Russell Shortt

Tell Me About Sparta



Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009

by Russell Shortt
Exploring Ireland

Sparta holds a unique fascination for Western culture, we live by the ideals of Athens but we aspire to the austerity and discipline of Sparta. One of the most enduring symbols of heroism is the final stand of the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylae against the million Persians of Xerxes. Their habits and way of life have become legendary, the method of transforming their men into killing machines has being admired and lauded by many societies. Safely tucked away in the passages of time, Sparta is often extolled as the model for utmost physical conditioning of man. It is often repeated that when a Spartan boy was born he was left out on the hills at night, if he survived he was a strong Spartan, if he perished, it was proof that he had no place within the society. The women were as psychologically hardened as the men, telling their husbands and sons to come home with their shield or on it, which meant they were to fight to victory or death, losing and surviving was not an option. Indeed, the Spartan's training began from the cot; infants were left alone, in the dark, ate what they were given and were never comforted for whinging. At the age of seven, every male was sent to a military and athletic school; this was to be no kindergarten, here they were taught discipline, endurance, ability to withstand acute pain and survival skills. They were indoctrinated into the pack psychic, their fellow trainees became their family, their be all and end all, men that they would kill for and be killed for. The rest of their education was pretty rudimentary, simply basic reading and writing, everything else was directed to perfecting the warrior. The slightest breaches of discipline were punished by severe whipping and food was deliberately kept scarce, forcing the boys to learn how to forage and steal; but if they were caught stealing they would be brutally beaten. Also, the packs of boys, half naked, with shaved heads were often set against one another in ferocious melees, drawing blood and breaking bone. For thirteen years, Spartan boys existed in this regime, at the age of twenty, they sought election into one of the army messes, where they lived communally in the barracks and continued their severe training.

Life never became easier, the strict regime was maintained, there was to be no let up. The whole pattern of society was constructed around the warrior, Sparta viewed itself as the true inheritor of the Greek tradition. Spartans had no time for any luxuries; diet, clothing and living quarters were all very basic and primitive. Indeed, civilisation was seen as encouraging decadence, disorder and weakness; Spartans believed their way of life to be a return to the beginnings of man, in tune with nature, the body being the very essence of everything. You gave your body to the state and the good of the state permeated every action of the people. Money was not sought, slaves worked the land to provide food, the state was self sufficient, trade and travel to foreign states was banned, similarly foreigners were not allowed into Sparta unless they had a very good reason to do so. Any contact with outside influence was viewed as a threat to the purity of Spartan society. The constitution was organised in such a way as to ensure that the State was protected against any dissident elements that emerged within the society. There were two kings, so that each of their personal powers would be restricted, and indeed their combined power was much less than that of the classical king. Each year, elections were held to vote into power five magistrates called ephoroi, whose power actually superseded that of the kings. They could haul the kings in front of them, to answer questions about their conduct and if they were not satisfied with the answers that they received they could fine or arrest them. There was a counsel known as a gerousia, it consisted of twenty-eight men over the age of sixty taken from certain prestigious families and elected for life. And there was an assembly in which sat all adult males; it possessed the right to approve or reject proposals which were put before it.

It was a strange system, an odd blend of autocracy, monarchy, timocracy, oligarchy and democracy but it worked, Sparta had the most stable government in the history of ancient Greece. Sparta even managed to become the dominant political power in Greece, even dwarfing the colossus of Athens for a time. But this was no land of milk and honey, it was no pure utopia, society was regimental, brutal and fractured. There were three definitive classes - Spartan citizens; peroikoi, who were foreigners who had emigrated in waves in past decades. They were trades people and they lived in surrounding villages and were granted large degrees of freedom as they were the middle-men for dealing with the lowest class of people, the helots; the helots were slaves who formed the vast majority of the population, they were bound to Spartan farms providing food for the Spartans.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net/self-drive-page.html http://www.visitscotlandtours.com/tours/self-drive-tours.html
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