This recording is from Xenophon’s Hellenica, Book IV, Chapter 3, lines 4 – 11. It describes the conspiracy of Cinadon (Κιναδων) to stage a Helot rebellion in Sparta, about 395 B.C.E.
It’s notable for the many categories of “under-citizens,” that Cinadon believes will participate in the rebellion. While Spartan society included many different classes, only those at the top, the Spartiatai, held any real power. I was also curious about the phony errand that the ephors sent Cinadon on: to arrest “the most beautiful woman in Aulon, who was corrupting the Spartans who went there, both young and old.”
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