SPARTA
The agōgē (Greek:
ἀγωγή in Attic
Greek,
or ἀγωγά, agōgá in Doric
Greek)
was the rigorous education and training regimen mandated for all
male Spartan citizens,
except for the firstborn son in the ruling
houses, Eurypontid and Agiad.
The training involved learning stealth, cultivating loyalty to the
Spartan group, military training (e.g., pain tolerance), hunting,
dancing, singing and social(communicating) preparation.The word
"agoge" had many meanings in ancient
Greek,
among them seizure or abduction, but in this context generally meant
leading, guidance or training.
According
to folklore, agoge was introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan
law-giverLycurgus but
its origins are thought to be between the 7th and 6th centuries BZ
when the state trained male citizens from the ages of seven to
twenty-one.
The
aim of the system was to produce physically and morally strong males
to serve in 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.The men would become the "walls
of Sparta" because Sparta was the only Greek city
with no defensive walls after they had been demolished at the order
of Lycurgus.
Discipline was strict and the males were encouraged to fight amongst
themselves to determine the strongest member of the group.
The
agoge was prestigious throughout the Greek world, and many
aristocratic families from other cities vied to send their sons to
Sparta to participate in the agoge for varying periods of time. The
Spartans were very selective in which young men they would permit to
enroll. Such honors were usually awarded to the próxenoiof
Sparta in other cities and to a few other families of supreme
ancestry and importance.
Structure
When
a baby boy was born, it was washed with wine as Spartans thought this
would have made them strong; then it was required that he be checked
by theGerousia (a
council of leading elder Spartans) from his tribe to see if he was
fit and healthy enough to be allowed to live. In the event that the
baby did not pass the test, he was left at a place called the
apothetai near Mt.
Taygetus to
die of exposure. At the age of seven, he was enrolled in the agoge
under the authority of the paidonómos (παιδονόμος),
or "boy-herder", a magistrate charged
with supervising education. This began the first of the three stages
of the agoge:
thepaídes (roughly
speaking, ages 7–17), the paidískoi (ages
17–19), and thehēbōntes (20-29);
some classical sources indicate that there were further subdivisions
by year within these classes.[1]
The
boys lived in groups (agélai,
"herds") under an older leader. 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.
They also created beds out of reeds pulled by hand, with no knife,
from the Eurotas
River.
Boys were intentionally underfed to encourage them to master the
skills necessary to become successful at stealing their food. This
was also meant to produce tall well-built soldiers rather than fat
short ones. This let the boys become accustomed to hunger so that
during a campaign hunger would not be a problem. They would be
severely punished, however, if they were caught stealing. Only
the heirs
apparent of
the two Spartan royal households (the Agiads and Eurypontids)
were exempt from the process.
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 wherein
somewhat older warriors would engage promising youths in a
long-lasting relationship with a pedagogic motive. The boy was
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. Also, a group of promising young were allowed to become
part of the Crypteia,
a type of 'Secret Police', where the young members were instructed to
spy on the helot population
and even kill the helots who were out at night, work regarded to help
keep the population submissive. The state supported this by formally
declaring war on the helots every autumn, so that killing a member of
the population was not regarded as a crime, but in fact as valuable
deeds for the good of the state.
At
the stage of hēbōntes,
roughly age 20, the students became fully part of the syssitia and
Spartan army although they continued to live in barracks and
continued to compete for a place among the Spartan hippeis the
royal guard of honor.[1] At
the age of 20 they were voted into one of the public messes. The
voting was done by their peers who were already in the mess; if all
members of the mess did not vote in this person, they could not join
that mess. They could then try for a different mess, usually one that
was worse. They had ten years to be accepted into a mess, if they
failed, they would not gain Spartan citizenship and be an inferior.
When they turned 30, or at their peak age, they were finally
permitted to marry and to become full citizens of Sparta who could
vote and hold office.
Education
in the agoge served as a great equalizer in Sparta. Men were meant to
compete in athletics and in battle. Helots and common men likely only
developed their reading and writing skills as was necessary to make
votive offerings and read important inscriptions. On the other hand
Spartans who became kings, diplomats or generals would also improve
their rhetoric, reading and writing skills as they were necessary
abilities to have 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, there is reference
made in Plutarch's "Sayings of Spartan Women" to
correspondence kept between mother and sons on campaign, which would
suggest some degree of literacy.
Education of girls
Girls
also had a form of state education involving dance, gymnastics and
other sports; together with other subjects such as music, dance,
poetry, including writing and war education. Traits such as grace and
culture were frowned upon in favor of physical tempering and moral
rectitude. The girls were also encouraged to help the males by
humiliating them in public and criticizing their exercising. Just as
Spartan males were raised to become warriors, so the females of
Sparta were trained for their primary task: giving birth to warriors.
Encouraged to be strong and healthy, girls participated in athletic
competitions, running footraces in off-the-shoulder chitons.
Unquestioning in the performance of their duty, Spartan mothers did
not give in to sentiment even when faced with a child's death. "I
bore him so that he might die for Sparta," one woman said of her
son, "and that is what has happened, as I wished."
Spartan
women wore the old-fashioned peplos (πέπλος),
open at the side, leading to banter at their expense among the other
Greeks who dubbed them phainomērídes (φαινομηρίδες)
the "thigh-showers." At religious ceremonies, on holidays
and during physical exercise girls and women were nude as in
bed.[citation
needed]
Rise and fall
Any
male who did not successfully pass through the agoge would be denied
Spartan citizenship. At various times this selection process came to
be seen as detrimental to Spartan society particularly when the
number of free male Spartan citizens dwindled. 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. The agoge was
reinstated in the year 146 BC after the Roman defeat of the Achaeans
in the Achaean
War.
Roman agoge
The
Roman agoge was
limited to males between the ages of 14 to 19 and was
essentially ephebic in
nature and organized by phyles(citizen
tribes). The instruction consisted of athletics, singing, dancing,
military and probably some academic training. The students were
supervised by officials called bideioi[citation
needed] ("overseers")
and a patronomos ("guardian
of law"). 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 some poor students who could not afford
the training.
Activity
Spartan education compare with today?
which you prefer?
that exchange?
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