Answer:
Sparta had a highly unusual system of government.
Two kings ruled the city, but a 28-member 'council of elders' limited their powers.
These men were recruited from the highest social class, the aristocratic Spartiates. Rather like medieval knights, the Spartiates were a class of military professionals who lived most of their lives in communal barracks. Rarely seeing their wives and children, their lands were farmed by slaves, leaving them free to pursue to the arts of war.
