Spartan economy

Also, Xenophon explains how at the beginning of the sixth century, women started to gain ownership of land and were able to control their inherited land without alarm from the Spartiates as they were often away on military expeditions. This led to a significant percentage of land in the hands of Spartan women and causes other historians to question the system of distribution in Sparta. Nonetheless, with the division of land under constant check by the government, it meant that the wealth of Sparta was always contained within the traditional state and was controlled by citizens and citizens only. .
             The Spartan economy was structured in such a way that the Spartiates only had to concern themselves with reaching peak military status, so in order to achieve this, helots (the original inhabitants of Messene) were highly exploited as they were needed to perform the agricultural tasks that was required to provide the necessary armour and tools needed by the Spartiates. Their hard work often did not pay off as they remained state-owned serfs and the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus described helots as doing workloads "under painful necessity to bring their masters full half the fruit their ploughed land produced". However, helots were given an incentive to work hard and produce quality crops as they only had to supply a fixed amount of produce every year to their masters and any surplus or profit was theirs to keep. With the Spartiates away in the barracks and the helots remaining to work the land as farmers, it created an interdependency that was essential, especially for the Spartiates as they needed the helots to produce the food that was considered necessary for the mess contribution. Barley meal, wine, cheese, figs, meat and fish that were consumed by the syssitia were a result of the helots" exertion and effort that was provided as part of their established roles in the economy. .
             The perioikoi served a very important economic role.