Aside: Inheritance laws are one of those little thought of things that end up making huge differences in a society.
The classic one is the changes in Sparta’s inheritance system that essentially caused their downfall.
Originally every citizen had an equal plot of land, the economic base that allowed him to be a hoplite (Sparta help ~80% of their population as slaves, helots, as state property). But as Spartan men died in wars, inheritance laws were forced to let daughters inherit and merge estates through marriage, wealth, and land, and thus it all concentrated fast. By Aristotle’s time, nearly half the land was owned by women outright, and the number of citizens had then fallen to a few hundred as citizenship was tied to these land plots. The result was that the city that once fielded the most formidable army in Greece simply ran out of Spartiates to fill the ranks. Perversely, they all kept this going instead of breaking up the consolidated plots, as citizenship was tied to freedom and voting power. So, the less of them there were the better off the rich were, as they had more voting power and wealth at home (wealth was land, as Sparta forbid money in it's borders, well, sorta). So, power domestically was inverse to foreign power. And we all know when countries get into these situations they always go towards domestic power over national security.
Thank you for this perspective. It's very clarifying.. through this lens it makes a lot of sense that periods after large scale military endeavors lead to egalitarian moments. All these citizen soldiers so to speak will demand their share and elites will feel it is owed
The classic one is the changes in Sparta’s inheritance system that essentially caused their downfall.
Originally every citizen had an equal plot of land, the economic base that allowed him to be a hoplite (Sparta help ~80% of their population as slaves, helots, as state property). But as Spartan men died in wars, inheritance laws were forced to let daughters inherit and merge estates through marriage, wealth, and land, and thus it all concentrated fast. By Aristotle’s time, nearly half the land was owned by women outright, and the number of citizens had then fallen to a few hundred as citizenship was tied to these land plots. The result was that the city that once fielded the most formidable army in Greece simply ran out of Spartiates to fill the ranks. Perversely, they all kept this going instead of breaking up the consolidated plots, as citizenship was tied to freedom and voting power. So, the less of them there were the better off the rich were, as they had more voting power and wealth at home (wealth was land, as Sparta forbid money in it's borders, well, sorta). So, power domestically was inverse to foreign power. And we all know when countries get into these situations they always go towards domestic power over national security.