The orders established by Lycurgus were admired by some, condemned and criticized by others. One of the first reforms of Lycurgus was the organization of the administration of the civil community. Ancient writers claim that Lycurgus created a council of elders (gerousia) of 28 people. Elders (geronts) - not younger than 60 years old - were elected by the people's assembly of citizens (apella). The Gerousia also included two kings, one of whose main duties was to command the army in war. Apel-la initially, apparently, had great power and solved all the most important issues in the life of the community. Over time, power in the state passed into the hands of the ephors.
In VIH c. BC. in Sparta, as in other Greek policies, there was an acute shortage of land. The Spartans solved this problem by conquering the neighboring region of Messenia, and its inhabitants were enslaved. The conquered land and the enslaved population were declared the property of all citizens of Sparta. And the management system, and the supreme ownership of all citizens on the land - all this did not distinguish Sparta from other Greek policies. As elsewhere in the states of Ancient Greece, the principle was in effect here: we own together, we manage together, we protect together. But in Sparta it was carried out with such consistency that it turned it into something ugly, into a "historical curiosity", as some historians call it.
The reason for this was a special form of slavery that arose in Ancient Sparta. In most Greek policies, slaves were brought from distant countries. Cut off from their homes, of different nationalities, they were disunited and it was difficult for them to agree with each other and revolt against their masters. The population of Laconica and Messenia, converted into slaves (helots), remained to live where their ancestors also lived. They ran an independent household, had property and a family. They paid their owners a tax (apophora), but they could dispose of the rest of the products at their discretion. This created favorable conditions for uprisings, which the helots, many times outnumbering their masters, raised quite often.
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