What was Sparta's hierarchy?

Answer 1

Sparta employed a rigid hierarchy of three classes, which dated to its early history. At the base were the helots, the Messenian serfs tied to aristocratic land, whose labor sustained the rest of society. The next caste consisted of the Lacedaemonian hoplites-aristocratic citizens devoted to enforcing the social order by force-and their military vassals, a subclass of non-citizens known as the periokoi. While the hoplite-citizen class composed only ten percent of the general population, even it was subject to a final layer of hierarchy. Twenty-eight elders were selected by acclamation to the Gerousia, a legislative body presided by two kings and five ephors, holding executive and judicial powers, respectively.