Agoge
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The agoge was a rigorous education and training regime undergone by all Spartan citizens (with the exception of future kings[1]). It involved separation from the family, cultivation of loyalty to one's group, loving mentorship, military training, hunting, dance and social preparation.
The term agoge (ἀγωγή) literally translates as 'raising'. Supposedly introduced by the semi-mythical Spartan law-giver Lycurgus but thought to have had its beginnings between the seventh and the sixth centuries BC,[2][3] it trained boys from the age of seven to eighteen.
The aim of the system was to produce the physically and morally steeled males to serve in the Spartan army, men who would be the "walls of Sparta," the only city with no defensive walls – they had been taken down at the order of Lycurgus. Discipline was strict and the boys were encouraged to fight amongst themselves in order to determine who was the strongest in the group.
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[edit] Structure
When a boy completed his seventh year (on his seventh birthday) he was placed under the authority of the paidonómos (παιδονόμος), a magistrate charged with the supervision of education.
| from 8 to 11 years, little boy | ῥωϐίδας / rōbídas (meaning unknown) |
| προμικκιζόμενος / promikkizómenos (pre young boy) | |
| μικκι(χι)ζόμενος / mikki(khi)zómenos (young boy) | |
| πρόπαις / própais (pre-boy) | |
| from 12 to 15 years, boy | πρατοπάμπαις / pratopámpaïs (1st year boy) |
| ἁτροπάμπαις / atropámpaïs (2nd year boy) | |
| μελλείρην / melleírên (future irén) | |
| μελλείρην}} / melleírên (idem, 2nd year) | |
| from 16 to 20 years, irén | εἰρήν / eirên 1st year, or σιδεύνας sideúnas (unknown) |
| 2nd year εἰρήν | |
| 3rd year εἰρήν | |
| 4th year εἰρήν | |
| πρωτεῖρας / prōteĩras chief-irén |
Boys were sent from the family home and from then on lived in groups (agelae, herds) under an older boy leader. They were encouraged to give their loyalty to their communal mess hall rather than their families, even when married they would not eat an evening meal with their wives until at least 25. The boys however were not well fed and it was expected that they would steal their food. If caught stealing however, they would be severely punished (not for stealing, but instead for getting caught). All Spartan males with the exception of the eldest son of each of the Spartan royal households (Agiad and Eurypontid) were required to go through this process (they were permitted not to attend as it was believed they were part god).
A form of institutionalised pederasty, claimed by some ancient historians to have been of a chaste nature, was practiced whereby older warriors would engage a youth in a long-lasting love relationship with a pedagogic purpose. The boy was expected to request the relationship, which was considered important in passing on knowledge and in maintaining loyalty on the battlefield – when sacrificing to a god before battle, the Spartans sacrificed to the god of love, Eros.
At the age of 18[citation needed] after the agoge the most promising young Spartans were taken into the Crypteia, an organization that tested their skills and enforced the obedience of the Helot slave population by encouraging the Spartans to seek and murder Messenian slaves who were about at nighttime.
Any male who did not successfully pass through the Agoge would be denied Spartan citizenship. Eventually the selection process became detrimental to Spartan society and the population declined to just a few hundred adult male citizens by 4 AD[citation needed].
[edit] Education of girls
Girls also had a form of state education involving dance, gymnastics and other sport, together with other subjects. The aim here was similar to that of the agoge in that it aimed to make Spartan women the most physically attractive in the whole of Greece[citation needed], and to enable them to bear healthy and vigorous children. Feminine traits such as grace and culture were frowned upon, in favor of physical tempering and moral rectitude. Like the boys, a girl's education has been conjectured to include a sexual relationship with an older woman[citation needed].
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 phainomerides, (φαινομηρίδες), "thigh-showers." At religious ceremonies, on holidays and during physical exercise girls and women were nude, even with the boys and men.
[edit] Modern influence
The agoge was the inspiration behind the Nazi 'Hitler Youth movement' which was very popular in 1930's Germany and taught similar values of duty to the state and not the individual, and the superiority of the home nation.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
Paul Cartledge, The Spartans; Pan Books, (2002)
