√ The Economy of Sparta: Technology Weapons Armour Pottery Explained
📢 Receive Comprehensive Mathematics Practice Papers Weekly for FREE 😊
Click this link to get: ▶️▶️▶️ https://iitutor.com/email-list/ ◀️◀️◀️
Economic activity in Sparta was carried out by the helots in agriculture, by the periokoi in industry and trade. Spartan industry included bronze and pottery making. Sparta had iron deposits but it would have imported copper and tin which it mixed with iron for bronze working. This industry had been practised in Laconia and other Peloponnesian centres since the 8th century B.C. Small figurines and larger statues were produced by the Spartan bronze industry.
The oldest technique of making bronze objects involved the casting of the molten alloy in a mould. Then beat it out into thin sheeting with a hammer. Superior quality bronze sheeting had a tin content of about 10%. By the 5th century B.C. the new technique of indirect casting was developed in which a clay model was used to produce a negative, thus making possible the mass production of cast objects. Some bronze sculptors are known from ancient times.
Pausanias was an ancient traveller. He visited Olympia and mentions a bronze statue of Zeus about 5.5 metres high. It was the work of Telestas of Sparta who lived in the 6th century B.C. The Spartan bronze industry also produced a large range of weapons and armour to equip its soldiers. The Spartans and Peloponnesians had revolutionised ancient warfare with the development of the Phalanx.
Each soldier was fitted with the standard kit including A bronze helmet, Hoplon - shield, Cuirass - breastplate, Greaves-like cricketers shin-pads. Each soldier was fitted with the standard kit including Bronze tipped spear and dagger. The most famous pottery is known as Laconian III which is dated to 575 B.C. It was primarily interested in human subjects and telling a story. The figures are painted in black with a creamy yellow sip. The Laconian potters eventually copied the Attic red-figure wear. Fitzharding notes that very little is known of the painters and potters and their industry.
The painters were obviously specialists in their craft who perhaps came from the upper classes as two of them could read. Fitzharding points out that such trades might have been pursued by poorer Spartiates,
younger sons or those who had lost their allotted land. Small figurines, mould-made reliefs of baked clay, (terracotta) have also been found at most religious sites. A number of clay masks had been found at the Orthia sanctuary that are models of larger masks used in some ritual.