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The Spartans have three social classes, The Spartiates (or more commonly known as the Spartans), The Periokoi and The Helots. The Spartans:

The Spartiates were male Spartan citizens, they called themselves the Homoioi instead of Spartans because they saw themselves as free citizens. Spartiates were financially and socially equal. They spent their days practicing war exercises at the mess hall, they slept in the mess halls at night.
The Periokoi:

The Periokoi were free non Spartan citizens, and lived in self- governing communities (villages) outside of Sparta.  They were merchants, farmers, craftsmen and traders. The term Periokoi means outlanders, neighbours, or “those who dwelt around Sparta”, They were required to obey the Spartan laws and fight for Sparta.
The Helots:

The Helots were Spartan slaves (or the state owned slaves). The Helots were seen as the enemies of the State of Sparta. They worked on farms for the Spartans and they weren’t allowed to leave that land. They had to go to war with their masters to tend to them. It was estimated that there was seven Helots to one Spartan.
There was also another Spartan social class, one less spoken about, “The Interferers” they are often the children of unmarried Spartans and they were known as interferer to the State of Sparta (or not important).

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Spartan Girls:
Spartan girls lived at home with their mothers until they were 18 years old.  They were taught dancing, music, wrestling, running, how to throw throwing disks and javelin. They were also taught how to drive chariots, ride horses and they took part in special games. The Spartans believed that a women or a girl had to be healthy and fit to have healthy, fit and strong children. When the girl reached the age of 18 they were expected to leave home, get married and have strong, fit and healthy children.
Spartan Boys:
Spartan boys lived at home until the age of 7, when they had to leave home and live in barracks with 14 other boys. There they were taught the reading and writing skills that they needed for basic life. Although the boy’s main education was physical like fighting and battle training. They had to walk barefoot to toughen up their feet and they had to pluck reeds from the River Eurotas using their bare hands to use the reeds for their beds.  The boy’s diet consisted of coarse black bread dipped in wine for breakfast and for their main meal they had a soup made out of boiled pigs blood with a piece of pork boiled in the soup with coarse black bread. At the age of 12 the boys were given a cloak to wear instead of a loincloth. At some time during their training the boys were sent to live on Mount Taygetus, while they were there they had to steal or catch their own food to feed themselves.  The boy’s life was tough but it taught them the discipline they needed to be in the Spartan Army.

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Sparta had Two Kings they were also known as the chief priests of Sparta. The main power in Sparta was held by The Five Ephors who were responsible for law and order for Spartan life. Once every year The Five Ephors declared war on the Helots so that they could kill the strong and healthy Helots, that were seen fit to lead a rebellion against the Spartans. Sparta had a secret police force called The Krypteia, they controlled the Helots and they killed the strong and healthy Helots. There are stories of young Spartans who went around with daggers killing Helots.

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The Spartans had 6 main Gods that they worshipped and when looking at the worshipped Gods of Sparta we can see a clear resemblance to their militaristic lifestyle.

The Spartans worshipped Apollo, who was the God of science, medicine, music and poetry. His motto is “nothing in excess” which suited the life of the Spartans They worshipped him by the Hyapkinthia festival, the Gymnopaediae festival and the Karneia festival. The Spartans worshipped Artemis, who was the Goddess of hunting and childbirth. She was also known as Artemis Orthinia when combined with the earlier Spartan Goddess. She was highly worshipped in Sparta because childbirth was very important in Sparta, as children had to be born strong and healthy. The Spartans worshipped the Greek God Zeus, who was the King of the Gods and Mount Olympus, supreme ruler of the Gods and mortals. The Two Spartan Kings where thought to have a connection to Zeus, and that made a stronger Spartan State because the Spartiates believed that their connection between the Two Kings and Zeus. They worshipped Ares, the God of war, although he wasn’t a patron God of Sparta he was a symbol of strength and victory. The Spartans worshipped the Greek Goddess Athena who was the patron Goddess of Sparta. She was seen as a warrior, often holding a spear, and was the Goddess of arts, wisdom and handicrafts. She was worshipped highly as a symbol of the warriors which Spartans trained to become, she also represented the militaristic ideas of Sparta. The Spartans worshipped Poseidon who is God of the Sea, Horses and Earthquakes. There were a number of sanctuaries with Poseidon’s name on them, that provided shelter for Helots and refuge.

Spartans believed that they were descendants of Hercules and Zeus, both symbols of power and strength, implying that Spartans militaristic beliefs, that divines people from their divine ancestry.

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It was said that Sparta’s military and army was the greatest of their time., in the whole of Ancient Greece.
The Spartans wore shin guards, a breastplate, arm guards, they carried a shield which weighed 14 kilos. They each carried a Spartan short sword (The Xiphos) which was approximately 30-46cm long and a Kopis which was a hacking weapon, like an axe but it was in the shape of the sword. They carried a spear (called the Dory) and they each were 2.1-2.7 meters in length. The Spartans also wore a helmet and a red war cloak because no enemy was allowed to see Spartan blood.  The Spartan warriors were the greatest of their time.

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Spartan Women:
The Spartan women and girls had to run Sparta while the men were at war. The women’s responsibilities were running the farm, supervising the activities of the Helots (Spartan slaves), to supervise the children and make sure that the monthly allowance of food was sent to the mess hall.  The women were barred from public life and were restricted to domestic roles.                                    Spartan Men:
The men were enlisted in the army until they were 60 years old, although most of them didn’t make it to that age. They weren’t allowed to see their wives until the age of 30, when they were 30 they still weren’t allowed to see them during the daytime so they had to sneak out at night to see their wives.  If their wife had a baby that was seen as “unfit to the Spartan society” then it would be the men’s duty to leave the baby on top of Mount Taygetus to die. The Spartan ideal for a warrior was a man who could bare any pain of discomfort and who would die fighting rather than face the disgrace of retreat or surrender to the enemy.

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Ancient Sparta was a militaristic state that was born in 146 BC and lasted until it was finally absorbed by the Achaean League in the 2nd century BCE. Sparta's army was known as the greatest army of its time.