The semester is over and i now know the Spartan ways. For my final, I had to write the history of Sparta in two hours time but also we had to write an answer to our own made up question at the end as well. The question i picked was why the Spartans are so famous. It was fairly an easy question to answer, mainly because i wanted to get more of the history part (the bulk) of the exam as I could.
From today’s standards the Spartans were a savage and horrific people. Pagan as we would say today. Possibly they were the most barbaric of pagans (still speaking in today’s vernacular terms) They had their own systematic approach of eugenics, throwing any newborn off a cliff that didn’t appear to be suitable to a local committee’s standards. Their social construct consisted of an entire slave population which had to be in check daily for fear of total annihilation, always declaring war upon the slaves in order to murder those who got out of place. All were forced to be equal in a somewhat communistic society, where you could only use a broad axe to make your house (in order to displace any sign of luxury in the craftsmanship from finer tools. The family was deemed almost non-existent, only allowing the men to sleep occasionally at their own house with their wife. (No wonder they had population problems!) Also their agoge – the training system to make the boys into a fierce warrior by the age of 20 – had very crude elements and wretched punishment.
It’s really a quagmire why they have been stuff of legends since their glory days and revered by many including our founding fathers and other governments. But what guy wouldn’t admire or be interested in a warrior class people who perfected the art of war, drank black broth, wore manly armor, sword and shield and trained to be as stealthy as possible but also to have guts of a lion in battle. One of the most epic, heroic and courage laden battles in all of history was fought by them - Thermopylae.
So why not name your school after them or any valued entity? Most men look up to strength and might, but also an ideal of daunted sacrifice for the ideas and the way of life that they hold. They fought tooth and nail for them. They were extremely pious people, missing a few battles (such as Marathon, most of the Spartans didn’t show up at Thermopaylae because of a festival) because they wanted to please their gods in the appointed festivals instead.
It was a dance with sacrifice and extreme action. Knowing when to be still but also when to unleash.
