The country that will be described in the article was called Lacedaemon, and its warriors could always be recognized by the Greek letter λ (lambda) on their shields.
But after the Romans, we all now call this state Sparta.
According to Homer, the history of Sparta goes back to ancient times, and even the Trojan War began because of the abduction of the Spartan queen Helena by the prince Paris. But the events that could become the basis of the Iliad, Little Iliad, Cypriot, the poems of Stesichor and some other works, most modern historians date back to the XIII-XII centuries. BC. And the well-known Sparta was founded not earlier than the 9th-8th centuries. BC. Thus, the story of the abduction of Helena the Beautiful, apparently, is an echo of the Dospartan legends of the peoples of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture.
At the time of the appearance of the Dorian conquerors on the territory of Hellas, the Achaeans lived on these lands. The ancestors of the Spartans are considered people of three Dorian tribes - Dimans, Pamphiles, Hilleys. It is believed that they were the most belligerent among the Dorians, and therefore advanced the farthest. But, perhaps, this was the last "wave" of Dorian settlement and all other areas had already been captured by other tribes. The defeated Achaeans, for the most part, were turned into state serfs - helots (probably from the root hel - to captivate). Those of them that managed to retreat into the mountains, after a while were also conquered, but received a higher status of perieks ("living around"). Unlike the helots, the perieks were free people, but their rights were limited, they could not take part in popular assemblies and in governing the country. It is believed that the number of Spartans proper never exceeded 20-30 thousand people, of which from 3 to 5 thousand were men. All capable men were part of the army, military education began at the age of 7 and lasted until 20. Perieks were from 40-60 thousand people, helots - about 200 thousand. There is nothing supernatural for Ancient Greece in these numbers. In all the states of Hellas, the number of slaves exceeded the number of free citizens by an order of magnitude. Athenaeus in the "Feast of the Sages" reports that, according to the census of Demetrius from Phaler, there were 20 thousand citizens in "democratic" Athens, 10 thousand Metecs (displaced inhabitants of Attica - immigrants or freed slaves) and 400 thousand slaves - this is quite consistent with the calculations of many historians … In Corinth, according to the same source, there were 460,000 slaves.
The territory of the Spartan state was a fertile valley of the Evrot River between the Parnon and Taygetus mountain ranges. But Laconica also had a significant drawback - an inconvenient coast for navigation, perhaps that is why the Spartans, unlike the inhabitants of many other Greek states, did not become skilled navigators and did not establish colonies on the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Hellas Map
Archaeological finds suggest that in the archaic era, the population of the Spartan region was more diverse than in other states of Hellas. Among the inhabitants of Laconian at that time there were people of three types: "flat-faced" with wide cheekbones, with persons of the Assyrian type, and (to a lesser extent) - with persons of the Semitic type. In the first images of warriors and heroes, you can often see "Assyrians" and "flat-faced". In the classical period of Greek history, the Spartans are already portrayed as people with a moderately flat face type and a moderately protruding nose.
The name "Sparta" is most often associated with the ancient Greek word meaning "the human race", or close to it - "sons of the earth." This is not surprising: many peoples call their own tribesmen "people". For example, the self-name of the Germans (Alemanni) means "all people". Estonians used to call themselves “the people of the earth”. Ethnonyms "Magyar" and "Mansi" are derived from one word meaning "people". And the self-name of the Chukchi (luoravetlan) does mean "real people". In Norway there is an ancient saying, which literally translated into Russian reads as follows: "I love people and foreigners." That is, foreigners have been politely denied the right to be called human beings.
It should be said that in addition to the Spartans, Spartas also lived in Hellas, and the Greeks never confused them. Sparta means "scattered": the origin of the word is connected with the legend of the abduction of the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor - Europe by Zeus, after which Cadmus (the name means "ancient" or "eastern") and his brothers were sent by their father in search, but "scattered" around the world, never finding her. According to the legend, Cadmus founded Thebes, but then, according to one version, he and his wife were expelled to Illyria, according to another, they were turned by the gods first into serpents, and then into the mountains of Illyria. The daughter of Cadmus Ino killed Hera because she nurtured Dionysus, the son of Actaeon died after killing the sacred doe of Artemis. The famous commander of the Thebans Epaminondas came from the genus of Sparts.
Not everyone knows that initially not Athens, but Sparta was the generally recognized cultural center of Hellas - and this period lasted for several hundred years. But then, in Sparta, the construction of stone palaces and temples suddenly stopped, ceramics was simplified, and trade was waning. And the main business of the citizens of Sparta is the war. Historians believe that the reason for this metamorphosis was the confrontation between Sparta and Messenia, a state whose area was then larger than Lacedaemon's and which significantly exceeded it in population. It is believed that the most implacable representatives of the old Achaean nobility, who did not accept defeat and dreamed of revenge, found refuge in this country. After two difficult wars with Messenia (743-724 BC and 685-668 BC) the "classical" Sparta was formed. The state turned into a military camp, the elite practically gave up privileges, and all citizens capable of carrying weapons became warriors. The Second Messenian War was especially terrible, Arcadia and Argos took the side of Messenia, at some point Sparta found itself on the brink of a military catastrophe. The morale of its citizens was undermined, men began to shy away from war - they were immediately turned into slavery. It was then that the Spartan custom of crypti appeared - the night hunting of young men for helots. Of course, the respectable helots, on whose labor the welfare of Sparta was based, had nothing to fear. Recall that helots in Sparta belonged to the state, but at the same time they were assigned to those citizens whose allotment they processed. It is unlikely that someone from the Spartiats would have been pleased with the news that his serfs were killed at night by teenagers who broke into their house, and he now has problems with contributions to the sissy (with all the ensuing consequences, but more on that later). And what is the virtue of such nocturnal attacks on sleeping people? It was not like that. Detachments of Spartan youths at that time went on night "shifts" and caught on the roads those helots who intended to flee to Messinia or wanted to join the rebels. Later, this custom turned into a war game. In peacetime, helots were rare on night roads. But if they, nevertheless, came across - a priori were considered guilty: the Spartans believed that at night the serfs should not wander along the roads, but sleep in their beds. And, if the helot left the house at night, it means that he planned treason or some kind of crime.
In the II Messenian War, the victory for the Spartans was brought by a new military formation - the famous phalanx, which dominated the battlefields for many centuries, literally sweeping away opponents in its path.
Soon the enemies guessed to put lightly armed peltasts in front of their formation, who fired at the slowly moving phalanx with short spears: the shield with a heavy dart pierced into it had to be thrown, and some of the soldiers turned out to be vulnerable. The Spartans had to think about protecting the phalanx: young lightly armed warriors, often recruited from the highlanders-perieks, began to disperse the peltasts.
Phalanx with outposts
After the formal end of the II Messenian War, the partisan war continued for some time: the rebels, entrenched on the Irak mountain border with Arcadia, laid down their arms only 11 years later - by agreement with Lacedaemon, they left for Arcadia. The Messenians who remained on their land were turned into helots: according to Pausanias, according to the terms of the peace treaty, they had to give Lacedaemon half of the harvest.
So, Sparta got the opportunity to use the resources of the conquered Messenia. But there was another very important consequence of this victory: a cult of heroes and a ritual of honoring warriors appeared in Sparta. In the future, from the cult of heroes, Sparta moved to the cult of military service, in which the conscientious fulfillment of duty and unquestioning obedience to the orders of the commander were valued above personal exploits. The famous Spartan poet Tirtaeus (participant in the II Messenian War) wrote that the duty of a warrior is to stand shoulder to shoulder with his comrades and not try to show personal heroism to the detriment of battle formation. In general, do not pay attention to what is happening to your left or right, keep the line, do not retreat and do not go forward without an order.
The famous diarchy of Sparta - the reign of two kings (Archagetes), has traditionally been associated with the cult of the Dioscuri twins. According to the most famous and popular version, the first kings were the twins Proclus and Eurysthenes - the sons of Aristodemus, a descendant of Hercules, who died during a campaign in the Peloponnese. They allegedly became the ancestors of the clans Euripontids and Agids (Agiads). However, the co-kings were not relatives, moreover, they were descended from hostile clans, as a result of which a unique ritual of the monthly mutual oath of kings and ephors appeared. The Euripontids, as a rule, were sympathetic to Persia, while the Hagiads headed the anti-Persian "party". The royal dynasties did not enter into marriage alliances, they lived in different regions of Sparta, each of them had their own sanctuaries and their own burial places. And one of the kings was descended from the Achaeans!
Part of the power to the Achaeans and their kings, Agiads, was returned to Lycurgus, who was able to convince the Spartans that the deities of the two tribes would be reconciled if the royal power was divided. At his insistence, the Dorians had the right to organize holidays in honor of the conquest of Laconia no more than once every 8 years. The Achaean origin of the Agiads has been repeatedly confirmed in various sources and is beyond doubt. King Cleomenes I in 510 BC said to the priestess of Athena, who did not want to let him into the temple on the grounds that it was forbidden to enter the Dorian men:
"Woman! I am not a Dorian, but an Achaean!"
The already mentioned poet Tirtaeus spoke of the full-fledged Spartans as aliens who worshiped Apollo, who came to their hometown of the Heraclids:
“Zeus handed over the city to Heraclides, now native to us.
With them, leaving Erineus in the distance, blown by the wind, We came to a wide open space in the land of Pelope.
So from the magnificent temple Apollo the far-believing spoke to us, Our golden-haired god, the king with a silver bow."
The patron god of the Achaeans was Hercules, the Dorians most of all the gods honored Apollo (translated into Russian this name means "Destroyer"), the descendants of the Mycenaeans worshiped Artemis Ortia (more precisely, the goddess Ortia, later identified with Artemis).
Memorial plaque from the temple of Artemis Ortia in Sparta
The laws of Sparta (Sacred Treaty - Retra) were consecrated with the name of Apollo of Delphi, and ancient customs (retma) were written in the Achaean dialect.
For the already mentioned Cleomenes, Apollo was an alien god, therefore, one day he allowed himself to falsify the Delphic oracle (to discredit his rival, Demarat, a king from the Euripontid clan). For the Dorians, this was a terrible crime, as a result, Cleomenes was forced to flee to Arcadia, where he found support, and also began to prepare an uprising of the helots in Messinia. Frightened ephors persuaded him to return to Sparta, where he found his death - according to the official version, he committed suicide. But Cleomenes treated the Achaean cult of Hera with great respect: when the Argos priests began to prevent him from making a sacrifice in the temple of the goddess (and the Spartan king also performed priestly functions), he ordered his subordinates to drive them away from the altar and flog them.
The famous king Leonidas, who stood at Thermopylae on the way of the Persians, was Agiad, that is, an Achaean. He brought with him only 300 Spartiats (probably, this was his personal detachment of hippey bodyguards, assigned to each king - contrary to the name, these soldiers fought on foot) and several hundred perieks (Leonidas also had the troops of the Greek allies at his disposal, but more on this will be described in the second part). And the Dorians of Sparta did not go on a campaign: at this time they celebrated the sacred feast of Apollo of Carney and could not interrupt it.
Monument to Tsar Leonidas in modern Sparta, photo
Gerousia (Council of Elders, consisting of 30 people - 2 kings and 28 Gerons - Spartiats who have reached the age of 60, elected for life) was controlled by the Dorians. The People's Assembly of Sparta (Apella, Spartans 30 years and older had the right to participate in it) did not play a big role in the life of the state: it only approved or rejected the proposals prepared by Gerousia, and the majority was determined "by eye" - who shouted louder, that and truth. The true power in Sparta of the classical period belonged to five annually elected Ephors, who had the right to immediately punish any citizen who violated the customs of Sparta, but they themselves were not under the jurisdiction of anyone. The Ephors had the right to try the kings, controlled the distribution of military booty, the collection of taxes and the conduct of military recruitment. They could also expel foreigners who seemed suspicious to them from Sparta and supervised the helots and perieks. The Ephors did not regret even the hero of the battle of Plataea, Pausanias, who was suspected by them of trying to become a tyrant. The regent of the son of the famous Leonidas, who tried to hide from them at the altar of Athena Mednodomnaya, was walled up in the temple and died of hunger. The Ephors constantly suspected (and sometimes not unreasonably) the Achaean kings of flirting with the helots and perieks and feared a coup d'etat. The king from the clan of Agids was accompanied by two ephors during the campaign. But for the Euripontid kings, exceptions were sometimes made, they could be accompanied by only one ephor. The control of the ephors and gerusia over all affairs in Sparta gradually became truly total: the kings were left only with the functions of priests and military leaders, but at the same time they were deprived of the right to independently declare war and conclude peace, and even the route of the upcoming campaign was assured by the Council of Elders. The kings, who, it seems, were revered by people closer to the gods than others, were constantly suspected of treason and even bribes, allegedly received from the enemies of Sparta, and the trial of the king was commonplace. In the end, the kings were practically deprived of their priestly functions: in order to achieve greater objectivity, clergymen began to be invited from other states of Hellas. Decisions on vital issues were still made only after receiving the Delphic Oracle.
Pythia
Delphi, contemporary photography
The vast majority of our contemporaries are sure that Sparta was a totalitarian state, the social structure of which is sometimes called "war communism." Spartiats are considered by many to be invincible "iron" warriors, who had no equal, but at the same time - stupid and limited people who spoke in monosyllabic phrases and spent all their time in military exercises. In general, if you discard the romantic halo, you get something like the Lyubertsy gopniks of the late 80s - early 90s of the twentieth century. But are we, Russians, walking the streets with a bear in an embrace, a bottle of vodka in our pocket and a balalaika at the ready, to be surprised at the black PR and believe the Greeks of the policies hostile to Sparta? We, after all, are not the scandalously famous Briton Boris Johnson (former mayor of London and former foreign minister), who quite recently, having suddenly read Thucydides in his old age (really, "not for horse feed") compared ancient Sparta with modern Russia, and Great Britain and the United States, of course, with Athens. It is a pity that I have not read Herodotus yet. He especially would have liked the story of how the progressive Athenians threw the ambassadors of Darius off the cliff - and, as befits the true lights of freedom and democracy, proudly refused to apologize for this crime. Not that the stupid totalitarian Spartans, who, having drowned the Persian ambassadors in a well ("earth and water" offered to search in it), considered it fair to send two noble volunteers to Darius - so that the king had the opportunity to do the same with them. And not that the Persian barbarian Darius, who, you see, did not want to drown the Spartiats who came to him, neither hang, nor quartered - a wild and ignorant Asiatic, there is no other name for it.
However, the Athenians, Thebans, Corinthians and other ancient Greeks certainly differ from the Boris Johnsons, since, according to the same Spartans, they still knew how to be just - once every four years, but they knew how. In our time, this one-time honesty is a big surprise, because now, even at the Olympic Games, it is not very good to be honest and not with everyone.
Better than Boris Johnson were the first US politicians - at least more educated and more intellectual. Thomas Jefferson, for example, also read Thucydides (and not only), and later said that he learned more from his History than from local newspapers. But the conclusions from his works were the opposite of those of Johnson. In Athens, he saw the arbitrariness of the omnipotent oligarchs and the crowd corrupted by their handouts, joyfully trampling on true heroes and patriots, in Sparta - the world's first constitutional state and the true equality of its citizens.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the United States Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States
The "founding fathers" of the American state generally spoke of Athenian democracy as a terrible example of what should be avoided in the new country they lead. But, ironically, contrary to their intentions, it is precisely such a state that ultimately came out of the United States.
But since politicians who pretend to be called serious are now comparing us with ancient Sparta, let's try to understand its state structure, traditions and customs. And let's try to understand whether this comparison should be considered offensive.
Trade, handicrafts, agriculture and other rough physical labor, in fact, were considered in Sparta to be occupations unworthy of a free man. A citizen of Sparta had to devote his time to more sublime things: gymnastics, poetry, music and singing (Sparta was even called "the city of beautiful choirs"). Result: The Iliad and Odyssey, cult for the whole of Hellas, were created … No, not Homer, but Lycurgus: it was he who, having familiarized himself with the scattered songs attributed to Homer in Ionia, suggested that they are parts of two poems, and arranged them in “necessary”, which has become canonical, order. This testimony of Plutarch, of course, cannot be considered the ultimate truth. But, without a doubt, he took this story from some sources that have not come down to our time, which he fully trusted. And to none of his contemporaries this version seemed "wild", absolutely impossible, unacceptable and unacceptable. Nobody doubted the artistic taste of Lycurgus and his ability to act as the literary editor of the greatest poet of Hellas. Let's continue our story about Lycurgus. His name means "Wolf courage", and this is a real kening: a wolf is a sacred animal of Apollo, moreover, Apollo could turn into a wolf (as well as a dolphin, a hawk, a mouse, a lizard and a lion). That is, the name Lycurgus can mean "Courage of Apollo". Lycurgus was from the Dorian family of Euripontides and could become king after the death of his older brother, but he gave up power in favor of his unborn child. That did not stop his enemies from accusing him of trying to usurp power. And Lycurgus, like many other Hellenes suffering from excessive passionarity, went on a journey, visiting Crete, some city-states of Greece and even Egypt. During this trip, he had thoughts about the reforms necessary for his homeland. These reforms were so radical that Lycurgus considered it necessary to first consult one of the Delphic Pythias.
Eugene Delacroix, Lycurgus Consults with the Pythia
The soothsayer assured him that what he had planned would benefit Sparta - and now Lycurgus was unstoppable: he returned home and informed everyone of his desire to make Sparta great. Having heard about the need for reforms and transformations, the king, the very nephew of Lycurgus, quite logically assumed that he would now be killed a little - so that he would not stand in the way of progress and would not overshadow the bright future for the people. And so he immediately ran to hide in a nearby temple. With great difficulty, he was pulled out of this temple and forced to listen to the newly-minted Messiah. Upon learning that his uncle agreed to leave him on the throne as a puppet, the king sighed with relief and did not listen to further speeches. Lycurgus established the Council of Elders and the College of Ephors, divided the land equally among all the Spartiates (it turned out 9,000 allotments, which were to be processed by the helots assigned to them), banned the free circulation of gold and silver in Lacedaemon, as well as luxury goods, thereby practically eliminating long years of bribery and corruption. Now the Spartiats had to eat exclusively at joint meals (syssitia) - in public canteens assigned to each of the citizens for 15 people, to which they should have been very hungry: for a bad appetite, the ephors could also deprive citizens of citizenship. Citizenship was also deprived of one of the Spartiats who could not make a contribution to the sissitia on time. The food at these joint meals was plentiful, healthy, hearty and rough: wheat, barley, olive oil, meat, fish, wine diluted 2/3. And, of course, the famous "black soup". It consisted of water, vinegar, olive oil (not always), pork legs, pork blood, lentils, salt - according to numerous testimonies of contemporaries, foreigners could not even eat a spoon. Plutarch claims that one of the Persian kings, having tasted this stew, said: "Now I understand why the Spartans go so bravely to their death - they love death than such food."
And the Spartan commander Pausanias, having tasted food prepared by Persian cooks after the victory at Plataea, said:
"Look how these people live! And marvel at their stupidity: having all the blessings of the world, they came from Asia to take away such a pitiful crumbs from us …".
According to J. Swift, Gulliver did not like the black stew. The third part of the book (“Journey to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glabbdobdrib and Japan) speaks, among other things, of invoking the spirits of famous people. Gulliver says:
"One helot Agesilaus cooked us a Spartan stew, but having tasted it, I could not swallow the second spoon."
The Spartans were equalized even after death: most of them, even the kings, were buried in unmarked graves. Only warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth were honored with a personal tombstone.
Now let's talk about the situation of the unfortunate, many times mourned by different authors, helots and perieks. And on closer inspection, it turns out that Lacedaemon's periyecs lived very well. Yes, they could not participate in popular assemblies, be elected to Gerousia and the college of ephors, and could not be hoplites - only soldiers of auxiliary units. It is unlikely that these restrictions greatly affected them. As for the rest, they lived no worse, and often even better than full-fledged citizens of Sparta: no one forced them to eat black stew in public "canteens", children from families were not taken to "boarding schools", they were not required to be heroes. Trade and various crafts provided a stable and very decent income, so that in the later period of Sparta's history they turned out to be richer than many Spartans. Perieks, by the way, had their own slaves - not state (helots), like the Spartiats, but personal, purchased ones. This also speaks of a fairly high prosperity of the Periek. Farmers-helots also did not particularly live in poverty, since, unlike the same "democratic" Athens, there was no point in tearing three skins from slaves in Sparta. Gold and silver were banned (the death penalty was the punishment for keeping them), it never crossed anyone's mind to save up pieces of spoiled iron (each weighing 625 g), and it was not even possible to eat normally at home - bad appetite at joint meals, as we remember, was punished. Therefore, the Spartiats did not demand much from the helots assigned to them. As a result, when King Cleomenes III offered the helots to obtain personal freedom by paying five minutes (more than 2 kg of silver), six thousand people were able to pay the ransom. In "democratic" Athens, the burden on the tax-paying estates was many times greater than in Sparta. The "love" of the Athenian slaves for their "democratic" masters was so great that when the Spartans occupied Dekeleia (an area north of Athens) during the Peloponnesian War, about 20,000 of these "helots" went over to the side of Sparta. But even the cruel exploitation of local "helots" and "perieks" did not provide for the requests of the aristocrats who were accustomed to luxury and the depraved okhlos; Athens collected funds from the allied states for a "common cause" which almost always proved beneficial to Attica and only Attica. In 454 BC. the general treasury was transferred from Delos to Athens and was spent on decorating this city with new buildings and temples. At the expense of the Union treasury, the Long Walls were also built, connecting Athens with the port of Piraeus. In 454 BC. the sum of contributions from allied policies was 460 talents, and in 425 - already 1460. To compel the allies to loyalty, the Athenians created colonies on their lands - as in the lands of the barbarians. Athenian garrisons were located in especially unreliable cities. Attempts to leave the Delian League ended with "color revolutions" or direct military intervention of the Athenians (for example, in Naxos in 469, in Thasos in 465, in Evia in 446, in Samos in 440-439 BC) In addition, they also extended the jurisdiction of the Athenian court (the "fairest" one in Hellas, of course) to the territory of all their "allies" (who, rather, should still be called tributaries). The most "democratic" state of the modern "civilized world" - the United States - treats its allies in approximately the same way. And the same is the price of friendship with Washington, which stands guard over "freedom and democracy." Only the victory of the "totalitarian" Sparta in the Peloponnesian War saved 208 large and small Greek cities from their humiliating dependence on Athens.
Children in Sparta were declared public domain. A lot of stupid tales have been told about the upbringing of Sparta boys, which, alas, are still printed even in school textbooks. On closer examination, these bikes do not stand up to criticism and literally crumble before our eyes. In fact, studying in Spartan schools was so prestigious that many children of noble foreigners were brought up in them, but not all - only those who had some merits to Sparta.
Edgar Degas, "Spartan Girls Challenge Youths"
The system of upbringing boys was called "agoge" (literally translated from Greek - "withdrawal"). Upon reaching the age of 7, the boys were taken from their families and passed on to mentors - experienced and authoritative Spartans. They lived and were brought up in a kind of boarding school (agelah) until the age of 20. This should not be surprising, because in many states the children of the elite were brought up in about the same way - in closed schools and according to special programs. The most striking example is Great Britain. Conditions in private schools for the children of bankers and lords there are still more than harsh, they did not even hear about heating in the winter, but until 1917, money was collected from parents annually for rods. A direct ban on the use of corporal punishment in public schools in Britain was introduced only in 1986, in private - in 2003.
Punishment with rods in an English school, engraving
In addition, in British private schools, what is called "bullying" in the Russian army is considered normal: the unconditional subordination of primary school students to senior classmates - in Britain they believe that this teaches the character of a gentleman and master, teaches obedience and command. The current heir to the throne, Prince Charles, once admitted that in the Scottish school of Gordonstown he was beaten more often than others - they just lined up in line: because everyone understood how pleasant it would be to tell later at the dinner table about how he got the current king in the face. (Tuition fees at Gordonstown School: for children 8-13 years old - from 7,143 pounds per term; for adolescents 14-16 years old - from 10,550 to 11,720 pounds per term).
Gordonstown School
The most famous and prestigious private school in Great Britain is Eton College. The Duke of Wellington even once said that "the Battle of Waterloo was won at the sports grounds of Eton."
Eaton College
The disadvantage of the British education system in private schools is the rather widespread pederasty in them. About the same Eaton, the British themselves say that he "stands on three Bs: beating, bulling, buggery" - corporal punishment, hazing and sodomy. However, in the current Western system of values, this "option" is more an advantage than a disadvantage.
A little background: Eton is the most prestigious private school in England, where children are accepted from the age of 13. The registration fee is £ 390, the tuition fee for one term is £ 13,556, in addition, medical insurance is paid - £ 150, and a deposit is collected to pay for running expenses. At the same time, it is highly desirable that the child's father be a graduate of Eton. Eton alumni include 19 British Prime Ministers, as well as Princes William and Harry.
By the way, the famous Hoggwarts school from the Harry Potter novels is an idealized, "combed" and politically correct example of a private English school.
In the Hindu states of India, the sons of rajas and nobles were brought up far from home - in ashrams. The ceremony of initiation into disciples was considered as a second birth, submission to the brahmana mentor was absolute and unquestioning (such an ashram was reliably shown in the TV series "Mahabharata" on the "Culture" channel).
In continental Europe, girls of aristocratic families were sent to a monastery for upbringing for several years, boys were given as squires, they sometimes worked on a par with servants, and no one stood on ceremony with them. Up until recently, home education has always been considered the lot of the "rabble".
Thus, as we see now, and we will be convinced in the future, they did not do anything particularly terrible and beyond the scope in Sparta: strict male upbringing, nothing more.
Now consider the now textbook, deceitful story that weak or ugly children were thrown off a cliff. Meanwhile, in Lacedaemon there was a special class - "hypomeyons", which initially included physically disabled children of citizens of Sparta. They did not have the right to participate in the affairs of the state, but freely owned the property they were entitled to by law, and were engaged in economic affairs. The Spartan king Agesilaus limped from childhood, this did not prevent him not only from surviving, but also from becoming one of the most outstanding commanders of Antiquity.
By the way, archaeologists have found a gorge into which the Spartans allegedly threw handicapped children. And in it, indeed, the remains of people dating back to the 6th-5th centuries were found. BC NS. - but not children, but 46 adult men aged 18 to 35 years. Probably, this ritual was carried out in Sparta only against state criminals or traitors. And this was an exceptional punishment. For less serious offenses, foreigners were usually expelled from the country, Spartiats were deprived of their citizenship rights. For insignificant and not representing a great public danger, offenses were imposed "punishment by shame": the guilty one walked around the altar and sang a specially composed song that dishonored him.
Another example of "black PR" is the story of the "preventive" weekly flogging that all boys were allegedly subjected to. In fact, in Sparta, a competition was held among boys once a year near the temple of Artemis Ortia, which was called "diamastigosis". The winner was the one who silently withstood the greater number of blows from the whip.
Another historical myth: tales that Spartan boys were forced to earn their food by stealing - supposedly to acquire military skills. It is very interesting: what kind of military skills useful to the Spartiats could be acquired in this way? The main force of the Spartan army has always been heavily armed warriors - hoplites (from the words hoplon - a large shield).
Spartan hoplites
The children of the citizens of Sparta were not prepared for secret forays into the enemy camp in the style of Japanese ninja, but for an open battle as part of a phalanx. In Sparta, the mentors did not even teach the boys how to fight - "so that they should be proud not of art, but of valor." When asked if he had seen good people anywhere, Diogenes replied: "Good people - nowhere, good children - in Sparta." In Sparta, according to foreigners, it was only beneficial to grow old. In Sparta, the one who first gave him and made him a loafer was considered guilty of the shame of a beggar begging for alms. In Sparta, women had rights and freedom, unheard of and unheard of in the ancient world. In Sparta, prostitution was condemned and Aphrodite was contemptuously called Peribaso ("walking") and Trimalitis ("pierced through"). Plutarch tells a parable about Sparta:
"They often recall, for example, the answer of the Spartan Gerad, who lived in very ancient times, to one stranger. He asked what punishment they have for adulterers." Stranger, we have no adulterers, "objected Gerad." And if they do show up? "- the interlocutor did not concede." The guilty will give in compensation a bull of such a size that, stretching his neck out of Taygetus, he will get drunk in Evrota. "The stranger was surprised and said:" Where would such a bull come from? " an adulterer? "- Gerad responded, laughing."
Of course, extramarital affairs were also in Sparta. But this story testifies to the existence of a social imperative that did not approve and condemn such connections.
And this Sparta raised her children as thieves? Or are they tales about some other, mythical city, invented by the enemies of real Sparta? And, in general, is it possible to grow up from children screwed up to a pulp and intimidated by all sorts of prohibitions, self-confident citizens who love their homeland? Could those who are forced to steal a piece of bread, the eternally hungry scum become fearsome healthy and strong hoplites?
Spartan hoplite
If this story has some kind of historical basis, then it can only relate to the children of the Perieks, for whom such skills could really come in handy while serving in auxiliary units performing intelligence functions. And even among the perieks, this was not supposed to be a system, but a ritual, a kind of initiation, after which the children moved to a higher level of education.
Now we will talk a little about homosexuality and pederastic pedophilia in Sparta and Hellas.
The Ancient Customs of the Spartans (attributed to Plutarch) says:
"Among the Spartans, it was allowed to fall in love with honest-hearted boys, but it was considered a shame to enter into a relationship with them, for such a passion would be bodily, not spiritual. A person accused of a shameful relationship with a boy was deprived of his civil rights for life."
Other ancient authors (in particular, Elian) also testify that in the Spartan Agels, in contrast to the British private schools, there was no real pederasty. Cicero, based on Greek sources, wrote later that hugs and kisses were allowed between the "inspirer" and "listener" in Sparta, they were even allowed to sleep in the same bed, but in this case a cloak should be put between them.
According to the information given in the book "Sexual Life in Ancient Greece" Licht Hans, the most that a decent man could afford in relation to a boy or a young man is to place a penis between his thighs, and nothing else.
Here, Plutarch, for example, writes about the future king Agesilaus that "Lysander was his beloved." What qualities attracted Lysander to the lame Agesilae?
"Who captivated, first of all, by his natural restraint and modesty, for, shining among young men with ardent zeal, the desire to be the first in everything … Agesilaus was distinguished by such obedience and meekness that he carried out all orders not for fear, but for conscience."
The famous commander unmistakably found and singled out among other teenagers the future great king and famous commander. And we are talking about mentoring, and not about banal sexual intercourse.
In other Greek policies, such very controversial relationships between men and boys were looked at differently. In Ionia, it was believed that pederasty dishonored the boy and deprived him of his masculinity. In Boeotia, on the other hand, the "relationship" of a young man with an adult man was considered almost normal. In Elis, teenagers entered into such a relationship for gifts and money. On the island of Crete, there was a custom of "kidnapping" of a teenager by an adult man. In Athens, where licentiousness was perhaps the highest in Hellas, pederasty was allowed, but only between adult men. At the same time, homosexual relationships were considered almost everywhere to dishonor the passive partner. Thus, Aristotle claims that "against Periander, the tyrant in Ambrakia, a conspiracy was drawn up because he, during a feast with his lover, asked him if he had already become pregnant with him."
The Romans, by the way, went even further in this regard: a passive homosexual (kined, paticus, konkubbin) was equated in status with gladiators, actors and prostitutes, had no right to vote in elections and could not defend himself in court. Homosexual rape in all states of Greece and in Rome was considered a serious crime.
But back to Sparta during the times of Lycurgus. When the first children brought up according to his precepts became adults, the aged legislator again went to Delphi. Leaving, he took an oath from his fellow citizens that until his return, his laws would not be amended. At Delphi, he refused to eat and died of hunger. Fearing that his remains would be transferred to Sparta, and the citizens would consider themselves free from the oath, before his death he ordered to burn his corpse and throw the ashes into the sea.
The historian Xenophon (IV century BC) wrote about the legacy of Lycurgus and the state structure of Sparta:
"The most surprising thing is that although everyone praises such institutions, no state wants to imitate them."
Socrates and Plato believed that it was Sparta who showed the world "the ideal of the Greek civilization of virtue." Plato saw in Sparta the desired balance of aristocracy and democracy: the full implementation of each of these principles of the organization of the state, according to the philosopher, inevitably leads to degeneration and death. His student Aristotle considered the all-encompassing power of the eporata to be a sign of a tyrannical state, but the election of the ephors was a sign of a democratic state. As a result, he came to the conclusion that Sparta should be recognized as an aristocratic state, and not a tyranny.
The Roman Polybius compared the Spartan kings with consuls, Gerousia with the Senate, and the Ephors with the tribunes.
Much later, Rousseau wrote that Sparta was not a republic of people, but of demigods.
Many historians believe that modern concepts of military honor came to the European armies from Sparta.
Sparta retained its unique state structure for a very long time, but this could not last forever. Sparta was ruined, on the one hand, by the desire not to change anything in the state in a constantly changing world, on the other hand, by forced half-hearted reforms that only worsened the situation.
As we remember, Lycurgus divided the land of Lacedaemon into 9000 parts. Subsequently, these areas began to rapidly disintegrate, since after the death of their father they were divided between his sons. And, at some point, it suddenly turned out that some of the Spartiats did not even have enough income from the inherited land to pay for the mandatory contribution to the system. And a full-fledged law-abiding citizen automatically passed into the category of hypomeyons ("junior" or even, in another translation, "descended"): he no longer had the right to participate in popular assemblies and hold any public office.
The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), in which the Peloponnesian Union led by Sparta defeated Athens and the Delian Union, enriched Lacedaemon indescribably. But this victory, paradoxically, only worsened the situation in the country of the victors. Sparta had so much gold that the Ephors lifted the ban on the possession of silver and gold coins, but citizens could use them only outside Lacedaemon. The Spartans began to keep their savings in allied cities or in temples. And many wealthy young Spartans now preferred to "enjoy life" outside Lacedaemon.
Around 400 BC NS. in Lacedaemon, the sale of hereditary land was allowed, which instantly fell into the hands of the richest and most influential Spartans. As a result, according to Plutarch, the number of full-fledged citizens of Sparta (of whom there were 9000 people under Lycurgus) decreased to 700 (the main wealth was concentrated in the hands of 100 of them), the rest of the rights of citizenship were lost. And many ruined Spartiats left their homeland to serve as mercenaries in other Greek city-states and in Persia.
In both cases, the result was the same: Sparta was losing healthy strong men - both rich and poor, and became weaker.
In 398 BC, the Spartans, who lost their land, led by Kidon, tried to rebel against the new order, but were defeated.
The natural result of the all-encompassing crisis that gripped the losing vitality of Sparta was the temporary subordination of Macedonia. The Spartan troops did not participate in the famous Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), in which Philip II defeated the combined army of Athens and Thebes. But in 331 BC.the future diadochus Antipater defeated Sparta in the battle of Megaloprol - about a quarter of the full-fledged Spartans and king Agis III were killed. This defeat forever undermined the power of Sparta, putting an end to its hegemony in Hellas, and, consequently, significantly reducing the flow of money and funds from the states allied to it. The previously outlined property stratification of citizens grew rapidly, the state finally split, continuing to lose people and strength. In the IV century. BC The war against the Boeotian Union, whose commanders Epaminondas and Pelapides finally dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Spartans, turned into a catastrophe.
In the III century. BC. Hagiad kings Agis IV and Cleomenes III tried to rectify the situation. Agis IV, who ascended the throne in 245 BC, decided to give citizenship to a part of the Perieks and to worthy foreigners, ordered to burn all promissory notes and redistribute land allotments, setting an example by transferring all his lands and all property to the state. But already in 241 he was accused of striving for tyranny and sentenced to death. The Spartiats, who had lost their passionarity, remained indifferent to the execution of the reformer. Cleomenes III (became king in 235 BC) went even further: he killed 4 ephors who interfered with him, disbanded the Council of Elders, abolished debts, freed 6,000 helots for ransom and gave citizenship rights to 4 thousand perieks. He redistributed the land again, expelling 80 of the richest landowners from Sparta and creating 4,000 new allotments. He managed to subjugate the eastern part of the Peloponnese to Sparta, but in 222 BC. his army was defeated by the united army of the new coalition of the cities of the Achaean Union and their Macedonian allies. Laconia was occupied, reforms were canceled. Cleomenes was forced to go into exile in Alexandria, where he died. The last attempt to revive Sparta was made by Nabis (ruled 207-192 BC). He declared himself a descendant of King Demarat from the Euripontid family, but many contemporaries and later historians considered him a tyrant - that is, a person who had no right to the royal throne. Nabis destroyed the relatives of the Spartan kings of both dynasties, expelled the rich and requisitioned their property. But he also freed many slaves without any conditions and gave shelter to all who fled to him from other policies of Greece. As a result, Sparta lost its elite, the state was ruled by Nabis and his henchmen. He managed to capture Argos, but in 195 BC. the allied Greco-Roman army defeated the army of Sparta, which now lost not only Argos, but also its main seaport - Gytos. In 192 BC. Nabis died, after which the royal power in Sparta was finally abolished, and Lacedaemon was forced to join the Achaean Union. In 147 BC, at the request of Rome, Sparta, Corinth, Argos, Heraclea and Orchomenes were withdrawn from the union. And the next year, the Roman province of Achaia was founded throughout Greece.
The Spartan army and the military history of Sparta will be discussed in more detail in the next article.
