Sparta's Life In The Spartan Army

Sparta had easily the strongest militaries of its time. Its culture and government were surrounded on the military lifestyle. Everything they did as a culture was living, breathing the intense military way of life. Every Spartan was a trained killer from the ground up. That’s how they were raised, that’s how they were born, and that’s how they were trained. After becoming a man every Spartan was basically sent to war and fought practically for the entirety of his life. From age twenty all the way up until he turned sixty years old he spent his life in the Spartan Army. From childbirth each new born baby was inspected. They underwent an extreme examination under the eyes of an elder and was decided whether they were fit to fight, fit to survive, …show more content…
It also encouraged them all to hunt, forge, or steal to feed themselves. These boys were not punished for stealing but being caught in the act will get them servilely punished. A majority of the discipline and punishment was sought out and executed by older boys. The boys were taught by an instructor called a Paidonomos, he taught these boys about basic literacy and physical education. At age twelve the boys were put into a rite of passage. A challenge to steal food from a group of older boys armed with whips. The younger boys would have to face their fear of being whipped in order to get the food and accomplish their rite of passage. Romans would travel to Sparta just to see such an event. Once the challenge was faced and accomplished the child would be given one article of clothing to live with for an entire year called a Phoinikos which is a thin piece of blood red cloth that didn’t provide much warmth for the cold winters. They were given no shoes in order to toughen up their feet to walk barefoot and bare the pain of walking without any protection. They were forced to sleep outside and form a bed out of reeds in order to prepare them for a life in the field. And around the same time they were to select an older boy that they previously just got whipped by to complete his education as a warrior. This older boy served as a teacher, a mentor, a trainer, a comrade, and a lover. This older boy also introduces his mentee to his warrior society in which he will eat, sleep, practice, and fight