When you think of the Spartans, what is the first thing that you think about? Well most people think about how they centered their life's around warfare and conquest of other territories. The Spartans even had a so called military training and solicitation program known as the Agoge. Which was used to emphasize duty, disciple and perseverance to the young Spartan boys. Even though the women of Sparta could not participate in the military, doesn’t mean they wasn’t important. They were educated and were more privileged than most Greek women of that time (“Sparta”) This shows the importance and role of all men, women and children, and the kind of lifestyles they possessed.
The lifestyle and in some occasions their occupations were chosen from the time they were born. For example, when a Spartan women gave birth to a boy, soldiers went to the place where the baby was born and examined it to determine the strength of the child. Uniquely then the baby is placed into a bath, but not a bathed in water, but wine to see its reaction (“Spartans”). If the baby squirmed and cried a lot then it would be taken away from the parents to become a helot, or a slave. If the child took the bath well, then it would one day become a soldier in the Spartan army (“Spartans”). The Spartans were particularly picky about their children, so much that infanticide was a major problem (“Spartans”). Children had a hard role to fill in Spartans society, because not only was the fate of the child determined by the family but also by the city-state in which the child lived. So if you were not as strong or as intelligent as others you were looked down upon (“Spartans”). The boys that were strong and intelligent though, were taking from their family at age 7 and housed in dormitories with other boys their age to be trained to be a soldier. The boys were disciplined very harshly and deprived of necessities to make them stronger. For example, they would walk a long period of time in rough terrain with no shoes and went without food (“Spartans”). They were taught how to defend themselves, endure pain and survive through the intelligence gained from their teachers. The older boys would willingly beat the younger boys to toughen them up. The boys governed their lives around loyalty to the city-state they lived in, the warriors code, simplicity, and humbleness (“Spartans”). At the age of 20, the boys were required to pass a test to become a full citizen of Sparta. The ones who failed, never became citizens but became perioeci, or the middle class. As for the ones who passed the test, they continued to train as soldiers but were required to find a wife and produce more Spartan children (“Spartans”). As for the girls, they weren’t allowed to participate in military practices. They were taken from their homes at age 7, just like the boys, but they were sent off to school. While there they learned wrestling, gymnastics, how to fight, and other physical training. Young women were also...
