What Life Was Really Like for the Average Spartan

Being a Spartan was no picnic. If you were a boy, your life was constantly under scrutiny, literally from the day you were born until the day you died. You were seen as a high-level war machine, a workhorse. And the only reason why you were alive was to fight for your country. When you weren't fighting for your country, you were training to fight for your country. In short, you were bred for battle. Today, we're going to find out what life was really like for the average Spartan. But there's one quick thing before we do. This is a good time to subscribe to our channel, Weird History. Or just leave a comment and tell us what weird historical society you'd like us to dissect next. This is Sparta. Boys birthed into the Spartan state were under scrutiny practically from the moment they were born. Not long after a woman gave birth to a boy, the infant was taken to a gerousia, a council of leading elder Spartans, where it was inspected like livestock. During this inspection, if the baby boy seemed sick, ill, or mentally or physically handicapped, the newborn was of no use to the Spartan army. While you've probably heard the myths that these discarded babies were thrown into the chasm or placed at the base of Mount Taketus, they were most likely abandoned in the wilderness or nearby hills. Sometimes, these cast-off newborns were found by locals and quietly taken in. But more often than not, they succumbed to exposure. The boys that passed the gerousia test were determined to be healthy and were returned to their families where they were groomed for toughness. These baby boys weren't bathed in water. They were bathed in tubs of wine. It was thought the wine would toughen them up. The belief was that the weaker children would have convulsions and die. These babies were also conditioned to not fear darkness or solitude. And when they cried or complained, their parents and caretakers ignored them. And all this lasted until they were seven years old. Life was pretty rough for a Spartan boy the first six years of their lives. But it was the best years of their lives compared to how they were treated by the state, which owned them once they turned seven years old. This was the age where the real military training began. At seven, the male child was enrolled in the agoge under the authority of the peitnomus, a Spartan term which translates to a boy herder. This boy herder was a magistrate charged with supervising the education of these young Spartan warriors. The agoge was split into three divisions, the peis, which were made up of boys aged 7 to 17, the peitskois, age 17 to 19, and the heiboi, age 20 to 29. Some sources indicate that there were subdivisions by year, even within these classes. In the early peit stage, Spartan boys undergo an intense training regimen. Through this 10-year course, they were forged into fearless warriors, schooled in survival tactics like hand-to-hand combat, war strategizing, and hunting. Female Spartans weren't subjected to quite the same program. But they were trained in dance, gymnastics, and javelin throwing, so they would be strong, healthy mothers. After all, Spartan women were in charge of giving birth to the healthiest future warriors possible. No pressure, no pressure, no pressure. Since we're speaking about Spartan women, it should be known that they were famous in ancient Greece for having more freedom than any other women in the Greek world. To those outside of Sparta, Spartan women had the reputation for promiscuity and controlling their husbands. They were their own persons, with very little rule over them. Spartan women were even able to legally own and inherit property. They were usually better educated, too. And while it's confirmed that Spartans practiced infanticide if newborns were thought to be unhealthy, it's unclear whether this applied to girls as well as boys, although testimony from Plutarch implies it did not. But instead of being turned over to the state for military training like the boys, it's likely that girls were simply given back to their mothers immediately after birth. It was there that these young girls were raised with a healthy regimen of exercise, with a nutritious diet in order to become physically fit women so they could give birth to healthy babies. As for the aforementioned healthy regimen of exercise, Spartan girls were trained to make themselves as strong as the boys who were getting in shape for war themselves, although the young girls stopped short of combat training. Instead, the physical training for Spartan girls consisted of learning how to properly ride a horse, running, wrestling, throwing the discus and javelin, and trials of strength. When you think about it, it makes sense. The Spartan soldiers abstained from heavy drinking because getting loaded would ruin their sole purpose in life, which was to serve the Spartan army. A wasted soldier was a useless soldier. So Spartan children were taught at an early age that heavy drinking was for slaves only. Every now and then, Spartan soldiers would force their slaves to get drunk to the point of belligerence. Once thoroughly blotto, the soldiers would parade the drunk slaves in front of the local children to let them see how ridiculous they looked. Drinking was a sign of weakness. Of course, soldiers were allowed a glass of wine with a meal. But it took discipline to keep up with the Spartan army, so the heavy drinkers probably didn't survive past their first few battles. Being a Spartan at seven years old meant that you were scrutinized all the time. In regards to clothing, each future soldier was given one garment a year to wear, a red cloak. This was, in part, a way to prevent the children from gaining too much weight. If you got fat and couldn't figure out how to clothe yourself with what you were given, then the only way to fit in their garment was to exercise and eat less. And these boys didn't even get footwear until they graduated into official military service. The children were forced to walk barefoot, even through the snow. The idea was to harden the bottom of their feet so calluses would form so they can march for miles under any condition. The mess halls also underserved portions to the boys, which were slightly less than filling to promote athletic figures, which always kept them slightly hungry. Plus, if you were fat, then you became a pariah and ran the risk of being banished. While life was fairly rigid for young Spartans, they were allowed to marry. They actually got married all the time, as that was how they kept the birth rate at a constant so that the army always had a steady flow of young boys to train for war. However, because men were devoted to the state and their military service, they were forced to live in barracks. Once you turned 30, you were allowed to live elsewhere. But men who got married earlier were forced to sneak out at night in order to be with their loved ones. Of course, if the boys were caught sneaking away from their barracks, they were beaten as punishment, not because they snuck away, but because they got caught. Keep in mind, any punishment doled out to these young men never served as a deterrent to the crime. The beating was always given because the men were sloppy enough to get caught. The Spartans were an odd bunch. Unlike their state counterparts in Athens, the people of Sparta weren't concerned with philosophies, the pursuits of arts, or anything other than becoming the greatest warrior possible. That said, the Spartans did educate their population. Of course, that education mostly centered on learning war strategies, physical training, and strengthening their mental warfare. Young Spartan girls were not exempt from this kind of war training, even if they didn't have to serve military time the way their male counterparts did. It wasn't uncommon for Spartan boys to be routinely and randomly beaten or hazed. It was done to keep them on their toes and to ensure they grew up tough and on edge. Military leaders would even create tension amongst the boys by initiating fights between them. It was a way to root out the weakest boys and find out who were the strongest. Once a Spartan child showed themselves as weak, they were treated with disdain and violence. Spartan boys were also intentionally underfed to encourage them to steal food for themselves. If they were caught, they were severely punished, not for stealing, but for not being smart enough to get away with the theft. This underfeeding tactic was also meant to produce tough, grizzled soldiers rather than soft, fat ones. Scarce rations also let the boys get used to hunger, and this prevented those hunger pains from being a problem during battle later in life. Ancient Sparta wasn't a stranger to social inequality. There were definitely classes. And while the driving force of a Spartan was to serve the military, there was a class system that kept society chugging along. The three main classes were made up of the Spartiate at the top of society, followed by the Pyrosi, and at the bottom, the Helots. The Spartiate were native Spartans who served in the army and had full political and legal rights. This class could trace their ancestry back to the original or first inhabitants of the city. They also enjoyed all of the political and legal rights of the state. They were also the only ones who could participate in politics. They served in the military, led the military, and ran Sparta. Basically, the Spartiate ran the show. Next on the social food chain were the Pyrosi, who were often foreigners. They were the traders and blacksmiths who produced weapons and armor for the military. The blue-collar Johnny Lunchboxes of Sparta. They were taxpayers. They had rights. And they could own land. They even had the right to learn how to read and write. The Pyrosi served in the military, too, just as everyone else. The Pyrosi weren't warriors, though. They were in charge of the trade and communication with Sparta's neighbors. To be honest, life wasn't all that bad for members of the Pyrosi. Of course, the lowest class of the three were the Helots, who acted as servants and farmers doing menial tasks. And make no mistake, the Spartans hated the Helots. The Helots came from what the Spartans called Helos. Helos was south of Sparta. But due to Sparta's booming population, Sparta expanded its territory when they came to the village of Helos. The Spartans then invaded this village, decimating the people and keeping many as prisoners. Eventually, the Helots became Sparta's slaves, though they could earn their freedom by joining the military. Not that it mattered. Even if a Helot earned his freedom, they were still treated like animals. As a matter of fact, it was legal every now and then in Sparta to kill any Helot, even if they were free. It was almost like the movie The Purge, where the government picks one day for its citizens to go ham on each other. No Helot was ever safe. Thanks to having a servant class in the Helots, Spartan women were free from most domestic duties. If they weren't mothers, women kept themselves occupied with pastimes like competitions that judged them on their singing, dancing, throwing, wrestling, and other various sports. According to Spartan artwork and drawings, the girls competed in these activities nude. It's believed that Spartan girls also competed in Gymnopedia, a yearly festival during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of war dancing. The event was introduced in 668 BC, concurrently with the introduction of the aforementioned naked activities. Naturally, a lot of these competitive activities and sports were organized to attract Spartan men. But the feats were also designed to prepare them for motherhood. So what do you think? Would you be able to live the life of a Spartan? Let us know in our comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from our Weird History.