[German version]

(Σπαρτιᾶται; Spartiâtai). Full citizens of Sparta, who attained this status at 20 years of age, and who from the 5th cent. BC saw themselves as homoioi [II] (peers), distinct from the perioikoi , and from the hypomeiones, who enjoyed only limited rights as citizens. The conditions for assuming this status included pure Spartan blood, completion of the agoge and participation in the syssitiai (Banquet [II. B]), to which they had to contribute. Their economic basis were the klaroi ( kleros ), which were worked by helots. The notion that all of Laconia was originally…