Spartan boys, the age of 7, were sent to an Agoge to be trained into warriors for the Spartan army, but they had to go through a lot of skill training before getting to the army. For instance, once a child was born, a council of inspectors took it to examine its potential for the army (Andrews). If the child was a girl, physically unfit, or had any birth defects the child’s father had the choice to keep it or send it away into the mountains to die (Andrews). Once the child had “the stamp of approval” they were given back to the parents for them to raise the child. While with the child, the parents did certain things to raise the child’s endurance, like ignoring them when they cried (Andrews). At the age of 7 the boys were taken from their families to begin training at the Agoge (Spartan Education). The Agoge was a state-sponsored training regimen designed to mold the boys into skilled warriors and moral citizens (Andrews). The young boys were only allowed very few clothes and absolutely no shoes (Spartan Education). The Spartan concept of a soldier was to learn stealth and cunning (Spartan Education). At the age of 12 they were allowed only a red cloak as clothes and forced to sleep outside and when they turned 18 they were sent into the world to steal food, if they were caught they would get punished when they returned (Andrews and Spartan Education).
