It is believed that the Spartan society was one of the harshest in the world.
With the Spartans it was believed, feared them. The people of Sparta did not build city walls, because they believed that residents can cope with any attack. Alexander the great didn’t even attempt to send troops to Sparta. It is believed that the soldiers were so courageous through the Spartan education, methods which today seem shocking.
1. Have weak children never had a chance at survival
If the child was born weak, sick or any injuries, it was just left to die, which happened quite often. When the child was born, the father of the newborn to the elders of the city. The elders examined the baby to detect diseases and deformities. If something is found, it is father ordered to throw the child into a pit called “apothetae”, where he was left to die from hunger. If the child survived, he subsequently promised free land, but the chances of that were pretty low. It is believed that about half of all children born in Sparta, died in infancy.
2. The boys lived in the barracks with seven years
Mothers were not given long to take care of their children. As soon as the boy was only seven years old, he was ready to recognize the so-called “Spartan education.” They were taken from the family and settled in the barracks, where they lived under the supervision of “supervisor”. Life in the Spartan education was not easy. Children are actively encouraged to fight and provoking them against each other. It was not a school where the teachers supported the world – if the two children began to bicker, the warden encouraged them to settle the dispute with his fists.
Also, the overseer always carried a whip and if a boy was unhappy with something, then it immediately “knocked the crap”. Moreover, if the child’s father learned that his child was beaten, he was forced to beat her child a second time. It was all done, not to “spoil” children.
3. Theft as a way of survival
While Spartan education boys received only the Essentials. Shoes were considered a luxury, so the boys went barefoot. From the clothes they wore only a thin cloak. The food they were given only the bare minimum to keep the children from starving. But that does not mean that the boys could not eat enough – the guards encouraged them to steal food.
The catch was that it was impossible to catch — if a child is caught stealing food, he was severely beaten and deprived of even the meager rations.
4. The battle of hungry boys
The Spartans were strange ways to pass the time. They hold an annual festival, during which the altar of the goddess Artemis were put… a piece of cheese. Starving children then converge with each other in a desperate fight for cheese. And, while they fought with each other, the seniors cheered their whips, sometimes even beating to death. For the audience such “fun” was really funny. Gathered crowds that laughed, though, as the boys brutally maim each other.
5. Spartan food was terrible
What if the Spartans today would not be considered even mud. Italian traveler who once came for lunch in the Spartan camp, wrote: “Now I know why Spartans do not fear death”. He talked about some kind of “black soup” – a dish made by boiling meat in a mixture of blood, salt and vinegar. The Spartans ate from the same pot in the same tent, and the black broth was considered the main dish. The meat of this brew each got only a small piece.
The only way to get more meat was hunting. If a hunter killed a deer, he had to split it at all, but he was allowed to obtain an extra ration to take her home. It was the only case where a Spartan could eat at home, in all other cases, this was strictly forbidden.
6. Beating during quizzes
When dinner was over, the assistant superintendent sat down with the children and began to ask them questions. These issues were unpleasant, such as “who is the best person in town?”. The response of the boys was supposed to be smart, well-designed and fast. Otherwise, they were beaten with a stick on the fingers. Interestingly, the situation with the assistant warden was not much better. When a verbal quiz was over, the attendant went to his “superiors,” which in case that was too strict, or too good, beat him.
7. Education banned
If the man was a Spartan, he was a warrior. He was a farmer, a merchant or a craftsman, he was just a warrior. Spartans were taught to fight, taught to be cruel but to read them taught only when necessary. All the rest of the education was strictly forbidden. Extra-curricular education was considered a dangerous luxury.
Spartan students were not allowed to spend their free few the time to learn how to add and subtract, or think about philosophical mysteries of existence. The soldiers had to obey any order without delay, therefore, traditional education was viewed as something that made them weaker.
8. Public beating
The Spartans were cruel annual festival called “Diamastigosis”. During this event, boys set before the crowd and whipped up until they could not anymore withstand. Although it sounds like torture, but for the Spartans, this was a great honor. They are willing to voluntarily let himself be beat up in front of a crowd, wanting to prove to everyone that can withstand much more than any other person.
It was so unusual to other cultures that, when the Romans found out about this festival, they began to come on holiday to Sparta only to observe public voluntary torture. By 300 BC, the Spartans founded a theatre and sold tickets for Diamastigosis, allowing you to profit from the Roman Empire.
9. Ritual “Krypteia”
Spartans kept slaves, whom they called “helots” and they are absolutely awful to deal with them. Among the many atrocities committed against slaves, was a ritual called “krypteia”, which was their brutal murder and preparing boys for the real battle. Spartan boys were given a dagger and some food, and then sent them into the ambush along the roads and fields where helots were working.
The boys waited in ambush till night, and then suddenly attacked tucked under the arm slaves, brutally killing them. This gave the guys a small practice real combat and resembled the helots, where actually their place in society.
10. Spartan tombstones
If a Spartan died from old age, he has not received any awards. He was buried in an unmarked grave, in essence, as a sign of shame that they have lived their entire lives. The only way to get a tombstone with the name was to die in battle. If a Spartan died in battle, he was buried on the spot where he died with full honors. Women who did not take part in wars, could also obtain the gravestones only under one circumstance: if the mother died during childbirth.
