Equality: The Virtues Of Spartan Society

Spartans military was a hard core and well rounded out military in its time. Part of the reason why they were so successful is because of their rigorous training each boy had to go through. Why I said boy is because the Spartan military training would start at age 7 for a chosen boy. The boy gets chosen to live in spartan society at birth. If the Spartans did not believe that the boy would be rounded out for their society they would leave the boy to die. During the boys training hazing and fighting was encouraged to help improve strength among the boys. During spartan training each boy was mainly taught mathematics, music, and how to fight. Also during their training, they would learn how to steal but without getting caught. If they were caught they would not be punished for stealing but only for getting caught. This type of training continues until the boys would become men. Which is at the age of 20 for the Spartan's. At age 20 Spartan men would have to pass a series of demanding

Over the course of history there have been several attempts at defining what it means to be the ideal person, and by extension how to create an ideal society. In doing so, several characteristics are generally defined, some of which are courage, moderation and self control. The concept of courage has been fluid in its meaning but has been highly valued across ancient Greece. In this paper I will be observing two societies and the ideals that they hold for generating better people, as well as what values they would want to instil. One city is theoretical, and one real: Kallipolis, Socrates’ economic city, the city that would essentially be the opposite of Athens if it were established, and Sparta.

In the documents, especially in documents A and B, the agoge is described in detail. In Document A, it states that Spartan parents had no choice but to get their infant son inspected for healthiness. This benefits by nurturing only the healthy boys and be able to have a better army. Moreover, agoge’s system makes it inevitable for boys to not obey. Document A says, “instruction consisted in the most part in… obedience, bodily fitness, and courage to conquer in battle.”

1st-         A positive aspect of the Spartan Code was the idea to train their young beginning at a young age, by giving power to the state to control the youth. This allowed many of the children to have an equal opportunity in the situation given although they did not have many options. They could all be taught the same concepts, and this would create more unity among the people which was very important, although the method by which they took action upon this was somewhat controversial.

The Athenian and Spartan governments had extremely different approaches to life. The democratic views of the Athenians were open minded and curious, focused on development. The oligarchic views of the spartans were more narrow minded and restricted, focused on constancy. The athenian democracy distributed power very well and gave everyone a fair share in the decision being made. Athenian life was comfortable and free, the polar opposite to the cruelty of Spartan life. The Athenian democracy also used their wealth very wisely inciting the development of their civilisation. Based on the information below, the Athenian population lived a happier life.

Sparta made its every male into a soldier, they trained starting at a young age into late ages. This system limited Spartans contact with the outside world. As it says in the Spartan Society and Values, no man is proved to be a good man in war unless faces the blood if slaughter. This shows the ruthless ways of the Greeks with the men. They had to train for the military regardless of what they desired for the honor of their family.

This tradition allowed for a city-state with an exceptional army, women with a substantial amount of liberties, and a gene pool that was superior to those around it. The Spartan way of life was one that focused itself on the importance of a physically strong society, and the people of this city-state went to great lengths to ensure that they maintained this tradition. As a result of this mentality, the authoritative figures of Sparta gave women more freedoms, as society did not see them as inadequate versions of men, but more as the mothers of society, whose job was to be the backbone of the strong Spartan army by birthing and raising robust young men. In fact, this lifestyle was so prevalent and noticeable that soldiers and writers from Athens and other outside lands took notice. Many documents from almost all areas around the Mediterranean Sea demonstrate this, especially in Xenophon’s “The Constitution of Sparta”, which describes the importance of physical ability in Sparta, as written by an Athenian soldier. The people of Sparta preserved this physical superiority in many ways. Boys moved into barracks at the young age of seven to train and become a part of the renowned Spartan army, and mothers abandoned babies with medical issues as soon as possible. This not only ensured that all citizens were able-bodied and working to improve the city-state at all times, but improved the gene pool of the civilization by eliminating any possible genetic disorders with visible phenotypes within the society. All these factors contributed to the health, wellness, and overall success of the Spartan

Honor, shame and love stood out as the three main Ethos the Spartans upheld, with honor being the one that took the most precedence in daily life. It seemed to be truly an honor to serve as a Spartan and fight for a country

Even being from the same time frame in history, the Roman women from Sparta and the Greek women from Athens were completely different. Their ideas, habits, and daily activities were majorly impacted by the community they lived in. Some of the main differences between the lifestyles of these women include the rights they were given under the government, the daily and professional attire of the women, and the marital and divorce rituals of each of the women. Though they had many different things about them, they also had some similarities that connected them together. Both the Athens and Sparta have two completely different statuses for their women in the society, in many different aspects as well.

Despite Athenian and Spartans being associates of the same influential nation, these two states or ‘Peloi’ and denominations of people in Ancient Greece in (400BC) were substantially different. The women in their own distinct societies endured several problematic issues and experienced inequity, demoralisation and condemnation. The notion of women and their purpose was typically conjectured by men in society, specifically Aristotle who claimed that women brought ‘disorder, were evil, were utterly useless and caused more confusion than the enemy’ . However despite misogynistic, biased and loathsome perspectives of women, both Athenian and Spartan women have all played exceedingly significant roles and contributed substantially to the prosperity of Ancient Greek society in their own inimitable ways.

Sparta was one of the most powerful city-states in Greece and in order to increase a food supply, the Spartans turned to their bordering country Messenia. In the eighth century B.C. the Spartans conquered the Messenians and set up a new type of social system. The Messenians would work the soil to supply the Spartans with the food supply, which would leave the dominating class available for a life of military training. The Messenians outnumbered the Spartans and without a strong hold the lower-class citizens would eventually overtake them by physical force.

Bibliography•HSC Online Ancient History Ancient Sparta Notes:http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancient_history/societies/greece/spartan_society/sparta_unbringing/ancient_sparta_upbringing.htmThis source was effective as it gave a range of information, particularly about life in the agoge and training of girls. It also had many useful references to ancient sources such as Plutarch. The only drawback is that it seems to gain most of its information from Plutarch, meaning that a wider range of sources may have

The spartan military was one of the most feared militaries in the greek society. They trained their citizens in discipline and honor. Their entire culture was based on war. The spartans began in the mycenaean age(1600 Bce to 1100 Bce).

Sparta was a very unique society which could be defined as Utopian Militaristic State. Spartan boys all were devoted their entire lives from an early age to the Spartan army. This heavily militarist society was also unique in terms of women's position in society. They had much more rights and freedoms than other Greek women, but in terms of family life they were not so lucky. Women were living separately from spouse during their whole lives. Their husbands were only coming to home at night, they were secretly removed after a short time. And also they were separated from their sons for military training. Women had to be strong in family and social life. Spartan lawgivers wanted girls to receive a good education in order to prepare them to their womanhood duties.

Throughout ancient human history, men and women held vastly different roles. Women were often given the duty of bearing and raising children, whereas men were expected to fight, provide an income, and protect the household. Women were seen as totally inferior to men and described by Euripedes as “a curse to mankind” and “a plague worse than fire or any viper.” However, this misogynistic view of women and designated role of inferiority was not apparent in every ancient civilization. The role of the female in ancient Greek history can best be explored and contrasted between two important civilizations: The Spartans and the Athenians. The Spartan women were incredibly advanced for their time, and the Athenian women were drastically far behind. Both the Spartan and Athenian women held roles at home and lived lives far removed from the men of their societies. However, their lives were much different. While the Spartan women were strong and educated, the Athenian women held a status almost equal to slavery. The Spartan women were far more advanced than Athenians in aspects of life including education, athleticism, and independence.