Analysis Of The Major Things That Made Sparta What It Is

Sparta, a military focused civilization, is known for its extremely harsh training, the Agoge. In this essay I will speak about three major things that made Sparta what it is in today’s world: Lycurgus, the Agoge, and the battle of Thermopylae. Lycurgus, shown in this picture was a Spartan lawgiver, who established many things, including the three Spartan virtues: austerity, equality, and military fitness (Agoge). He created the Spartan council of elders, known as Gerousia, which consisted of 28 men above the age of 60, and, had the same power as the two royal houses in Sparta. It would let citizens vote on important inquiries, but the Gerousia would decide if the vote would be cancelled, or go through. Before the Gerousia was established, Sparta would constantly switch between the extremes of anarchy or dictatorship, but the Gerousia however made the government stable and made all people respect one another. The Agoge, meaning training, or leading in Ancient Greek, was a program that was required for all male citizens of Sparta to partake in from the age of 7 till 20. The system aimed at making the strongest warriors to serve in the army, and making them think about the better of their nation, not the better of one’s own. The men would be the walls of Sparta (literally), as Lycurgus decided that Sparta should not have any defensive walls, therefore being the only Greek city without protection. When a boy turned 7, he would leave his family behind and enroll in the Agoge. The boys were split into groups of 64, known as “Αγέλες” with one person in charge, another male around 20 years old that showed courage during his training. The boys trained constantly, such as jumping, jogging, and javelin tossing, and had to endure pain, dehydration, very low amounts of food, survive through winters, and sleep deprivation. They only had one piece of clothing every year, could not have warm showers, and had to sleep either on the dirt, or make their own bed out of reeds, by hand, taken from the Eurotas river. They were not taught how to read or write, and to only speak when they were spoken to, a technique known as λακωνιζειν. Moving forward, they were mainly given only 2 kinds of food: Meat boiled in its own blood, and honey, which one month, called “Honey month” were exclusively fed only honey. Of course, they had to steal food to survive, and stealing was encouraged by their leader, but if they were caught, they would be whipped many times because they were bad thieves. Additionally, every year the adults had to whip every boy, with the purpose of checking their stamina. With this of course many lost their lives, but if a boy did not cry, they would receive a crown for their exceptional effort. The Agoge was completed when they turned 20 years old, and if a boy failed, he would be denied Spartan citizenship and would have to move to a completely new place or kill themselves. Spartan girls had an Agoge too, but it was much milder in comparison to the boys’ Agoge. They would be raised at home, and were taught dance, gymnastics and other sports, and were trained for their main task: to give birth to healthy and powerful Spartan men.

Furthermore, when their husband would go to war, the women would give them their shield, and say “ή ταν ή επί τας”, which means “Either come back proudly holding the shield, or come back dead on top of it”. It was greatly frowned upon in Sparta if a warrior fled from battle, which came with punishments such as encouraging children to hit him, and, if he wasn’t married, no woman would marry him, as he was a betrayer to his nation. The battle of Thermopylae, which was in 480 B. C. , involved the Greeks, versus the Persians. The Greeks were vastly outnumbered: the Persians had an army of around 300 thousand men, and the Greeks only had 5 and a half thousand. Thermopylae however, was unique: It only had a width of 100 meters, meaning the Greeks had an advantage, as it would not be possible to have a lot of warriors fighting at once. The Persians only had wooden shields and small spears, while the Spartans (who were in front of the Greek army) had metal armor and shields, as well as sharp spears. Before the battle started, Xerxes (the Persian king) sent a messenger to Leonidas (Spartan king, who was the leader of the Greeks) saying to hand their weapons over, as they had no chance of winning, which Leonidas replied by saying “Μολών λαβέ” which means “Since you came, come and get them yourselves”.

The first 2 days of battle went well: the Greeks were easily winning, but at the end of the 2nd night, a traitor to his country, a local shepherd, Efialtis, who knew the area well told Xerxes that there was a secret passageway where they could surround the Greeks. When the Greeks realised this, most of them went back to their cities but Leonidas with all of his Spartan army and 700 Thespians, stayed, knowing they would die. They lost, slaying 20 000 Persians in the process, but they went down in history as one of the best last stands in battle, and Efialtis is now an example of a traitor worldwide.