The Greek state of Sparta was unlike any other Greek state. It did not follow the traditional character of art, culture, family and society. It had a single objective and that is to transform themselves into an efficient fighting force. Its whole society revolved around this. Its citizens did not indulge in commerce or toil in the fields. They subjugated their neighbors, the Helots, peasants whose sole responsibility is to feed and work for the Spartans. The Helots were descendants of people who had been conquered many generations before.
Since they greatly outnumber the Spartans, the early leaders of Sparta had feared that some day these serfs might overwhelm their masters. To ward off this danger, a lawgiver, Lycurgus, introduced a new policy where the Spartans deliberately turned their backs on commerce, agri
...culture and the arts. They set out to make themselves mighty warriors that they could keep the Helots in place for all time. (Robinson 1957, 47). Sparta is a city of conquerors and thus it became an armed camp and her citizens became professional soldiers. In order to maintain status quo, they have to excel in the art of war.
They needed a strong military system for them in order to preserve their authority. Thus, it was essential that its citizens are appropriately trained. It was also the duty of each one to produce able-bodied offsprings. It was said that King Archidamos was derided and fined for having married a small woman “who would give Sparta, as the Ephors (magistrates) said, not kings, but kinglets” (Jarde 1926, 127). The child did not belong to the family. They were reared by the state. At birth, mal
children were subjected to close scrutiny by a military medical inspection committee.
They decide his fate if he is to live or die. Only those who were found healthy and sturdy and would make good soldiers were allowed to live. By age seven, he would begin his military apprenticeship together with other boys his own age. This system of education was called the agoge, “a system that might uncharitably be described as consisting of buggery, beating, and spear drill which taught them to be soldiers. ” A boy who failed at the agoge, while he might not be killed, would be expelled from the similars (Potter 2004, 216). The boy soldiers would undergo the severest of discipline.
In contrast with the other Greek states whose children were reared by slaves, these boys were trained under the tutelage of masters who were adults of high rank. Dressed only in a light tunic be it summer or winter, and no sandals to toughen their feet, they are fed small rations and theft is encouraged to develop cunning. However, if they are caught, they will be severely beaten not more as punishment for stealing but for getting caught which taught them stealth. Heavy punishment is the rote. Every evening, they would have to prepare their own beddings of grass.
They were exposed to the elements. These were designed to make them immune against fatigue, hunger, pain and the weather elements. Competitiveness was bred. Young men competed for placement as members of an elite group. Rivals would “box out of rivalry wherever they met”. Plato observed that Spartans were educated “not by persuasion but by violence” (Powell 2001, 234). They were also
whipped before the altar of Artemis Orthia by the mastigophoroi, the young men with the whips, to see which one had the most endurance. A testimonial to this whipping contest was published as follows:
Spartae vero, pueri ad aram sic verberibus accipiuntur, "ut multus e visceribus sanguis exeat," non numquam etiam, ut, cum ibi essem, audiebam, ad necem; quorum non modo nemo exclamavit umquam, sed ne ingemuit quidem. At Sparta, in fact, the boys at the altar are so received with whips, "that much blood flows out from their flesh," sometimes even, as I kept hearing when I was there, to the point of death; not only has none of them ever cried out, but none has even groaned (Kennell 1995, 149). Physical skill and agility was developed through competitions in running, leaping, disk and javelin throwing.
At age eighteen to twenty, they are given guard duty or field service by making rounds and policing the area. They were again given this responsibility when they reach the age of fifty-five. His whole life, the Spartan remains a soldier. He is obligated to serve until the age of sixty (Jarde 1926, 127). A Spartan soldier is always on call. Hence, he always has to stay within the town and can only travel or live abroad if special permission had been secured first. When the trumpet is sounded, he must answer. His uniform is a purple-dyed tunic. This was a deliberate choice because this color camouflages blood.
He is allowed to marry but he had to live separately from his wife until age thirty where he has to stay in the barracks. If he wanted to see his wife, he
had to do it by stealth. It was suggested that this was based on a theory that “stronger children would be born to couples who yearned lustily for each other rather than being almost sated with sexual activity. ” However, for a State which needed to boost its population, a more plausible explanation would be that the State also controlled the time spent for sexual activities which could be used for other productive pursuits (Powell 2001, 227).
Upon reaching adulthood, the worthy are accepted into a syssition (“dining group or messes”). Meals are taken together with the same fifteen men of his army group with whom he would fight side by side in case of war. They dine together at night. The law had likewise laid down what can be prepared and eaten which were usually plain and which both the rich and poor together partake. Each member should contribute a fixed amount of food and drink. This can be complemented, however, with meat that had been hunted.
The portions were merely adequate but should always be nutrititious. One of their staples was black broth, which is pork cooked in blood with salt and vinegar (Burstein, Donlan, Pomeroy & Roberts, 1999, 140). This ritual was meant to develop comradeship and secure society and its traditions of homoioi or “the equals” or “those who are similar” as opposed to developing kinship and affection for the family which tended to cultivate individualism and familial influence over the soldier. The soldier’s foremost priority is the State. (Powell 2001, 226).
The law is so rigid about these dining groups that even Agis who, after defeating the Athenians, was not allowed to dine
with his family. Military formation simply had to be kept intact at all times (Jarde 1926, 128). It is notable to mention that these nighttime dining did not result to the usual Greek symposion, or the private drinking party. It was said that Sparta was a state praised for its sobriety. On the military side of it, drunkenness would make the Spartans open to surprise attacks. Also, drunkenness may be perceived as a display of luxury which is contrary to the Spartan way of living. Powell 2001, 230).
However, it was not beneath the Spartans to make fun of the Helots whom they deliberately get drunk and made to look like fools with vulgar songs and dances. They were made examples to the young Spartans against drinking to excess, that intoxication can lead to death due to lack of control especially in time of warfare and not the least important lesson, that Helots are inferior to Spartans. (Burstein, Donlan, Pomeroy & Roberts 1999, 141). The Spartans were not heralded as the masters of war because of their innovative tactics or strength of armaments.
They were in fact not much different from the other Greek armies. The set-up of the Spartan army was as follows: It was composed almost entirely of heavy infantry; the Spartan soldier was a hoplite, armed with spear and sword, wearing helmet, cuirass, and greaves, and protecting himself with a great bronze shield. The heavy infantry was the only arm worthy of a citizen. Service in the cavalry (which, moreover, did not exist before the Peloponnesian War) was left to the less able-bodied and less courageous men, and the light troops, which skirmished on
the flanks, were composed of Helots and mercenaries.
The battle formation was the phalanx, in which the hoplites, formed in files of various depth, supported and protected one another. The Spartan troops were eight ranks deep at Mantineia, in 418, and twelve at Leuctra. The phalanx was formidable by its cohesion and mass, but, although the Spartans were trained in evolutions, which the other Greeks indeed thought too complicated, it was too rigid, and hardly allowed of any offensive movement but the mass charge (Jarde 1926, 128-129).
They were, however, fully cognizant that their strength is in acting as a cohesive mass. Demaratus, a Spartan king, was once asked “why the Spartans disgrace those who throw away their shields but not those who abandon their breastplates or helmets, he said that they put the latter on for their own sakes but the shield for the sake of the whole line” (Sage 1996, 29). The physical superiority of the Spartans was what set them apart. Their continuous training which commenced from childhood had prepared them well not only in warfare but their attitude towards it.
They had developed the essential “moral qualities, respect for discipline, a sense of honour, and a spirit of sacrifice. Yet, they also manifested immense cruelty in keeping the helots in place. They formed secret police or the krypteia whose members were tasked to murder those who are perceived to be on the verge of revolting. They dominated by fear and deceit (Potter 2004, 216). The Spartans were perceived to be as exceptionally brave. They view death as an honor especially if killed in the battlefield.
According to Thucydides, “the decision of about 120 Spartans to
surrender when trapped on Sphakteria, rather than to die fighting, was for Greeks generally the most surprising event of the Peloponnesian War. ” The rate of generals killed in battle was high. There was Leonidas at Thermopylai and Kleombrotos at Leuktra. Brasidas and Lysandros, who were thought to be Sparta’s best generals, also perished while fighting and so did the admirals at Kyzikos (Mindaros), Arginousai (Kallikratidas) and Knidos (Peisandros).
Pasimakhos died fighting with few against many…Mnasippos was killed while in a small detachment and…of particular interest is the death of another Spartan commander, Phoibidas, who went down fighting with no more than ‘two or three others’of his army whom Xenophon described as ‘far more in love with the idea of doing something outstanding than of staying alive. ’” Herodotos related the story of two soldiers who were members of Leonidas’ army but survived. One, named Pantites, was said to have been degraded on his return to Sparta and to have hanged himself.
The other, Aristodamos, was similarly humiliated; he was nicknamed “the trembler” and no Spartan would talk to him. As a result, at the subsequent battle of Plataia he ‘obviously wanted to die’ according to other Spartans present, and fulfilled his desire spectacularly (Powell 2001, 236-238). This was not entirely surprising because even the families of the soldiers who died rejoiced rather than grieve and those who grieved were kin to those who survived. Any Spartan who did not show bravery in the battlefield had to face contempt and was stigmatized. He no longer had any hope for a tolerable future.
Their disgrace was anno8nced through their appearance. They were made to shave half their beard and
wear cloaks with colored patches. They were publicly mocked and despised. They cannot hold office or find a wife. Even their sisters may not be allowed to marry (Burstein, Donlan, Pomeroy & Roberts 1999, 141). Perhaps, the finest hour of the Spartans and immortalized in a graphic novel and later made into the movie entitled 300, was the stand of Leonidas and his band of three hundred men who defended the pass at Thermopylai versus the immense force of the Persians.
The defense of the pass was suited for hoplite warfare. However, a traitor enabled the Persians to outflank them and they preferred a suicidal stand than endure the ignominy of retreating (Potter 2004, 216). Where they fell, a memorial tablet was erected, on which were inscribed the words of the poet Simonides: “Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie” (The Spartan Way 1999, 268). Sparta’s downfall may have begun when she insisted on interfering in the domestic quarrels of Thebes and Corinth.
They soon turned against her. Soon, Athens and several other cities joined the fight against Sparta. This was the beginning of the Corinthian War. The Spartans suffered several defeats and had to turn to Persia for help and Sparta began to lord it over the other city-states of Greece. Thebes soon challenged her dominance. Led by Epaminondas, he directed an attack that put the Spartans in flight. A few years later the Thebans invaded the Peloponnese, liberated Messenia, and reduced Sparta to a second-rank power.
According to Potter (2003), “militarism, devoted to the defense of the increasingly inhumane society, was the tragic flaw that undid the Spartans” (216).
There are people who dismisses Sparta for being “narrow-minded, obstinate, surly, and slow to understand and to act, and accused him of greed and duplicity” (Jarde 1926, 129). However, its true legacy lies in its devotion to patriotism and duty. A model Spartan is not one who loved his family, but one who loved his State.
