From birth, Spartan boys were prepared both physically and mentally for their later
From birth, Spartan boys were prepared both physically and mentally for their later, inevitable combat service. Most boys lived with their families until age seven, after which time they were delivered to the agoge, part military academy, part boot camp, to be trained as soldiers. Family ties loosened, and young recruits effectively belonged to the state. The first-century Roman historian Plutarch details the regime to which young Spartans were subjected, ‘their training was calculated to make them obey commands well, endure hardships, and conquer in battle ... When they were 12 years old, they no longer had tunics to wear, received one cloak a year, had hard flesh, and knew little of baths. They slept together ... on pallet-beds which they collected for themselves, breaking off with their hands—no knives allowed—the tops of the rushes which grew along the river Eurotas.’ After that the men would enter into the army at 21 and any man between 21 and 60 could be called upon to defend spa...