### id263995971 stringent Spartan citizenship rules led to culture collapse > This may of course just reflect the concerns of historians living in the present day, but yes, much of the reconsideration of Spartan society foregrounds their efforts to *appear* - though certainly not to *become* - a community of socio-economic as well as political equals. > > The main element of this was a very high property requirement for citizenship, which required all Spartiates to be members of the leisured elite, whose income was secured by a vast enslaved underclass. Only those who were free of the need to work could be ciitzens, and those who fell short of this were ruthlessly cast out of the citizen body. > > On the other hand, the Spartans made huge efforts to *seem* as if they didn't care much for personal wealth and lived austere lives in service of their community. The Spartans state mandated simple dress and diet for all citizens, forbade the adornment of houses and female bodies, and probably deliberately did not muster any cavalry so that all citizens appeared uniform in battle. The Spartan education system and mess groups were collective and mandatory, setting a sort of "lowest common denominator" for upbringing and lifestyle, and denying the rich a chance to set themselves apart. > > All this served to mask a society that was deeply riven by inequality, and ultimately brought to its knees by its rigid adherence to its own property requirements. As wealth accumulated in fewer and fewer hands, more and more Spartans lost their rights, until at the last there were only a handful of them left. - [View Highlight](https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/q3bowq/sparta_wasnt_that_effective_in_war_were_there_any?__readwiseLocation=0%2F0%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F21%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A0%2C0%2F3%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F21%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A311#:~:text=This%20may%20of%20course%20just%2Ca%20handful%20of%20them%20left.) - [[hypermilitarized groups in history#id263995971 stringent Spartan citizenship rules led to culture collapse|View in Vault]]