Imagine being taken away from your family at the age of seven and was forced to fight someone that was older than you and was trained and skilled in fighting, and they didn’t go easy. That would not be fun. The Spartans were known for their army but the army wasn’t very big. It wasn’t very big because they were very cruel during their training and some people died from it. They also didn’t have a good mental education system. Some things that they did for fun was senseless murdering. With this evidence of senseless murder, lack of mental education,and their cruelness, I think that the weaknesses beat the strengths. I know that senseless murder was a weakness. One part of it was the krypteria (Doc C), the krypteria was a place that soldiers
Though it may seem that the debate over the death penalty only most recently surfaced, the dreadful tradition of capital punishment arrived in the United States at the time of the colonists. In the 17th century, most people were hung, beheaded, burned alive, or crushed under stones. All of these were in public, where a large crowd gathered to watch the horrible sight, similar to the tradition in old Europe. Eventually, the 19th century favored hanging as the most common form of execution. This marked the start of a more humane approach accepted as constitutional as executions moved away from the public eye. More developments came in the 1800’s as a movement to abolish capital punishment arose. This effort was stalled for a time during the Civil
Although, Sparta had weaknesses they did have the strongest military of their time. The Spartan army perfected a battle formation called the phalanx that is still talked about today. Sparta’s weaknesses still outweigh the strengths because of the reasons I listed above, they lacked education, they didn’t last over 300 years and they abused their
Lastly, the spartans killed innocent people. In document C it says, “By day they scattered into obscure places, where they hid themselves and kept quiet; but by night, they descended upon the highways and slaughter any helots they caught.” The spartans killed helots, or slaves, without care. Yes some helots sent threats to the spartans to rebell against them, but without finding the ones who did they miscellaneously killed innocent helots. They also killed some of the best and strongest helots. The Spartans were very cruel to the helots, and so many more
Spartans military was a hard core and well rounded out military in its time. Part of the reason why they were so successful is because of their rigorous training each boy had to go through. Why I said boy is because the Spartan military training would start at age 7 for a chosen boy. The boy gets chosen to live in spartan society at birth. If the Spartans did not believe that the boy would be rounded out for their society they would leave the boy to die. During the boys training hazing and fighting was encouraged to help improve strength among the boys. During spartan training each boy was mainly taught mathematics, music, and how to fight. Also during their training, they would learn how to steal but without getting caught. If they were caught they would not be punished for stealing but only for getting caught. This type of training continues until the boys would become men. Which is at the age of 20 for the Spartan's. At age 20 Spartan men would have to pass a series of demanding
The army was responsible for maintaining the reputation of Sparta, arguably the most important role it played. Knows as the best warriors of the Peloponnese the Spartans used their strong military tactics in order to conquer neighbouring lands in order to further expand Sparta and gain larger areas of fertile land. Sparta lead the untied Peloponnese army and was greatly feared throughout the Mediterranean due to their title as the greatest army throughout Greece. This title in itself made the thought and task of attacking or declaring war on the spartiates a feared happening, further defending them from attacks dismissed as useless and never carried out by neighbouring states. The army was the main defence of Sparta keeping the citizens safe and
Sparta’s poor education is a big weakness and reason why the civilization collapsed after 300 years. The Spartan education was very bland and their children were only taught how to read, write, and count. This affected the Spartans short and long term with many things and they really didn't discuss subjects that were government related. I say this because their only focus was on war and not education related things like science, math, and english/literature. Those aspects could have helped them in agriculture, health, and diplomacy. If Sparta had not only been able to enhance its education but have it’s citizens learn and pursue arts then they could have allied with other city-states like Corinth and Thebes. The reason why is because most of the other city-states had a relation in education and arts. That is why they were normally peaceful between each other. Who knows how the development of Sparta could have skyrocketed if they resolved conflict with Athens!
The Greeks, Trojans, and Spartans were very resourceful and strategic when in battle. The Spartans were one of the many armies in Greece, and they rose to the top through tactics and strategies. Greek tactics and strategies were very successful due to how many wars they won. However Trojans were out of the “box” thinkers, and were not always an easy fight.
Being a city-state of warriors, they killed weak babies to keep their population strong, as well as killing Greek slaves for sport. In fact, Ctesias of Cnidus reiterates how “The Persian army was massacred while only two or three Spartans were killed. Then Xerxes ordered another attack with 20,000 men who were again defeated” (Doc B). This is further evidence that the Spartans were ruthless murderers because they annihilated tens of thousands of Persian soldiers. They could have realized they had the upper hand in battle and negotiated for peace instead of steadily slaying their opponents.
In the fifth century BCE, Sparta developed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sparta was limited in size (population), but its military was famous for its toughness. Even with a small population of an army of about 8,000 men, they managed to defend Sparta from incoming attacks. Unfortunately, Spartan boys were forced to join and receive training from age 7. Like the battle of Thermopylae, Sparta was able to shield itself, but all the warriors died.
The progressing city-state of Sparta was infamous for many things. Sparta was known for its powerful army, strict guidelines, and eccentric values. Due to these unique characteristics, residents of Sparta had to keep up to continue its legacy. Being a resident of Sparta meant taking numerous risks yet for reasonable causes. These risks were taken for the progression of the city state. Risks included krypteia mindlessly killing Helots to prevent them from rebelling. Despite this lack of respect for human life, Sparta had atoned for this by providing relevant teachings for women and lessons on survival. Sparta, being a city state with a small population , was primarily focused on winning battles. Thus they perpetrated many feats that were meant to benefit this major cause. Although there was a lack of respect for human life in Sparta, the strengths of a Spartan education are clearly greater than its weaknesses because of the education provided for women and teachings on survival.
“No man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go against the enemy and fight with his hands.” The preceding was quoted from “The Spartan creed” by the poet Tyrtaeus. There are two authors in this primary resource reading which include Tyrtaeus as well as Xenophon, whom authored “The laws and customs of the Spartans”. These two works give great detail to the Spartan society. As history has presented it, Sparta was a smaller polis and yet was one of the most, if not most, influential societies in history. What we know of this culture comes to us from excavation of its
The Spartans lived and breathed war. They learned to fight when they were children, and trained hard for it when they were adults.
Men who were weak weren 't accepted into the spartan army. The point of making it through all of the sufferings was because when it came to war only the fittest would survive. In every battle, the most physically fit would see the battle on both sides of the war. Even if that person that was larger completed all the tasks that the fittest did. The reason behind this is that the larger people can 't work in the field of battle to the strategy that the either side fits. The 300 Spartans fought as a unit protecting the man on either side of you was your inspirations to be successful. Keeping that person alive was the backbone of the spartan army. Without having soldiers fit enough to take care of each other it would definitely lead to a different outcome in a battle or war.
"It seems all of Greece knows what is the right thing to do, but it is only the Spartans that do anything about it." This was a quote of an older man who was trying to find a seat in the Olympic games and only the Spartans stood up to allow him to sit down. Ancient Spartans were known as fierce warriors, and they follow this trait, with how they treated their slaves, law, and military power. The upbringing of the Spartans describes a lot of who they were, they took pride in themselves and were very patriotic to their city state. Other Greek-Cities were impressed and envied how Spartans fostered a sense of country, and a collective society, instead of being individuals. Spartans, being a Greek- City that was like no other, stated its goals clearly, its citizens were loyal, and the other Greek-Cities were amused of how much power it gave its women. Xenophon, who was an Athenian that later got exiled for favoring the Spartans, wrote The Spartan Constitution, which has explained to us the social, political, and a structured society based solely on the military. The Spartan Constitution also gives us a glimpse of the success and failures, from their way of life, unstable population, and simply just having one way of life.
The Spartans on the other hand were more concerned with being brute and strong against their enemies. A typical Spartan soldier would have to endure unbelievable pain and hardship to become a respected Spartan and citizen. Their moral standards must have influenced them to exploit their respect toward physical pain and suffering. Many historians believe Spartans were cunning, lying cheaters. There were even