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by nsajko 1747 days ago
Sparta can also refer to the entire state. I think you're making a fuss out of nothing.

Also, Sparta wasn't just Spartiates and helots, you're forgetting about mothakes and perioikoi.

1 comments

I thought so at first. I think poster got so caught up in explaining the Greek that he forgot to make his point.

For a while, it seemed like poster was arguing semantics vs actually informing the reader on why author could be wrong.

I'm not sure how to present it better, but I'd posit:

"Sparta, the city, was not 80% slaves. That stat only true about the state. This distinction only matters because the author is critizing sparta society on the basis that Sparta's seat of power was slave-cornucopia. But this is false. Sparta the city is mostly spartan citizens, making the author's criticism-by-sleight-of-hand dishonest"