spartan army at Mantinea 418 BC

[hoplite14gr]

The Spartan Army was always a mix of Homioi and Periokoi.
and the truth is that only Epameinondas (much later) put in the field an army as diciplined as the Spartans.

Spartans got their victories through Stratagem and the did not liked prolonged fight and campaigns. They had an army to do that and they had terrorized everyone else into be fatalistic in being defeaten when phasing them.

In 669 B.C. in Hysiai the Argives by using their 5000 strong Sacred Battalion crushed them. Hardly surprising that they converted their society to produce
5000 Homioi (same number as the Argive Sacred Battalion) upon which the periokoi coulld be molded in an effective fighting force.

Kind regards