The ''trophimoi'' (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: τρόφιμοι, students or pupils, from τροφός ''trophós'' food) were children of non-Spartan citizens (
perioeci
The Perioeci or Perioikoi (, ) were the second-tier citizens of the ''polis'' of Sparta until 200 BC. They lived in several dozen cities within Spartan territories (mostly Laconia and Messenia), which were dependent on Sparta. The ''perioeci'' ...
or foreigners), who underwent
Spartan education.
The ''trophimoi'' were temporarily adopted by a Spartan ''oikos''. The trophimoi sons of Perioeci represented, like the ''
neodamodes
The neodamodes ( el, νεοδαμώδεις, ''neodamōdeis'') were helots freed after passing a time of service as hoplites in the Spartan army.
The date of their first apparition is uncertain. Thucydides does not explain the origin of this spe ...
'' and the ''nothoi'' (natural sons of slaves and citizens), an intermediate class at
Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
. They could rise to the status of citizens. According to
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
,
Agis IV intended them to strengthen the citizenry, which had become too meagre for Sparta's wartime necessities.
The foreign ''trophimoi'' normally left Sparta to return to their native towns, where they increased Sparta's influence. Thus, on the invitation of
Agesilaus II
Agesilaus II (; grc-gre, Ἀγησίλαος ; c. 442 – 358 BC) was king of Sparta from c. 399 to 358 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony ...
,
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...
had raised his own sons at Sparta.
However, some ''trophomoi'' preferred to remain, and fought in the civic army. That was the case, for example, of the army that
Agesipolis I
Agesipolis I ( grc-gre, Ἀγησίπολις; died 380 BC) was the twenty-first of the kings of the Agiad dynasty in ancient Sparta.
Agesipolis succeeded his father Pausanias, while still a minor, in 394 BC, and reigned fourteen years. Upon the ...
sent to besiege
Phlius in 381 BC:
There followed with him also many of the Perioeci as volunteers, men of the better class, and aliens who belonged to the so-called foster-children .e. Trophimoiof Sparta, and sons of the Spartiatae by Helot women, exceedingly finelooking men, not without experience of the good gifts of the state. (Xénophon '' Hellenica''
V. 3
References
*
Edmond Lévy
Edmond Lévy (born 1934) is a French classical historian.
Biography
Originally a pupil of an École normale supérieure (promotion 1956), an aggregate of letters, he was also a pupil of École française d'Athènes, a school in Athens, Greece w ...
, ''Sparte : histoire politique et sociale jusqu’à la conquête romaine'' (''Sparta: Political and Social History Until the Roman Conquest''), ''Points Histoire'',
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, 2003 ({{ISBN, 2-02-032453-9).
Social classes of Sparta