Expert: Maria - 10/13/2007

Question
Dear Maria,

I am reading a novel about ancient Sparta and came across the term "Sciritai".

Can you please tell me who served in this unit of the Spartan army?  Were these men Helots?

I searched the internet but could not find an explanation.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Rich  

Answer
Hello,

the term "Sciritai" which in ancient Greek was 'Skiritai' denoted exactly an unit of the Spartan army, i.e. an elite corps of light infantry of about 600 men.

The 'Skiritai' came from a mountainous region called 'Skiritis' located in  the northern frontier of Laconia, between the Oenus and the Eurotas rivers.

The 'Skiritai', as inhabitants of the 'Skiritis', were a people subject to Sparta, whose status was comparable to that of the Perioeci (Greek, 'perioikoi' from 'peri', "around" plus 'oikos', " house") who were  a group of free, but non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta, i.e. without full citizenship, while the Helots were the serfs of Sparta, as they were subjugated natives of Messenia, a region conquered by the Spartans.

To conclude, you can find reference to the Skiritai in Thucydides, 'The Peloponnesian war', book 5, chapter 67, paragraph 1, and in Xenophon, 'Hellenica', book 5, chapter 2, paragraph 24 (See below for links).

Best,
Maria

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Thucydides, The Peloponnesian war, book 5, chapter 67, paragraph 1 (Greek text /English translation)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0199:book=5:...

Xenophon, “Hellenica”, book 5, chapter 2, paragraph 24 ((Greek text/English translation)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0205:book=5:...

Note that the Greek text is written in Latin letters as the system does not allow the use of the ancient Greek alphabet.