Editing Sparta (section)

===Economy===
[[File:Rider BM B1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Name vase]] of the Spartan artist known as the [[Rider Painter]] (Laconian [[black-figure]]d [[kylix (cup)|kylix]], c. 550–530 BC)]]
Full citizen Spartiates were barred by law from trade or manufacture, which consequently rested in the hands of the Perioikoi.<ref name=EB1911/> This lucrative monopoly, in a fertile territory with a good harbors, ensured the loyalty of the perioikoi.<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Sparta and Lakonia'', Routledge, London, 1979, pp. 154–59</ref> Despite the prohibition on menial labor or trade, there is evidence of Spartan sculptors,<ref>Conrad Stibbe, ''Das Andere Sparta'', Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1996, pp. 111–27</ref> and Spartans were certainly poets, magistrates, ambassadors, and governors as well as soldiers.

Allegedly, Spartans were prohibited from possessing gold and silver coins, and according to legend Spartan currency consisted of iron bars to discourage hoarding.<ref>Excel HSC ''Ancient History'' By Peter Roberts, {{ISBN|1-74125-178-8|978-1-74125-178-4}}</ref> Though the conspicuous display of wealth appears to have been discouraged, this did not preclude the production of very fine decorated bronze, ivory and wooden works of art as well as exquisite jewellery, attested in archaeology.<ref>Conrad Stibbe, ''Das Andere Sparta'', Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1996</ref>

Allegedly as part of the Lycurgan Reforms in the mid-8th century BC, a massive [[Land reform in Sparta|land reform]] had divided property into 9,000 equal portions. Each citizen received one estate, a ''kleros'', which was expected to provide his living.<ref>A.H.M. Jones, ''Sparta'', Basel Blackwell and Mott Ltd.,1967, pp. 40–43</ref> The land was worked by helots who retained half the yield. From the other half, the Spartiate was expected to pay his mess (''syssitia'') fees, and the ''agoge'' fees for his children. However, nothing is known of matters of wealth such as how land was bought, sold, and inherited, or whether daughters received dowries.<ref>Stephen Hodkinson, ''Property and Wealth in Classical Sparta'', The Classical Press of Wales, Swansea, 2000. See also Paul Cartledge's discussion of property in Sparta in ''Sparta and Lakonia'', pp. 142–44.</ref> However, from early on there were marked differences of wealth within the state, and these became more serious after the law of [[Epitadeus]] some time after the [[Peloponnesian War]], which removed the legal prohibition on the gift or bequest of land.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref>''Social Conflict in Ancient Greece'' By Alexander Fuks, {{ISBN|965-223-466-4|978-965-223-466-7}}</ref> By the mid-5th century, land had become concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, and the notion that all Spartan citizens were equals had become an empty pretence. By Aristotle's day (384–322 BC) citizenship had been reduced from 9,000 to less than 1,000, then further decreased to 700 at the accession of [[Agis IV]] in 244 BC. Attempts were made to remedy this by imposing legal penalties upon bachelors,<ref name="EB1911" /> but this could not reverse the trend.