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{{short description|Ancient Spartan education and training regimen}} |
{{short description|Ancient Spartan education and training regimen}} |
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{{Spartan Constitution|width=275}} |
{{Spartan Constitution|width=275}} |
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[[File:Young Spartans National Gallery NG3860.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Young Spartans Exercising| |
[[File:Young Spartans Exercising National Gallery NG3860.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Young Spartans Exercising|A 19th-century artistic representation]] of Spartan boys exercising while young girls taunt them.]] |
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The '''{{lang|grc-Latn| |
The '''{{lang|grc-Latn|agoge}}''' ({{langx|grc|ἀγωγή|ágōgḗ}} in [[Attic Greek]], or {{lang|grc|ἀγωγά}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|ágōgá}} in [[Doric Greek]]) was the training program pre-requisite for [[Spartiate]] (citizen) status. Spartiate-class boys entered it age seven, and aged out at 30. It was considered violent by the standards of the day, and was sometimes fatal. |
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The {{Lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} was divided into three age groups, paides, paidiskoi, and hēbōntes, roughly corresponding to young boys (7-12), adolescents (12-20), and young men (20-30). The {{Lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} deliberately deprived boys of food, sleep, and shelter. It involved cultivating loyalty to Sparta through military training (e.g., pain tolerance), hunting, dancing, singing, and [[rhetoric]].<ref name="OCD2">{{Cite book|last=Hodkinson|first=Stephen|title=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1996|editor-last=Hornblower|editor-first=Simon|contribution=Agoge}}</ref> There seems to have been [[Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia|ritual beating]]. It was intensely competitive, and the boys were encouraged to use violence against each other; by [[Plutarch]]'s account, this included sexual violence by hēbōntes against paides,<ref>Plutarch says "νέοι" (probably over 20, but under 30) and that most boys have such relationships by the age of 12</ref> while [[Xenophon]] says the relationships were widely but wrongly considered to be sexual. Participants were required to live in the open or in barracks, and were restricted from contact with birth families or wives. |
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According to folklore, {{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} was introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan law-giver [[Lycurgus (Sparta)|Lycurgus]] but its origins are thought to be between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, when the state trained male citizens from the ages of seven to twenty-one.<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Spartan Reflections.'' London: Duckworth, 2001</ref><ref>Thomas Scanlon, ''Eros and Greek Athletics,'' Oxford, 2002</ref><ref name="OCD"/><ref name="History.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-it-wasnt-easy-being-spartan |title=8 Reasons It Wasn’t Easy Being Spartan |publisher=A&E Television Networks |last=Andrews |first=Evan |access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref> |
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Participants were the sons of Spartiates and Spartiate-class mothers (that is, those eligible for citizen status, totalling perhaps 1/10 to 1/32 of the population). Spartiate-class girls (who could not become citizens) did not participate in the {{Lang|el|agōgē}}, although they may have received a similar state-sponsored education.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Cartledge|first=Paul|title=Spartan reflections|date=2001|publisher=Duckworth|isbn=0-7156-2933-6|location=London|pages=|oclc=45648270}}</ref><ref name=":02" /> [[Helots]] (slaves), [[mothax]] (free non-citizens, thought to be children of slave rape by Spartiates), and other freeborn boys who did not have two Spartiate-class parents, were also excluded. The firstborn sons of the ruling houses, [[Eurypontid]] and [[Agiad]], were exempted; a few [[trophimoi]] (very well-connected [[metic]]s or perioeci) took part by special permission, as did [[syntrophoi]] (children of helot mothers adopted by Spartiates). |
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The aim of the system was to produce strong and capable warriors to serve the [[Spartan army]]. It encouraged [[conformity]] and the importance of the Spartan state over one's personal interest and generated the future elites of Sparta.<ref name="OCD"/> The men were said to be the "walls of Sparta" because Sparta was the only [[History of Greece|Greek]] city with no defensive walls since Lycurgus had ordered their destruction.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pinnock's Improved Edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Greece |last=Goldsmith |first=Oliver |publisher=Key and Biddle |year=1836 |pages=76}}</ref> Discipline was strict and the males were encouraged to fight amongst themselves to determine the strongest member of the group. |
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The word {{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} had various meanings in [[Ancient Greek]] and comes from the verb {{Lang|grc|ἄγω}} (to lead).<ref name="ls2">{{LSJ|a)gwgh/|ἀγωγή|ref}}.</ref> There is no evidence that it was used to refer to the Spartiate education system until the 3rd century BC, but it was often used before then to mean training, guidance, or discipline.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Ducat|first=Jean|title=Spartan education: youth and society in the classical period|date=2006|publisher=Classical Press of Wales|others=Emma Stafford, Pamela-Jane Shaw, Anton Powell|isbn=1-905125-07-0|location=Swansea|pages=|oclc=76892341}}</ref> Sources are unclear about the exact origins of the {{Lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}. According to Xenophon, it was introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan law-giver [[Lycurgus (Sparta)|Lycurgus]], and modern scholars have dated its inception to the 7th or 6th century BC<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Scanlon|first=Thomas Francis|title=Eros & Greek athletics|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-534876-7|location=New York|pages=|oclc=316719681}}</ref><ref name="OCD2" /> Regardless, the structure and content of the {{Lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} changed over time as the practice fell in and out of favour throughout the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref name=":2" /> In the Roman period, it became a tourist attraction for Romans. |
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==Structure== |
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When a boy was born, he was washed with wine in the belief that this would make him strong. Every infant was then examined by members of the ''[[Gerousia]]'' (a council of leading Spartan elders) from the child's tribe to see whether he was fit and healthy enough to be allowed to live. In the event that the baby did not pass the test, he was placed at the base of [[Mount Taygetus]] for several days in a test that ended with death by exposure, or survival. At the age of seven, the male child was enrolled in the ''agoge'' under the authority of the ''paidonómos'' ({{lang|grc|παιδονόμος}}), or "boy-herder", a [[magistrate]] charged with supervising education. This began the first of the three stages of the ''agoge'': the ''paídes'' (about ages 7–17), the ''paidískoi'' (ages 17–19), and the ''hēbōntes'' (ages 20–29). Some classical sources indicate that there were further subdivisions by year within these classes.<ref name="OCD"/> |
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== The Classical Agōgē == |
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The boys lived in groups (''agélai'', "herds") under an older man. They were encouraged to give their loyalty to their communal [[mess]] hall known as the ''[[Syssitia]]'', rather than to their families. Beginning at the age of 12, boys would be given only one item of clothing per year: a red cloak known as a ''Phoinikis'' (a [[toponym]] reflecting the [[Phoenicia]]n origin of the [[Tyrian purple]] dye used or imitated in the cloak). They also created beds out of reeds pulled by hand from the [[Eurotas River]]. Boys were intentionally underfed to encourage them to steal food for themselves. However, Plutarch states that "if they were caught they would be mercilessly whipped and reduced to their ordinary food allowance."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/lycurgus.html|title=The Internet Classics Archive {{!}} Lycurgus by Plutarch|website=classics.mit.edu|access-date=2020-03-14}}</ref> This was meant to produce well-built soldiers and allow the boys to become accustomed to hunger, preventing hunger from being a problem during battle. Only the [[Heir apparent|heirs apparent]] of the two Spartan royal households (the [[Agiad]]s and [[Eurypontid]]s) were exempt from the process. |
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===Structure=== |
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At around age 12, the boys would enter into an institutionalized relationship with a young adult male Spartan. [[Plutarch]] described this form of [[Spartan pederasty]] (erotic relationship) as one where older warriors would engage promising youths in a long-lasting relationship with an instructive motive.<ref>Plut. ''Lives. Lycurgus,'' 17-18.</ref> However [[Xenophon]], an Athenian friend of King [[Agesilaus II]] and whose sons were given the honour of training in the Agoge, comments that the laws of [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] strictly prohibited sexual relationships with the boys.<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.13-14.</ref> According to Plutarch, the older Spartans were their Captains during combat and their master at home. The older boys were often instructed to collect wood, while the weaker and unfit boys gathered things such as salad and herbs.<ref name=":0" /> The boys were expected to request the relationship, which was seen as a method to pass on knowledge and maintain loyalty on the battlefield. At the stage of ''paidiskoi'', around the age of 18, the students became reserve members of the Spartan army. Some youths were allowed to become part of the [[Crypteia]], a type of 'Secret Police', the members of which were instructed to spy on the [[Helot]] population. They would also kill Helot slaves who were out at night or spoke about rebelling against the Spartan government, in order to keep the population submissive. The state supported this by formally declaring war on the Helots every autumn. This meant killing a Helot was not regarded as a crime, but a valuable deed for the good of the state.<ref name="OCD"/> |
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The {{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} was divided into three age categories: the {{Lang|grc-latn|paides}} (about ages 7–14), {{Lang|grc-latn|paidiskoi}} (ages 15–19), and the {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} (ages 20–29).<ref name=":02" /> The boys were further subdivided into groups called {{Lang|grc-latn|agelai}} (singular {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}}'','' meaning "pack"), with whom they would sleep, and were led by an older boy ({{Lang|grc-latn|eirēn}}'')'' who [[Plutarch]] claims was chosen by the boys themselves.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ἀγέλ-η|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)ge/lh|access-date=2021-03-22|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>Plutarch, ''Lives.'' Lyc. 17.2</ref> They answered to the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}} or "boy-herder," an upper-class official who was tasked with overseeing the entire Spartan education system.<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.2</ref><ref name=":13">Hodkinson, Stephen (2003). ''Social Order and the Conflict of Values in Classical Sparta.'' In ''Sparta'', ed. Michael Whitby. Taylor & Francis. pp.104-130. {{ISBN|978-0-415-93957-7}}</ref> |
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==== {{Lang|grc-latn|Paides}} ==== |
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At the stage of ''hēbōntes'', roughly age 20, the students became fully part of the ''[[syssitia]]'' and Spartan army. Regardless, they continued to live in [[barracks]] and had to compete for a place among the Spartan ''[[hippeis]]'', the royal guard of [[honor]].<ref name="OCD"/> At the age of 20, students were voted into one of the public messes. The voting was done by Spartan peers who were members of the mess and had to be unanimous. Rejected candidates had a period of ten years within which they could apply for entry to a different mess. If a man failed to gain entry into a mess by age 30, he would not gain full Spartan citizenship. At the age of 30, men were permitted to marry and to become full citizens of Sparta who could vote and hold office. |
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The {{Lang|grc-latn|paides}} were taught the basics of reading and writing, but even the early stages of education focused on the development of skills that would encourage military prowess.<ref name=":03">Richer, Nicolas (2017). ''Spartan Education in the Classical Period.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' eds. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 525-542</ref><ref>Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.6</ref> Boys would compete in athletic events such as running and wrestling, as well as choral dance performances.<ref name=":43">Christesen, Paul (2017). ''Sparta and Athletics''. In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.534-564 {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}}</ref> Notably, {{Lang|grc-latn|paides}} were expected to steal food for themselves and their {{Lang|grc-latn|eirēn}}'','' and were probably underfed as a means of encouraging this.<ref name=":02" /> Stealing did not go unpunished, however, as Xenophon reports that those who were caught would be beaten, a lesson which he claims taught the boys stealth and resourcefulness.<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.8</ref> There were other hardships too: the boys were made to participate in the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}} in bare feet, supposedly to toughen their feet and improve agility, and beginning at the age of 12, boys would be given only one item of clothing, a cloak, per year.<ref>Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.6-7</ref><ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.3-4</ref> Plutarch reports that the boys slept together with the other members of their {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}}'','' constructing beds out of reeds pulled by hand from the [[Eurotas River]].<ref>Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.7</ref> |
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Additionally, {{Lang|grc-latn|paides}} were educated in [[Laconic phrase|Laconism]], the art of speaking in brief, witty phrases. According to French historian Jean Ducat, [[Aristotle]] believed that it was important that a Spartan learn how to poke fun at his peers, and that he be able to accept the teasing himself.<ref name=":02" /> |
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Education in the ''agoge'' served as a great equalizer in Sparta.{{cn|date=January 2021}} Men were meant to compete in athletics and in battle. Spartans who became kings, diplomats or generals would also improve the rhetoric, reading, and writing skills necessary for their positions. How the majority of the population of citizen male Spartans became literate, or whether they were literate at all, is not well known. However, in his "Sayings of Spartan Women", Plutarch references correspondence kept between mothers and sons at war, which suggests some degree of literacy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plutarch • Sayings of Spartan Women|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/Plutarch/Moralia/sayings_of_spartan_women*.html|access-date=2016-12-08|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> |
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At around age 12, a boy would often enter into an institutionalized relationship with a young adult male Spartan, which continued as he became a {{Lang|grc-latn|paidiskos}}.<ref name=":03" /><ref>Plut. Lives. Lyc. 17.1</ref> [[Plutarch]] described this form of [[Spartan pederasty]] (erotic relationship) as one where older warriors (as the [[Erastes (Ancient Greece)|''erastes'']]) would engage promising youths (the ''[[eromenos]]'') in a long-lasting relationship with an instructive motive.<ref>Plut. ''Lives. Lycurgus,'' 17-18.</ref> Xenophon, on the other hand, claims that the laws of [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] strictly prohibited sexual relationships with the boys, although he acknowledges that this is unusual compared to other Greek city-states.'''<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.13-14.</ref>''' |
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==Education of girls== |
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Girls also received a form of state-sponsored education involving [[dance]], [[gymnastics]] and other sports, as well as subjects such as music, poetry, writing, and war education.<ref name="OCD" /> Girls were raised at home by their mothers while they were being educated.<ref>Pomeroy, Sarah (2002), Spartan Women, Oxford: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-195-13067-6}}</ref> Traits such as grace and culture were frowned upon in favor of high physical fitness and moral integrity. The girls were also encouraged to help the males by humiliating them in public and by criticizing their exercising. Just as Spartan males were raised to become warriors, the females of Sparta were trained for their primary task: giving birth to warriors; as the saying went, "only Spartan women could give birth to men."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=O'Pry|first=Kay|year=2012|title=Social and Political Roles of Women in Athens and Sparta|url=http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=saberandscroll|journal=Saber and Scroll|volume=1|pages=6–14|access-date=2016-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513082146/http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=saberandscroll|archive-date=2017-05-13|url-status=dead}}</ref> Encouraged to be strong and healthy, girls participated in athletic competitions, running footraces in off-the-shoulder [[chiton (costume)|chitons]]. |
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==== {{Lang|grc-latn|Paidiskoi}} ==== |
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Spartan women wore the old-fashioned [[peplos]] ({{lang|grc|πέπλος}}), open at the side, leading to banter at their expense among the other Greeks who dubbed them ''phainomērídes'' ({{lang|grc|φαινομηρίδες}}), the "thigh-showers." At religious ceremonies, on holidays and during physical exercise, girls and women were nude.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Women of Sparta: Athletic, Educated, and Outspoken Radicals|url=http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/123/|work=Ancient History Encyclopedia|access-date=27 May 2014}}</ref> |
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Ducat considers the stage of {{Lang|grc-latn|paidiskoi}} as a transitional phase between a child and an adult, where upper-class Spartan boys were encouraged to integrate themselves into adult society.<ref name=":02" /> At this point, loyalty shifted from the {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}} to the ''[[Syssitia|syssition]],'' a common mess where adult Spartiates of all ages were expected to eat together and socialize. Scholars have suggested that one role of the {{Lang|grc-latn|erastes}} was to act as a "sponsor" through which the {{Lang|grc-latn|eromenos}} could gain entry to the same {{Lang|grc-latn|syssition}}.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":02" /> Physical training and athletic competitions continued with an increased intensity.'''<ref name=":43" />''' |
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==== {{Lang|grc-latn|Hēbōntes}} ==== |
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==Rise and fall== |
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At the age of 20, a young Spartan graduated from the ranks of the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidiskoi}} into the {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} and was known as an {{Lang|grc-latn|eirēn}}''.'' If he had demonstrated sufficient leadership qualities throughout his training, he might have been selected to lead an {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}}''.''<ref name=":02" /> |
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Any male who did not successfully pass through the ''agoge'' was denied Spartan citizenship. At various times this selection process was seen as detrimental to Spartan society, particularly when the number of free male Spartan citizens dwindled (oliganthropia). The practice waned in the 3rd century BC but was successfully reinvigorated some time in the 220s BC by [[Cleomenes III]]. It was abolished, however, less than forty years later by [[Philopoemen]] in 188 BC.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Sparta: A Re-examination of the Evidence|last=Chrimes|first=K.M.T.|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0719057410|pages=46–48}}</ref> The ''agoge'' was reinstated in the year 146 BC after the Romans defeated the [[Achaean League|Achaeans]] in the [[Achaean War]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist|last=Cairns|first=Francis|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0521864572|pages=379|via=Google Books}}</ref> albeit in a lesser form than the original. |
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The term {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} means: "those who have reached physical adulthood".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tazelaar|first=C.M.|date=1967|title=ΠAIΔEΣ KAI EΦHBOI|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/mnem/20/2/article-p127_3.xml|journal=Mnemosyne|volume=20|issue=2|pages=127–153|doi=10.1163/156852567X01473|issn=0026-7074}}</ref> It was at this age when Spartan men became eligible for military service and could vote in the assembly, although they were not yet considered full adult citizens and were still under the authority of the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}}.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":03" /><ref name=":02" /> Those {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} who had impressed their elders the most during their training could be selected for the ''[[Crypteia]]'', a type of 'Secret Police' tasked with maintaining control over the [[Helots|Helot]] population through violence. While scholars such as Pierre Vidal-Naquet have suggested that the Crypteia functioned as an initiatory ritual in the transition into adulthood, others, such as David Dodd, believe it was used primarily as a tool of terror. Plutarch and Plato also differ in their accounts of the Crypteia, with Plutarch mentioning brutal killings done by the Crypteia in [[Parallel Lives|Life of Lycurgus]] and Plato not mentioning the killings at all in [[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dodd|first=David|chapter=Adolescent Initiation in Myth and Tragedy: Rethinking the Black Hunter |editor=David Dodd |editor2=Christopher A. Faraone |title=Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-135-14365-7|pages=71–84}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Vidal-Naquet|first=Pierre|title=Le chasseur noir: formes de penseé et formes de société dans le monde grec|date=1981|publisher=F. Maspero|isbn=2-7071-1195-3|location=Paris|oclc=7658419}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":03" /> |
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==Roman ''agoge''== |
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The Roman ''agoge'' was limited to males between the ages of 14 to 19 and was essentially [[Ephebos|ephebic]] in nature. It was organized by ''[[phyle]]s'' (citizen tribes). The instruction consisted of athletics, singing, dancing, military training, and possibly academic training. The students were supervised by officials called ''bideioi'' ("overseers") and a ''[[patronomos]]'' ("guardian of law").<ref name="OCD"/> During the [[Flavian dynasty]], a team-based structure was introduced to the Roman ''agoge'' which put groups of students under the command of a team leader or ''boagos'' (βοαγός). Sponsorship was available to students who could not afford the training.<ref name="OCD"/> |
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Additionally, 300 {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} were chosen to join the {{Lang|grc-latn|hippeis}}, a highly-esteemed infantry cohort (despite the name implying cavalry).<ref name=":03" /> Xenophon describes the selection process as a public event where each of the three {{Lang|grc-latn|hippagretai}} (commanders) chooses 100 men, supposedly to instil a rivalry between each group, seeing as each man would be loyal to the {{Lang|grc-latn|hippagrete}} who chose him and resentful of the other two. He claims that this encouraged the groups to report instances of their rivals' wrongdoing, effectively keeping the entire cohort in check.<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 4.1-4</ref> |
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A Spartan man could graduate from the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' at age 30, at which time he was expected to have been accepted into a {{Lang|grc-latn|syssition}} and was permitted to have a family.<ref name=":02" /> He would also receive a {{Lang|grc-latn|kleros}}, an allotment of land farmed by [[helots]].<ref>Figueira, Thomas (2017). ''Helotage and the Spartan Economy''. In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 565-595. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}}</ref> Those not accepted into a {{Lang|grc-latn|syssition}} did not become Spartiates (citizens). They may have become [[hypomeion]]es. |
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=== Purpose === |
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According to Plutarch, the main purpose of the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' was for Spartan boys to undergo intense physical trials to prepare their bodies for the harshness of war.<ref>Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16</ref> The competitive nature of athletic events encouraged hard work and merit.<ref name=":13" /> However, the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' likely had a second purpose: to instil in young children a collective Spartan identity. The ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' kept Spartan boys away from their families for much of their childhood, which Stephen Hodkinson believes taught them to favour the needs of the entire populace over that of an individual. Since a Spartan man's formative years were spent entirely in a perpetual competition of merit (both physical and social) they were encouraged to conform to the Spartan laws and social norms.<ref name=":13" /> Completion of the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' also served to define what it meant to be a Spartan citizen: one who had proven his mastery of both physical strength and social conventions.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":02" /><ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 10.7</ref> |
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There may have been an initiatory component to the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'', especially in its early history. Training overlapped with ritual activity at the Sanctuary of [[Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia|Artemis Orthia]], where {{Lang|grc-latn|paidiskoi}} were made to steal from the altar under threat of being beaten if they were caught, possibly as part of an initiation rite in the transition to a {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōnte}}.<ref name=":43" /><ref name=":2" /> As well, the ''[[Gymnopaedia]]'' festival featured choral and athletic competitions between groups of naked youths, and boys may have been expected to participate as part of the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}''.<ref name=":43" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":02" /> |
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== After the Classical period == |
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The popularity of the {{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}} was diminished by the first half of the 3rd century BC, possibly as a result of the declining Spartan population, but was successfully reinvigorated by [[Cleomenes III]] in 226 BC.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Kennell|first=Nigel M.|title=The gymnasium of virtue: education & culture in ancient Sparta|date=1995|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0-585-03877-5|location=Chapel Hill|oclc=42854632}}</ref> It was abolished less than forty years later by [[Philopoemen]] when Sparta was forced into the [[Achaean League]] in 188/9 BC but was restored after Sparta came into Roman possession in 146 BC.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":6">Kennell, Nigel (2017). ''Spartan Cultural Memory in the Roman Period.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.643-662</ref> |
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Roman Sparta was characterized by a desire to emulate the traditional institutions of the archaic past, and this was mainly expressed through the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}''. Ironically, the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' in this period was almost certainly different from that of the Classical period.<ref name=":6" /> For example, there may have been a change in the way boys were divided by age; Plutarch (writing in the 2nd century AD) mentions only two groups: the younger {{Lang|grc-latn|paides}} and the older {{Lang|grc-latn|neoi}}.<ref name=":03" /> As well, the term {{Lang|grc-latn|boua}} appears to replace the Classical {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}} as the name for the groups of boys.<ref name=":02" /> |
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However, the cult of Artemis Orthia continued to play a role. [[Cicero]] describes an initiation ritual where naked boys were brutally whipped at the altar of that goddess, and numerous {{Lang|grc-latn|stelai}} mention contests of choral singing and dancing which may celebrate Artemis and the hunt.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>Cicero. Tusc. 2.34, 2.46, 5.77</ref> It is likely around this time that a game called {{Lang|grc-latn|Platanistas}} was developed (although it may have existed in the Classical period), which took place on a small island, and featured a violent, physical contest to force the opposing side into the water.<ref name=":43" /> This contest was likely ritual in nature, as two sacrifices were performed before the event could begin.<ref name=":02" /> The characterization of the Roman-era ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' as especially brutal reinforced the opinion of the Roman public that Spartans were traditionally a harsh, warlike people.<ref name=":6" /> |
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== ''Paidonomos'' == |
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The {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}} was the magistrate in charge of overseeing the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}} as a whole. According to Xenophon, the position is as old as the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}} itself, having been created by Lycurgus at the same time.<ref name=":8">Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 2.2</ref> As the ultimate position of authority within the Spartan education system, the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}} was responsible for doling out punishment, but was probably not directly responsible for inflicting it; this would have been delegated to the {{Lang|grc-latn|mastigophoroi}}, a squadron of {{Lang|grc-latn|hēbōntes}} armed with whips.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":03" /> Plutarch notes that the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}} would observe an {{Lang|grc-latn|eirēn}}'s punishment of younger boys in his {{Lang|grc-latn|agelē}}'','' to assess whether or not it was acceptable.<ref>Plutarch. ''Lives. Lycurgus''. 18.2-3</ref> |
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Xenophon stresses the difference between the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidonomos}}, a free, high-ranking magistrate, and the {{Lang|grc-latn|paidagōgoi}} (tutors) found in other poleis, who were slaves.<ref>Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 2.1</ref> |
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== Reception == |
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=== In Antiquity === |
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The exact nature of an education in the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' was not hidden from the rest of the Greek world. This is evidenced by the number of non-Spartan sources who wrote about the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'': [[Thucydides]] indicates that the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' was well-known throughout Greece in the Classical period, and both [[Plato]] and Aristotle praised it as part of an ideal city-state.<ref>Powell, Anton (2017). ''Sparta: Reconstructing History from Secrecy, Lies and Myth.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' ed. Anton Powell. pp. 1-28. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}}</ref><ref>Aristot. Pol. 8.1337a</ref> |
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Further evidence for this comes from the word {{Lang|grc-latn|trophimoi}}'','' which is used to describe foreigners who were educated in the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}.''<ref name=":02" /> The historian Xenophon is a notable example of this, as his sons reportedly took part in the ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}'' despite being Athenian. Such {{Lang|grc-latn|trophimoi}} were likely sponsored and hosted by a Spartan family; Xenophon himself was a friend of King [[Agesilaus II]].<ref name=":02" /> This practice likely continued into the Hellenistic Period. Supposedly, [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] hid his intention to overthrow Sparta by claiming that part of his reason for marching on the Peloponnese was to have his sons trained in the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}}''.''<ref>Plut. ''Lives.'' ''Pyrrhus.'' 26.9-11</ref><ref>Stewart, Daniel (2017). ''From Leuktra to Nabis, 371-192.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.374-402</ref> |
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Plutarch, writing after Xenophon and during the Roman era when the Agoge was restored, was critical of this education. He wrote that reading and writing were studied only for practical reasons and that every other form of education was banned in the city-state.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plutarch • Customs of the Spartans|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Instituta_Laconica*.html|access-date=2021-05-21|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Plutarch also emphasized the brutality and indoctrination of the Spartan education system.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plutarch • Customs of the Spartans|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Instituta_Laconica*.html|access-date=2021-06-07|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> |
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=== 19th – 21st centuries === |
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In the early 20th century, comparisons were drawn between the Spartan education system and the [[Cadet Corps#Germanic countries|Royal Prussian Cadets]] in [[Germany]], praising the harsh education as the driving force behind the cadets' military prowess.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Roche|first=Helen|title=Sparta's German children the ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in the Nationalist-Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945|date=2013|publisher=Classical Press of Wales|isbn=978-1-910589-17-5|location=Swansea|pages=32–35|oclc=1019630468}}</ref> In 1900, Paul von Szczepanski published his novel {{Lang|de|Spartanerjünglinge}} (''Spartan Youths'') about his education at one such cadet school during the late 19th century. Aside from the name, the book features other references to Spartan training, which Helen Roche believes are indicators that boys at these schools were taught to associate themselves with young Spartans.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Szczepanski|first=Paul Von|title=Spartanerjünglinge: Eine Kadettengeschichte in Briefen|publisher=Forgotten Books|year=2018|isbn=978-0-332-04519-1}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> |
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In [[Weimar Germany]], after the loss of the [[World War I|First World War]], many scholars drew connections with the sacrifice of the Spartan king [[Leonidas I|Leonidas]] at [[Thermopylae]] to justify the deaths of those who died in the war. The mental strength of Leonidas and the 300 was attributed in part to their upbringing in the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}}''.''<ref name=":7">Rebenich, Stefan (2017). ''Reception of Sparta in Germany and German-Speaking Europe''. In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. pp. 685-703 {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}}</ref> In the 1930s, the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]]-aligned professor Helmut Berve praised the Spartan style of education in particular for its ability to weed out those considered "unfit" for society and to create a community of unified warriors. He argued that Nazi leaders should use Sparta as an example of their ideal society, ideas which [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] himself supposedly agreed with.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Demandt|first=Alexander|date=2002|title=Klassik als Klischee: Hitler und die Antike|journal=Historische Zeitschrift|volume=274|issue=2|pages=281–313|doi=10.1524/hzhz.2002.274.jg.281|jstor=27634462|s2cid=164535845|issn=0018-2613}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Berve|first=Helmut|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102565830|title=Sparta.|date=1937|publisher=Bibliographisches Institut AG.|series=Meyers Kleine Handbücher,7|location=Leipzig}}</ref> At the ''Adolf Hitler Schule'' in Weimar, Germany, schoolchildren were taught that Sparta maintained its power by producing tough, ''{{lang|grc-Latn|agōgē}}-''educated warriors.<ref name=":7" /> |
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In the 21st century, the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}} is known primarily in the context of intense physical trials. [[Spartan Race]] Inc., an American company, hosts a variety of endurance competitions across the world, the most challenging of which is called "{{Not a typo|Agoge}}". It stands as a physical trial rather than a state-sponsored education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spartan Race Inc. Obstacle Course Races|url=https://www.spartan.com/en/race/agoge|access-date=2021-06-07|website=Spartan Race|language=en-us}}</ref> In science fiction, ''[[Red Rising]]'' contains a training program based on Greek institutions like the agōgē in the form of a state-sponsored military education system which utilizes Greek names and symbols; the program emphasizes Spartan discipline against Athenian Democracy.<ref>{{cite book |first=Pierce |last=Brown|title=Red rising |isbn=978-1-4712-7396-4|oclc=1232110559}}</ref> |
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In the American action film ''[[300 (film)|300]]'' (2007), Leonidas is depicted attending the Agoge as a child and fulfilling various physical and mental trials from fighting other children to being whipped as a form of discipline. |
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Historian Bret Devereaux has compared the Spartan {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}} to the indoctrination of [[child soldiers]] in modern societies as part of his blog "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Devereaux|first=Bret|date=2019-08-16|title=Collections: This. Isn't. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School|url=https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/|access-date=2021-03-19|website=A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry|language=en}}</ref> |
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In the Sony [[Santa Monica Studio]] Playstation game ''[[God of War Ragnarok]]'', the protagonist Kratos talks about his upbringing alongside his brother in the {{Lang|grc-latn|agōgē}}, noting the cruel and violent methods used to train children and how he looked to avoid doing so with his second child, Atreus.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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* |
*[[Fagging]] |
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*[[History of Sparta]] |
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* |
*[[Paideia]] |
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* |
*[[Spartiate]]s |
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==References |
==References== |
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;References |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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== |
== Bibliography == |
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* Campbell, Duncan B.,''Spartan Warrior.'' Osprey Publishing, 2012. |
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=== Secondary sources === |
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* [[Paul Cartledge|Cartledge, Paul]], ''The Spartans.'' Pan Books, 2002. |
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* Cartledge, Paul (2001). ''Spartan reflections''. London: Duckworth. {{ISBN|0-7156-2933-6}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 45648270 |
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===External links=== |
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* Christesen, Paul (2017). ''Sparta and Athletics''. In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.534-564 {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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====Videos/other==== |
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* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27634462 Demandt, Alexander (2002). "Klassik als Klischee: Hitler und die Antike".] ''Historische Zeitschrift''. '''274''' (2): 281–313. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0018-2613. |
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* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBr7iuwb4oU Spartans VS Roman Legionnaire – Training and Equipment] by NerdFactor |
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* Devereaux, Bret (2019-08-16)''. "[https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/ Collections: This. Isn't. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School"].'' A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry. Retrieved 2021-03-19. |
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* [http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/sparta/challenge/cha_set.html Agoge Game] by The British Museum |
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* Ducat, Jean (2006). ''Spartan education : youth and society in the classical period''. Emma Stafford, Pamela-Jane Shaw, Anton Powell. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. {{ISBN|1-905125-07-0}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 76892341 |
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* Figueira, Thomas (2017). ''Helotage and the Spartan Economy''. In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 565-595. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* Hodkinson, Stephen (1996). "Agoge". In Hornblower, Simon (ed.). ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]''. [[Oxford University Press]]. |
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* Hodkinson, Stephen (2003). ''Social Order and the Conflict of Values in Classical Sparta.'' In ''Sparta'', ed. Michael Whitby. Taylor & Francis. pp.104-130. {{ISBN|978-0-415-93957-7}} |
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* Kennell, Nigel (2017). ''Spartan Cultural Memory in the Roman Period.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.643-662. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* Kennell, Nigel M. (1995). ''The gymnasium of virtue : education & culture in ancient Sparta''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-585-03877-5}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 42854632. |
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* Powell, Anton (2017). ''Sparta: Reconstructing History from Secrecy, Lies and Myth.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' ed. Anton Powell. pp. 1-28. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* Rebenich, Stefan (2017). ''Reception of Sparta in Germany and German-Speaking Europe''. In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. pp. 685-703 {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* Richer, Nicolas (2017). ''Spartan Education in the Classical Period.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta,'' eds. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 525-542. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* Roche, Helen (2013). ''Sparta's German children the ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in the Nationalist-Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945''. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. pp. 32–35. {{ISBN|978-1-910589-17-5}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 1019630468. |
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* Scanlon, Thomas Francis (2002). ''Eros & Greek athletics''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-534876-7}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 316719681. |
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* Stewart, Daniel (2017). ''From Leuktra to Nabis, 371-192.'' In ''A Companion to Sparta'', ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.374-402. {{ISBN|978-1-119-07237-9}} |
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* [[doi:10.1163/156852567X01473|Tazelaar, C.M. (1967). "ΠAIΔEΣ KAI EΦHBOI".]] ''Mnemosyne''. '''20''' (2): 127–153. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1163/156852567X01473. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0026-7074. |
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* Vidal-Naquet, Pierre (1981). ''Le chasseur noir : formes de penseé et formes de société dans le monde grec''. Paris: F. Maspero. {{ISBN|2-7071-1195-3}}. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 7658419. |
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=== |
=== Primary sources === |
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* [https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_Ancient_Greece.html?id=b8cA8hymTw8C A History of Ancient Greece] by Claude Orrieux, Pauline Schmitt-Pantel |
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* [https://books.google.com/books?id=aY0hAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Greek+Way+of+Life+:From+Conception+to+Old+Age.&dq=The+Greek+Way+of+Life+:From+Conception+to+Old+Age.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjksLbdyuXQAhUEKsAKHUNhAkMQ6AEIHTAA The Greek Way of Life: From Conception to Old Age] by Robert Garland |
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* [http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&context=srhonorsprog Modern Leonidas: Spartan Military Culture in a Modern American Context] by Samantha Henneberry |
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* [http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/sparta/qt/SpartanAgoge.htm Spartan Public Education] by About Education |
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* [http://lawaspect.com/spartan-military/ Spartan Military] |
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*[https://books.google.com/books?id=u_eAP7wN5XUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false The Gymnasium of Virtue: Education & Culture in Ancient Sparta] by Nigel Kennell |
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*[https://books.google.com/books?id=KUucAAAAMAAJ&q=spartan+education&dq=spartan+education&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi60_PI_-fQAhUW-GMKHbDqCjEQ6AEIHTAA Spartan Education: Youth and Society in the Classical Period] by Jean Ducat |
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* Aristotle. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0058 Politics] |
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====Primary sources==== |
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* Berve, Helmut (1937). ''Sparta''. Meyers Kleine Handbücher,7. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut AG. |
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* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0047%3Achapter%3D16%3Asection%3D4 Lycurgus] by Plutarch |
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* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/ |
* Cicero. [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14988 Tusculan Disputations] |
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* [ |
* Plutarch. Lives. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0047 Life of Lycurgus] |
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* Plutarch. Lives. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0060 Life of Pyrrhus] |
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* Szczepanski, Paul Von (2018). ''Spartanerjünglinge: Eine Kadettengeschichte in Briefen''. Forgotten Books. {{ISBN|978-0-332-04519-1}}. |
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* Xenophon. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0210%3Atext%3DConst.+Lac. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians] |
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{{Italic title}} |
{{Italic title}} |
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Latest revision as of 23:57, 11 December 2024
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The agoge (Ancient Greek: ἀγωγή, romanized: ágōgḗ in Attic Greek, or ἀγωγά, ágōgá in Doric Greek) was the training program pre-requisite for Spartiate (citizen) status. Spartiate-class boys entered it age seven, and aged out at 30. It was considered violent by the standards of the day, and was sometimes fatal.
The agōgē was divided into three age groups, paides, paidiskoi, and hēbōntes, roughly corresponding to young boys (7-12), adolescents (12-20), and young men (20-30). The agōgē deliberately deprived boys of food, sleep, and shelter. It involved cultivating loyalty to Sparta through military training (e.g., pain tolerance), hunting, dancing, singing, and rhetoric.[1] There seems to have been ritual beating. It was intensely competitive, and the boys were encouraged to use violence against each other; by Plutarch's account, this included sexual violence by hēbōntes against paides,[2] while Xenophon says the relationships were widely but wrongly considered to be sexual. Participants were required to live in the open or in barracks, and were restricted from contact with birth families or wives.
Participants were the sons of Spartiates and Spartiate-class mothers (that is, those eligible for citizen status, totalling perhaps 1/10 to 1/32 of the population). Spartiate-class girls (who could not become citizens) did not participate in the agōgē, although they may have received a similar state-sponsored education.[3][4] Helots (slaves), mothax (free non-citizens, thought to be children of slave rape by Spartiates), and other freeborn boys who did not have two Spartiate-class parents, were also excluded. The firstborn sons of the ruling houses, Eurypontid and Agiad, were exempted; a few trophimoi (very well-connected metics or perioeci) took part by special permission, as did syntrophoi (children of helot mothers adopted by Spartiates).
The word agōgē had various meanings in Ancient Greek and comes from the verb ἄγω (to lead).[5] There is no evidence that it was used to refer to the Spartiate education system until the 3rd century BC, but it was often used before then to mean training, guidance, or discipline.[4] Sources are unclear about the exact origins of the agōgē. According to Xenophon, it was introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan law-giver Lycurgus, and modern scholars have dated its inception to the 7th or 6th century BC[4][3][6][1] Regardless, the structure and content of the agōgē changed over time as the practice fell in and out of favour throughout the Hellenistic period.[6] In the Roman period, it became a tourist attraction for Romans.
The Classical Agōgē
[edit]Structure
[edit]The agōgē was divided into three age categories: the paides (about ages 7–14), paidiskoi (ages 15–19), and the hēbōntes (ages 20–29).[4] The boys were further subdivided into groups called agelai (singular agelē, meaning "pack"), with whom they would sleep, and were led by an older boy (eirēn) who Plutarch claims was chosen by the boys themselves.[7][8] They answered to the paidonomos or "boy-herder," an upper-class official who was tasked with overseeing the entire Spartan education system.[9][10]
Paides
[edit]The paides were taught the basics of reading and writing, but even the early stages of education focused on the development of skills that would encourage military prowess.[11][12] Boys would compete in athletic events such as running and wrestling, as well as choral dance performances.[13] Notably, paides were expected to steal food for themselves and their eirēn, and were probably underfed as a means of encouraging this.[4] Stealing did not go unpunished, however, as Xenophon reports that those who were caught would be beaten, a lesson which he claims taught the boys stealth and resourcefulness.[14] There were other hardships too: the boys were made to participate in the agōgē in bare feet, supposedly to toughen their feet and improve agility, and beginning at the age of 12, boys would be given only one item of clothing, a cloak, per year.[15][16] Plutarch reports that the boys slept together with the other members of their agelē, constructing beds out of reeds pulled by hand from the Eurotas River.[17]
Additionally, paides were educated in Laconism, the art of speaking in brief, witty phrases. According to French historian Jean Ducat, Aristotle believed that it was important that a Spartan learn how to poke fun at his peers, and that he be able to accept the teasing himself.[4]
At around age 12, a boy would often enter into an institutionalized relationship with a young adult male Spartan, which continued as he became a paidiskos.[11][18] Plutarch described this form of Spartan pederasty (erotic relationship) as one where older warriors (as the erastes) would engage promising youths (the eromenos) in a long-lasting relationship with an instructive motive.[19] Xenophon, on the other hand, claims that the laws of Lycurgus strictly prohibited sexual relationships with the boys, although he acknowledges that this is unusual compared to other Greek city-states.[20]
Paidiskoi
[edit]Ducat considers the stage of paidiskoi as a transitional phase between a child and an adult, where upper-class Spartan boys were encouraged to integrate themselves into adult society.[4] At this point, loyalty shifted from the agelē to the syssition, a common mess where adult Spartiates of all ages were expected to eat together and socialize. Scholars have suggested that one role of the erastes was to act as a "sponsor" through which the eromenos could gain entry to the same syssition.[11][4] Physical training and athletic competitions continued with an increased intensity.[13]
Hēbōntes
[edit]At the age of 20, a young Spartan graduated from the ranks of the paidiskoi into the hēbōntes and was known as an eirēn. If he had demonstrated sufficient leadership qualities throughout his training, he might have been selected to lead an agelē.[4]
The term hēbōntes means: "those who have reached physical adulthood".[21] It was at this age when Spartan men became eligible for military service and could vote in the assembly, although they were not yet considered full adult citizens and were still under the authority of the paidonomos.[10][11][4] Those hēbōntes who had impressed their elders the most during their training could be selected for the Crypteia, a type of 'Secret Police' tasked with maintaining control over the Helot population through violence. While scholars such as Pierre Vidal-Naquet have suggested that the Crypteia functioned as an initiatory ritual in the transition into adulthood, others, such as David Dodd, believe it was used primarily as a tool of terror. Plutarch and Plato also differ in their accounts of the Crypteia, with Plutarch mentioning brutal killings done by the Crypteia in Life of Lycurgus and Plato not mentioning the killings at all in Laws.[22][23][3][11]
Additionally, 300 hēbōntes were chosen to join the hippeis, a highly-esteemed infantry cohort (despite the name implying cavalry).[11] Xenophon describes the selection process as a public event where each of the three hippagretai (commanders) chooses 100 men, supposedly to instil a rivalry between each group, seeing as each man would be loyal to the hippagrete who chose him and resentful of the other two. He claims that this encouraged the groups to report instances of their rivals' wrongdoing, effectively keeping the entire cohort in check.[24]
A Spartan man could graduate from the agōgē at age 30, at which time he was expected to have been accepted into a syssition and was permitted to have a family.[4] He would also receive a kleros, an allotment of land farmed by helots.[25] Those not accepted into a syssition did not become Spartiates (citizens). They may have become hypomeiones.
Purpose
[edit]According to Plutarch, the main purpose of the agōgē was for Spartan boys to undergo intense physical trials to prepare their bodies for the harshness of war.[26] The competitive nature of athletic events encouraged hard work and merit.[10] However, the agōgē likely had a second purpose: to instil in young children a collective Spartan identity. The agōgē kept Spartan boys away from their families for much of their childhood, which Stephen Hodkinson believes taught them to favour the needs of the entire populace over that of an individual. Since a Spartan man's formative years were spent entirely in a perpetual competition of merit (both physical and social) they were encouraged to conform to the Spartan laws and social norms.[10] Completion of the agōgē also served to define what it meant to be a Spartan citizen: one who had proven his mastery of both physical strength and social conventions.[11][4][27]
There may have been an initiatory component to the agōgē, especially in its early history. Training overlapped with ritual activity at the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, where paidiskoi were made to steal from the altar under threat of being beaten if they were caught, possibly as part of an initiation rite in the transition to a hēbōnte.[13][6] As well, the Gymnopaedia festival featured choral and athletic competitions between groups of naked youths, and boys may have been expected to participate as part of the agōgē.[13][6][4]
After the Classical period
[edit]The popularity of the agōgē was diminished by the first half of the 3rd century BC, possibly as a result of the declining Spartan population, but was successfully reinvigorated by Cleomenes III in 226 BC.[28] It was abolished less than forty years later by Philopoemen when Sparta was forced into the Achaean League in 188/9 BC but was restored after Sparta came into Roman possession in 146 BC.[4][29]
Roman Sparta was characterized by a desire to emulate the traditional institutions of the archaic past, and this was mainly expressed through the agōgē. Ironically, the agōgē in this period was almost certainly different from that of the Classical period.[29] For example, there may have been a change in the way boys were divided by age; Plutarch (writing in the 2nd century AD) mentions only two groups: the younger paides and the older neoi.[11] As well, the term boua appears to replace the Classical agelē as the name for the groups of boys.[4]
However, the cult of Artemis Orthia continued to play a role. Cicero describes an initiation ritual where naked boys were brutally whipped at the altar of that goddess, and numerous stelai mention contests of choral singing and dancing which may celebrate Artemis and the hunt.[29][28][30] It is likely around this time that a game called Platanistas was developed (although it may have existed in the Classical period), which took place on a small island, and featured a violent, physical contest to force the opposing side into the water.[13] This contest was likely ritual in nature, as two sacrifices were performed before the event could begin.[4] The characterization of the Roman-era agōgē as especially brutal reinforced the opinion of the Roman public that Spartans were traditionally a harsh, warlike people.[29]
Paidonomos
[edit]The paidonomos was the magistrate in charge of overseeing the agōgē as a whole. According to Xenophon, the position is as old as the agōgē itself, having been created by Lycurgus at the same time.[31] As the ultimate position of authority within the Spartan education system, the paidonomos was responsible for doling out punishment, but was probably not directly responsible for inflicting it; this would have been delegated to the mastigophoroi, a squadron of hēbōntes armed with whips.[31][11] Plutarch notes that the paidonomos would observe an eirēn's punishment of younger boys in his agelē, to assess whether or not it was acceptable.[32]
Xenophon stresses the difference between the paidonomos, a free, high-ranking magistrate, and the paidagōgoi (tutors) found in other poleis, who were slaves.[33]
Reception
[edit]In Antiquity
[edit]The exact nature of an education in the agōgē was not hidden from the rest of the Greek world. This is evidenced by the number of non-Spartan sources who wrote about the agōgē: Thucydides indicates that the agōgē was well-known throughout Greece in the Classical period, and both Plato and Aristotle praised it as part of an ideal city-state.[34][35]
Further evidence for this comes from the word trophimoi, which is used to describe foreigners who were educated in the agōgē.[4] The historian Xenophon is a notable example of this, as his sons reportedly took part in the agōgē despite being Athenian. Such trophimoi were likely sponsored and hosted by a Spartan family; Xenophon himself was a friend of King Agesilaus II.[4] This practice likely continued into the Hellenistic Period. Supposedly, Pyrrhus of Epirus hid his intention to overthrow Sparta by claiming that part of his reason for marching on the Peloponnese was to have his sons trained in the agōgē.[36][37]
Plutarch, writing after Xenophon and during the Roman era when the Agoge was restored, was critical of this education. He wrote that reading and writing were studied only for practical reasons and that every other form of education was banned in the city-state.[38] Plutarch also emphasized the brutality and indoctrination of the Spartan education system.[39]
19th – 21st centuries
[edit]In the early 20th century, comparisons were drawn between the Spartan education system and the Royal Prussian Cadets in Germany, praising the harsh education as the driving force behind the cadets' military prowess.[40] In 1900, Paul von Szczepanski published his novel Spartanerjünglinge (Spartan Youths) about his education at one such cadet school during the late 19th century. Aside from the name, the book features other references to Spartan training, which Helen Roche believes are indicators that boys at these schools were taught to associate themselves with young Spartans.[41][40]
In Weimar Germany, after the loss of the First World War, many scholars drew connections with the sacrifice of the Spartan king Leonidas at Thermopylae to justify the deaths of those who died in the war. The mental strength of Leonidas and the 300 was attributed in part to their upbringing in the agōgē.[42] In the 1930s, the Nazi-aligned professor Helmut Berve praised the Spartan style of education in particular for its ability to weed out those considered "unfit" for society and to create a community of unified warriors. He argued that Nazi leaders should use Sparta as an example of their ideal society, ideas which Hitler himself supposedly agreed with.[43][42][44] At the Adolf Hitler Schule in Weimar, Germany, schoolchildren were taught that Sparta maintained its power by producing tough, agōgē-educated warriors.[42]
In the 21st century, the agōgē is known primarily in the context of intense physical trials. Spartan Race Inc., an American company, hosts a variety of endurance competitions across the world, the most challenging of which is called "Agoge". It stands as a physical trial rather than a state-sponsored education.[45] In science fiction, Red Rising contains a training program based on Greek institutions like the agōgē in the form of a state-sponsored military education system which utilizes Greek names and symbols; the program emphasizes Spartan discipline against Athenian Democracy.[46]
In the American action film 300 (2007), Leonidas is depicted attending the Agoge as a child and fulfilling various physical and mental trials from fighting other children to being whipped as a form of discipline.
Historian Bret Devereaux has compared the Spartan agōgē to the indoctrination of child soldiers in modern societies as part of his blog "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry".[47]
In the Sony Santa Monica Studio Playstation game God of War Ragnarok, the protagonist Kratos talks about his upbringing alongside his brother in the agōgē, noting the cruel and violent methods used to train children and how he looked to avoid doing so with his second child, Atreus.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Hodkinson, Stephen (1996). "Agoge". In Hornblower, Simon (ed.). Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Plutarch says "νέοι" (probably over 20, but under 30) and that most boys have such relationships by the age of 12
- ^ a b c Cartledge, Paul (2001). Spartan reflections. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2933-6. OCLC 45648270.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Ducat, Jean (2006). Spartan education: youth and society in the classical period. Emma Stafford, Pamela-Jane Shaw, Anton Powell. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 1-905125-07-0. OCLC 76892341.
- ^ ἀγωγή. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ a b c d Scanlon, Thomas Francis (2002). Eros & Greek athletics. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534876-7. OCLC 316719681.
- ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ἀγέλ-η". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Plutarch, Lives. Lyc. 17.2
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.2
- ^ a b c d Hodkinson, Stephen (2003). Social Order and the Conflict of Values in Classical Sparta. In Sparta, ed. Michael Whitby. Taylor & Francis. pp.104-130. ISBN 978-0-415-93957-7
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Richer, Nicolas (2017). Spartan Education in the Classical Period. In A Companion to Sparta, eds. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 525-542
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.6
- ^ a b c d e Christesen, Paul (2017). Sparta and Athletics. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.534-564 ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.8
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.6-7
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.3-4
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16.7
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lyc. 17.1
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lycurgus, 17-18.
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, 2.13-14.
- ^ Tazelaar, C.M. (1967). "ΠAIΔEΣ KAI EΦHBOI". Mnemosyne. 20 (2): 127–153. doi:10.1163/156852567X01473. ISSN 0026-7074.
- ^ Dodd, David (2013). "Adolescent Initiation in Myth and Tragedy: Rethinking the Black Hunter". In David Dodd; Christopher A. Faraone (eds.). Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives. Routledge. pp. 71–84. ISBN 978-1-135-14365-7.
- ^ Vidal-Naquet, Pierre (1981). Le chasseur noir: formes de penseé et formes de société dans le monde grec. Paris: F. Maspero. ISBN 2-7071-1195-3. OCLC 7658419.
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 4.1-4
- ^ Figueira, Thomas (2017). Helotage and the Spartan Economy. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 565-595. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- ^ Plut. Lives. Lyc. 16
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 10.7
- ^ a b Kennell, Nigel M. (1995). The gymnasium of virtue: education & culture in ancient Sparta. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-585-03877-5. OCLC 42854632.
- ^ a b c d Kennell, Nigel (2017). Spartan Cultural Memory in the Roman Period. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.643-662
- ^ Cicero. Tusc. 2.34, 2.46, 5.77
- ^ a b Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 2.2
- ^ Plutarch. Lives. Lycurgus. 18.2-3
- ^ Xen. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians. 2.1
- ^ Powell, Anton (2017). Sparta: Reconstructing History from Secrecy, Lies and Myth. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. pp. 1-28. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- ^ Aristot. Pol. 8.1337a
- ^ Plut. Lives. Pyrrhus. 26.9-11
- ^ Stewart, Daniel (2017). From Leuktra to Nabis, 371-192. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.374-402
- ^ "Plutarch • Customs of the Spartans". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
- ^ "Plutarch • Customs of the Spartans". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- ^ a b Roche, Helen (2013). Sparta's German children the ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in the Nationalist-Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. pp. 32–35. ISBN 978-1-910589-17-5. OCLC 1019630468.
- ^ Szczepanski, Paul Von (2018). Spartanerjünglinge: Eine Kadettengeschichte in Briefen. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-0-332-04519-1.
- ^ a b c Rebenich, Stefan (2017). Reception of Sparta in Germany and German-Speaking Europe. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. pp. 685-703 ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- ^ Demandt, Alexander (2002). "Klassik als Klischee: Hitler und die Antike". Historische Zeitschrift. 274 (2): 281–313. doi:10.1524/hzhz.2002.274.jg.281. ISSN 0018-2613. JSTOR 27634462. S2CID 164535845.
- ^ Berve, Helmut (1937). Sparta. Meyers Kleine Handbücher,7. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut AG.
- ^ "Spartan Race Inc. Obstacle Course Races". Spartan Race. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- ^ Brown, Pierce. Red rising. ISBN 978-1-4712-7396-4. OCLC 1232110559.
- ^ Devereaux, Bret (2019-08-16). "Collections: This. Isn't. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School". A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
Bibliography
[edit]Secondary sources
[edit]- Cartledge, Paul (2001). Spartan reflections. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2933-6. OCLC 45648270
- Christesen, Paul (2017). Sparta and Athletics. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.534-564 ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Demandt, Alexander (2002). "Klassik als Klischee: Hitler und die Antike". Historische Zeitschrift. 274 (2): 281–313. ISSN 0018-2613.
- Devereaux, Bret (2019-08-16). "Collections: This. Isn't. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School". A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
- Ducat, Jean (2006). Spartan education : youth and society in the classical period. Emma Stafford, Pamela-Jane Shaw, Anton Powell. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 1-905125-07-0. OCLC 76892341
- Figueira, Thomas (2017). Helotage and the Spartan Economy. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 565-595. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Hodkinson, Stephen (1996). "Agoge". In Hornblower, Simon (ed.). Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
- Hodkinson, Stephen (2003). Social Order and the Conflict of Values in Classical Sparta. In Sparta, ed. Michael Whitby. Taylor & Francis. pp.104-130. ISBN 978-0-415-93957-7
- Kennell, Nigel (2017). Spartan Cultural Memory in the Roman Period. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.643-662. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Kennell, Nigel M. (1995). The gymnasium of virtue : education & culture in ancient Sparta. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-585-03877-5. OCLC 42854632.
- Powell, Anton (2017). Sparta: Reconstructing History from Secrecy, Lies and Myth. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. pp. 1-28. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Rebenich, Stefan (2017). Reception of Sparta in Germany and German-Speaking Europe. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. pp. 685-703 ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Richer, Nicolas (2017). Spartan Education in the Classical Period. In A Companion to Sparta, eds. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 525-542. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Roche, Helen (2013). Sparta's German children the ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in the Nationalist-Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales. pp. 32–35. ISBN 978-1-910589-17-5. OCLC 1019630468.
- Scanlon, Thomas Francis (2002). Eros & Greek athletics. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534876-7. OCLC 316719681.
- Stewart, Daniel (2017). From Leuktra to Nabis, 371-192. In A Companion to Sparta, ed. Anton Powell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp.374-402. ISBN 978-1-119-07237-9
- Tazelaar, C.M. (1967). "ΠAIΔEΣ KAI EΦHBOI". Mnemosyne. 20 (2): 127–153. doi:10.1163/156852567X01473. ISSN 0026-7074.
- Vidal-Naquet, Pierre (1981). Le chasseur noir : formes de penseé et formes de société dans le monde grec. Paris: F. Maspero. ISBN 2-7071-1195-3. OCLC 7658419.
Primary sources
[edit]- Aristotle. Politics
- Berve, Helmut (1937). Sparta. Meyers Kleine Handbücher,7. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut AG.
- Cicero. Tusculan Disputations
- Plutarch. Lives. Life of Lycurgus
- Plutarch. Lives. Life of Pyrrhus
- Szczepanski, Paul Von (2018). Spartanerjünglinge: Eine Kadettengeschichte in Briefen. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-0-332-04519-1.
- Xenophon. Constitution of the Lacedaimonians