at different stages of fading and unless there was a tradition of re-dying your tunic just before the start of campaign, 'red' could cover a multitude of shades 

Jim Webster

Good point.  Most of these folks would be wearing madder tunics, which at best is a deep red but can be paler if dyed cheaply with less dye and fades to a pinky brown.

[Jim Webster]

I suppose there's even the possibility that with a Spartan force, having faded kit shows you're a veteran not some fng in bright shiny red

[Duncan Head]

Sparta was unusual in ancient Greece in presenting a fairly uniform appearance in its army. In the fourth century, when the number of Spartiates was quite small, did periokoi, freed helots and landless Spartans who made up most of the army still retain the traditional Spartan look (red tunics, long hair and beards, lambdas). I realise that the answer may be 'we do not know' but would welcome speculation.

The passage from Xenophon's Agesilaus that I posted in the other thread - http://soa.org.uk/sm/index.php?topic=2340.msg26761#msg26761 - does suggest an impression of uniformity, at least at a distance. The lambdas may even have originated with Brasidas' helots.

[RobertGargan]

If the lambda appeared with Brasidas' state supported hoplites could the wealthier Spartiates have been the only hoplites to have worn armour – linen or metal – and to have particular symbols, designs, on their shields?  If the Spartiate element of the Lacedaemonian army were forever fewer in number they might have been quite distinctive close up in more expensive armour.  From the distance, particularly if they adopted the lambda, the Lacedaemonians would present a uniform appearance.  The King's bodyguard were first among equals and in the later period could have followed the "trend" to wearing heavier armour.

[Erpingham]

an impression of uniformity, at least at a distance.

I've often suspected that precise uniformity may not have been as important at this time, even if you are issuing kit from state supplies. Equipment was craft made, cloth came in small batches etc.  Detail uniformity may have had to wait for industrialisation and even then it tended to become less precise in the field.

[Patrick Waterson]

The Spartans did not have our attitudes to wealth and social distinction: possessing or even eating anything noticeably better than what everyone else had was heavily frowned upon and could get one fined.  Hence it would seem likely that quality of dye would have been pretty much the same throughout - besides, one of the main points of wearing red was not to encourage the foe by letting him know you were wounded; this aspect would be rather lost for someone wearing pinky brown.

And I doubt that a Spartan king would wish to lead a host wearing variegated hues into the field: it would impress neither the enemy nor Sparta's allies.  Keeping up appearances was important.

With armour it is harder to tell, but I suspect much the same logic would apply: a Spartan is a Spartan be he King or enfranchised Helot, and while there may have been some differences in quality they would be minor and probably not be noticeable in 15mm.

Plutarch's Agesilaus has a few possibly useful pointers.  When Agesilaus returned from Asia, he, unlike many others:

"... made no change in his table, or his baths, or the attendance on his wife, [5] or the decoration of his armour [hoplōn kosmon], or the furniture of his house" - Agesilaus 19.5

"And one can see his spear [logkhē] also, which is still preserved at Sparta, and which is not at all different from that of other men." - idem 19.6

[ocollens]

Thank you for those replies. I only noticed the earlier discussion after I had posted - fools rush in etc. A point about uniformity in the Greek context that I have come across is that it was threatening, one suggestion being that 'uniforms' were associated with tyrants whereas free citizens strutted their individualised stuff.

[Patrick Waterson]

There may be something in this, but I would not make too much of it, because just before Second Mantinea (362 BC):

"For at the time when he [Epaminondas] gave them the last order to make ready, saying that there would be a battle, the horsemen eagerly whitened their helmets at his command, the hoplites of the Arcadians painted clubs upon their shields, as though they were Thebans, and all alike sharpened their spears and daggers and burnished their shields." - Xenophon Hellenica VII.5.20

Uniformity could thus symbolise commitment, making hard and fast conclusions about the psychology involved in uniformity problematic.