(I promised something more on Texas, and I posted it last Friday, but after re-reading it I thought the *Struggle for Texas* deserved more than a one-blog posting. Perhaps even more than ten postings -- so with apologies to my man Santa Anna, I retracted my Friday post) We can always talk about the Greeks – they’re a bunch of fun. We remember them from early World Civ class, don’t we ? And the Greek-Fest ? (Amy, where’s the Loukoumades?) So, take a moment to consider Sparta in 650 BC. If you were unlucky, you were one of the thousands of unfree laborers taken forcefully from Messenia. These were the “Helots” with whom Sparta warred constantly. These poor people (the Helots, that is) were forced into a harsh slavery that provided them with only a threadbare, minimum quality of life. If you were lucky, you were born Greek *AND* you survived a quick inspection at birth. This was an overall Greek practice, but was particularly employed by the Spartans. If a newborn was deemed unfit (no hair on the head, extra toes, extra fingers, or even a birthmark) it would be abandoned to the hillsides. This, effectively, meant that an infant would be sacrificed to the wolves. (Good luck to me, I was born a “blue” baby in ’71 sometime) But – Sparta. Here was a militaristic state, rugged and disciplined, and given to the ideals of harsh training, harsh loyalty, extreme toughness, and a grit-determined strength. Children were given only a glimpse of their childhood – at age 7, boys were taken from their families and sent to live with a “herd” of other boys ranging through age 18. This would be their new life (for the rest of their life) in a professional military state.
Spartan training was intense, and young boys were expected to develop a tolerance to extreme pain. Broken bones were mended, swords were wielded, military drills continued, and soon these children were being sent into the forests of Messenia to make their own way… indeed, they were abandoned, in small groups, and left for months at a time. Here they made their way by hunting, foraging, raiding, stealing, and sometimes murdering any of the “Helots” they might come into contact with. (Yeah, this was even before the “Lord of the Flies” !!)
Spartan boys were also given to older men who “sponsored” them – homosexuality was not an uncommon reality for the Greeks. It is not surpsising that Spartan society was so open with this; it seemed to be a part of their outlook on the state, itself. Spartans, after all, viewed themselves as “true Greeks” and it is not surprising that a theme of “die for Sparta!” would allow for a group of herded young men to seek solace in one another. (I’m being careful here, you know I am)
Anway, these young Spartan soldiers were permitted to become full members of the military at age 20. They could marry at age 30, and were expected to serve Sparta (ahem) from the ages of 20 through 60. There was an intensive two-year training period from age 18-20, but little is known of this. If a young man was lucky enough to survive, he could expect to be pressed into the military immediately.
I'll post later about Athens, the home of art, literature, drama, and philosophy, but for now I want to sit back and think of the movie *300* and the scantily-clad Spartan warriors in those leather skirts. Oh, yeah. And, of course, I will remember their historical importance. It's not just the skin, you know!! Spartans were the rockstars in Ancient Greece.
