The Most Brutal City-States in Ancient Greece

In contrast to civilizations like Ancient Egypt and Rome, Ancient Greece wasn't a unified state. Rather, it was a collection of over 1,000 independent cities. While they traded and sometimes joined together to fight a common threat like Persia, the cities had their own histories and cultures. These differences appeared in their views of citizenship, freedom, justice, and the treatment of outsiders and enslaved people. Even though most were violent by modern standards, some city-states stood out as particularly brutal. Understanding this brutality is crucial to comprehending the dark side of Ancient Greece.

Sparta

Sparta often ranks near the top of lists of the most brutal Greek city-states, and for good reason. Everything in Spartan society was organized around war. This began at the age of seven, when boys began a rigorous training system called the Agoge. They were removed from their homes and placed in communal barracks with boys their own age. Doing so instilled a sense of camaraderie and loyalty to the state. Training focused on basic education, physical fitness, combat preparedness, and survival skills. The boys were also purposefully given insufficient food rations and encouraged to steal just to survive.

The treatment of boys was nothing compared to that of Spartan slaves. Known as helots, they were state-owned serfs primarily composed of subjugated native peoples from Laconia and Messenia. Since they dramatically outnumbered Spartan citizens, the government utilized systematic terror to keep them in line. A crucial component of this was the Crypteia, a secret police force composed of young Spartan men. Armed with only a dagger, they lived off the land and ambushed and killed helots at night. Each year, the Spartan government also ritually declared war on the helots. Doing so meant that citizens could kill them without legal penalty or fear of religious pollution.

Athens

As the birthplace of democracy, Athens continues to hold importance, particularly to the West. However, its brutality is often overlooked. This was exemplified by the Melian Massacre (416 BCE) during the Peloponnesian War. Up until that point, the island of Melos had stayed neutral. The Athenians didn't like this and sent a massive fleet to besiege the island. When the Melians argued why they shouldn't submit, they appealed to justice, fairness, and the right to remain neutral. Rather than listening to these arguments, Athens asserted that its military superiority gave it the right to do whatever it wanted. Ultimately, Athens massacred the men, enslaved the women and children, and repopulated the island with Athenian settlers.

Athenian brutality wasn't just confined to war. Like Sparta, they practiced slavery, albeit in a very different way. Slaves in Athens were considered personal property. They were acquired via war, piracy, and slave markets. Babies of enslaved mothers were automatically enslaved as well. Slaves fulfilled a variety of tasks, from domestic duties like cooking, cleaning, and raising children, to deadly ones like working in the mines. Treatment depended on the master. Some slaves were given a relatively large amount of freedom, whereas others suffered all manner of abuse. Regardless, the institution itself was fundamentally inhumane.

Thebes

The third most powerful city-state (after Athens and Sparta), Thebes also had a brutal streak. One of the clearest examples of this occurred near the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. In 431 BCE, Thebes launched a surprise attack on Plataea. The Plataeans managed to fight back, capturing the invaders and later executing them. After that failed attack, Sparta and Thebes besieged Plataea from 429 to 427 BCE. The siege created severe hunger inside the city, and after Plataea surrendered, the remaining defenders were executed following a sham trial. Theban brutality was again on display at the end of the conflict in 404 BCE, when Thebes, along with Corinth, urged that Athens be leveled to the ground. The idea was so draconian that even Sparta refused. Such suggestions and actions made Thebes deeply unpopular. When Alexander the Great besieged and destroyed Thebes in 335 BCE, the city received little effective help from other Greek states.

Syracuse

Although located on the Italian island of Sicily, Syracuse was part of the Greek cultural and political world. Indeed, it fundamentally altered the course of the Peloponnesian War by decimating the Athenian fleet during the infamous Sicilian Expedition (415 to 413 BCE). After the battle, about 7,000 Athenian and allied prisoners of war were thrown into open-air quarries called the Latomiae. As they baked under the heat of the sun and suffered from dehydration, many died. They were then left to rot. Some survivors were later sold into slavery, while the fate of others is debated.

Brutality continued under the reign of Dionysius (405 to 367 BCE). A formidable war leader, he ensured that Syracuse remained independent when faced with threats from the North Africa-based empire of Carthage. At the same time, he was despotic and vindictive. Dionysius purged political opponents and took their property. According to later tradition, he arranged to have the famed philosopher Plato sold into slavery after a personal dispute. In short, Syracuse under Dionysius was violent and authoritarian.

The Cost Of A Divided Greece

Ancient Greece is often remembered for philosophy, democracy, art, and military achievement, but its city-states also practiced cruelty on a staggering scale. Sparta used terror to control the helots, Athens punished Melos with massacre and enslavement, Thebes brought destruction to Plataea, and Syracuse left thousands of prisoners to suffer in the quarries. Their histories show that the Greek world was not only a place of ideas and ambition, but also one marked by violence, domination, and harsh political power.