... of main reasons for Sparta's transformation into a military state after the savage second Messenian War in the 6th century was to create a state of soldiers to effectively control the helots, who vastly outnumbered the Spartiates. This represented a weakness in the state and economic structure that hindered its power, and Aristotle (from The Politics, quoted in Hennessy, 1991, 69) is critical of Sparta's brutal methods employed ... to control them as he states "results of this kind go to show that the state has yet to learn the right method of ... handling its subject population", in r...

• Word Count: 2813
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate