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THE ANCIENT GREEK
CITY-STATE OF
SPARTA
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Remember the Dorian people who ruled ancient Greece during the Grecian Dark Ages? Sparta began as a small village of Dorian people. Life was very different in ancient Sparta than it was in the rest of ancient Greek city-states. The Spartans were proud, fierce, capable warriors. No great works of art came out of Sparta. But the Spartans, both men and women, were tough, and the Greeks admired strength. Sparta's government was an oligarchy. The people were ruled by a small group of warriors. The Spartans spoke Greek, wrote Greek, thought of themselves as Greeks, but they were different. In most of the other Greek city-states, the goal of education was to create a strong citizen of that city-state. In Sparta, the goal of education was to create a strong warrior. All of the ancient Greeks were warriors, but Sparta's warriors were legendary. In Sparta, boys were taken away from their parents at age 7. They lived a harsh and often brutal life in the soldiers barracks. Younger children were beaten by older children who started fights to help make the younger boys strong. Children were often were whipped in front of groups of other Spartans, including their parents, but they were not allowed to cry out in pain. Girls went to school too, to learn how to fight. They lived at home during training. Their training was not as harsh and the boy's, but it was harsh enough. Sparta women were warriors. Children, during their training process, were given very little food. They were encouraged to steal food, instead. If caught stealing, they were beaten. Spartan children learned to be cunning, to lie, to cheat, to steal, and how to get away with it! The Spartans did this to train more capable warriors. After all, warriors are not much good if they cannot stay alive to fight as long as possible. The training process was very tough for that reason. As adults, Spartan men did not live with their families. They visited their families, but men lived in the soldiers' barracks. As adults, Spartan women, unlike
women in the rest of Greek world, had a great deal of
freedom. Many ran businesses. Sparta women were free to move
about and visit neighbors without permission from their husbands.
How would they get permission? The men were often off
fighting.
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