The Spartan agoge was the object of great admiration in the ancient
world and has been the subject of endless debate, speculation, and
misinformation ever since. In his meticulously researched study, Gymnasium of Virtue,
Nigel Kennell demonstrates that the overwhelming bulk of information we
have today describes the agoge in the Roman period. This
agoge was a “reinvention” of the Hellenistic agoge
almost 40 years after the latter had been disbanded.
Furthermore, the Hellenistic agoge was itself a new
institution founded in the reign of Cleomenes III (235-222 BC).
Cleomenes III styled his reforms as a “restoration of the
ancient customs,” but there is very little evidence that they
were, in fact, a return to old customs. Indeed, others of his reforms,
such as the abolition of the ephorate, were clearly in contradiction to
Spartan law as it had been exercised in the archaic and classical
periods. Furthermore, as Kennell demonstrates convincingly,
Cleomenes’ agoge was consciously designed and structured by
the Stoic philosopher Sphaerus of Borysthenes.
Sphaerus had his own theories on education that he set about
implementing when given the opportunity by Cleomenes. For
example, the emphasis on endurance at the expense of aggressiveness and
initiative is clearly evidenced by the transformation in this period of
the Feast of Artemis Orthia from a lively battle between youths of
different age cohorts into a pure “whipping
contest,” in which youths passively allowed themselves to be
flogged until they collapsed.
Thus, as is so often the case, the only authentic source for the agoge
in the 5th century BC is Xenophon and, to a lesser degree, Plutarch,
because he is known to have relied on lost classical works on Sparta.
But even these sources describe the agoge roughly 100 to 130
years after the period described in this novel. There is no
source whatsoever that describes the Spartan agoge of the archaic
period. Yet it must be assumed that, like any institution,
the agoge changed over time and had distinctly different
characteristics at different periods – or even simply under
different influential headmasters.
Nevertheless, there are some features of the agoge that can be inferred
from Herodotus, Xenophon, and archaeological evidence, and that appear
to have been consistent over time. First and foremost, it is
clear that even in the archaic period, Sparta alone of all the Greek
city-states had public education for its youth, both male and
female. It appears that parents paid fees (in kind) to
support the public schools. This public education apparently
started at age 7 and ended at age 21, when a youth became a
“young man,” or Hebontes. Thus Spartan
education differed from the education of youth in other cities not only
by being public, but also by its unusual length. Second, Spartan
education, apparently alone in the ancient world, stressed austerity
and discipline over intellectual content. It appears most
likely that the youths were given uniforms and fed too little
rather than too much. The ancient sources do not, however,
support the claim put forward by so many modern commentators that the
youth of the agoge were fed so little that they had to steal to
survive, that they had only one garment in all weathers, or that they
had no kind of education beyond physical sports and drill.
Kennell’s study demonstrates convincingly that Spartan youths at one stage in their training
were expected to live outside society, and that during this period they had to
live by their wits and skills – these meant primarily hunting
and trapping, but theft was tolerated if they could get away with it.
This period was known as the “fox time,”
or Phouxir. There is no source that tells how long or at what
age this “survival training” occurred. I
have placed it at the critical transition from “little
boy” to “youth,” because anthropology
suggests that a period of exclusion from society is often an important
rite of passage to adulthood, and in primitive societies this often
occurs at 13 or 14 – that is, at the onset of puberty.
I have also assumed that the duration of the Phouxir was long enough to
represent a hardship for the boys, but not long enough for widespread
theft to be disruptive in a very ordered society. It is
simply not reasonable to imagine that every Spartan wife on her kleros
and every craftsman and merchant vital to the survival of the city had
to live in constant fear of theft by the hordes of youth in the
agoge. This is why I do not accept the interpretation of
other historians that suggest the youths of the agoge had to live
outside society for an entire year. If that were the case,
one age cohort would always be in the Phouxir, and society would be
dealing constantly with thieving youth rather than getting on with
making a living. Instead, I have chosen to limit the Phouxir
to 40 days and 40 nights, at that time of the year when the harvest
would already be safely in and the slaughter taking place, thus
minimizing the potential for desperate youth to disrupt society by
their theft.
The tradition for set classes with distinctive names dates from the
Hellenistic agoge. However, schools all over the world are
organized into “grades” by age. It is the
exception – and almost always seen as a serious
disadvantage – when children of different ages are mixed
together. There can be no doubt that although children develop at
different rates individually, on the whole the differences between
children belonging to one age cohort are less than the differences
between age cohorts. Furthermore, it is generally unfair to
pit young children against older children in sports.
Precisely because Sparta put greater emphasis on sports and
physical exercise than other Greeks, it is reasonable to suppose the
Spartans always segregated the boys of the agoge by
age-cohort – whether or not they gave them discrete
designations.
The unique status and role of eirenes is one of the few features of the
agoge that can be found in Xenophon. Unfortunately he does
not define the term, and so we cannot be sure what age his
“eirenes” were. However, we do know that
throughout the Greek world, youths on the brink of citizenship went
through intense military training and performed key military functions
such as guard and garrison duty. While in a sense the entire
agoge was a form of military training, it is nevertheless reasonable to
suppose that the eldest classes were gradually given greater and
greater responsibility. Xenophon himself stresses that at the
very age when “youths become very self-willed and are
particularly liable to cockiness,” Lycurgus decreed that
Spartan youth, “be loaded with the greatest amount of work and
contrived that they be occupied for the maximum
time.” This description fits perfectly for 18-,
19-, and 20-year-olds. I certainly cannot accept
Kennell’s argument that all young men on active service (ages
21 to 30) were “eirenes,” because once Spartan men
were on active service their duties – and the possibility of
being called up on campaign and so away from the city for months on
end—would have made it impossible for them to act as
instructors and drill masters in the agoge. Lastly, there is
no reason to believe that nothing
in the agoge of the Hellenistic period came from an earlier tradition
so I have projected the Hellenistic tradition, in which the eirenes
were 20-year-olds and meleireines 19-year-olds, backwards to the period
of this book.
The evidence for elected leaders and “herds” of
boys is also quite ancient. In addition to
Plutarch’s description of the boys being organized into
troops with elected leaders at age 7, many inscriptions at sacred
sites in Sparta suggest the importance of various kinds of groups,
possibly teams, and their leaders. The terms used mean
nothing to us today, and it seems most probable that there were a
variety of different teams or groups that might well have intersected
in various ways. Given the confusion, I have chosen to keep
it simple, in this case following Plutarch.
Many readers may be surprised to see no description of
institutionalized pederasty in this book. This is not an
oversight, nor ignorance of the fact that many noted historians stress
its importance, nor coyness with a theme thought distasteful.
Rather, it is my considered opinion that there is absolutely
no evidence of pederasty in the agoge – or in Spartan society
generally – at this period or in the centuries
before. Like many other of the most offensive
aspects of the agoge, I believe it is a later development. As
noted above, Xenophon, the only historian with firsthand experience of
the agoge, states explicitly: “…[Lycurgus]
…laid down that at Sparta lovers should refrain from
molesting boys just as much as parents avoid having intercourse with
their children or brothers with their sisters.” It
is hard to find a more definitive statement than this, and from the
most authorative of sources. To dismiss this evidence simply
because it does not suit preconceived ideas is arrogant.
Xenophon even goes on to add: “It does not surprise
me, however, that some people do not believe this, since in many cities
the laws do not oppose lusting after boys.” And
this is the crux of the matter. All of our written sources on
Sparta come from these other cities, where pederasty was rampant: in
short, from men who could not imagine a world without it. But
then, they could not imagine women who were educated, physically fit,
and economically powerful who were not also licentious and lewd, either.
Modern readers know better, that pederasty is
not inherent in society – particularly not in a society where
women are well integrated. My thesis is supported
by another ancient authority, Aristotle, who blamed all of
Sparta’s woes on the fact that the women were in control of
things, a fact that he in turn attributed to the lack of homosexuality
in Spartan society generally. Finally, I would like to call
on the archaeological evidence. To date – in sharp
contrast to other Greek cities – no Spartan homoerotic artwork
has been found. Since the Spartan legacy of
artifacts is scanty compared to Athens, Corinth, or
other cities, maybe something will still turn up. But until that
happens, the evidence is very strongly against institutionalized
pederasty in the agoge of the archaic and early classical periods.
There has also been endless scholarly debate about what clothing the
boys of the agoge were allowed. Xenophon stressed only that
in contrast to the spoiled boys of other cities (who had vast wardrobes
of himations), the Spartan boys were given only one per year.
At no time did he imply they wore no undergarments, although
this is the interpretation of many later scholars.
Again, I follow closely the research of Nigel Kennell.
Of greater significance is the fact that Spartan education did include
literacy and music, the primary subjects of ancient education.
Starting with the circumstantial evidence, Spartans could not
have commanded the respect of the ancient world, engaged in complicated
diplomatic maneuvering, and attracted the sons of intellectuals like
Xenophon to their agoge if they had been as illiterate and uneducated
as some modern writers like to portray them. Clearly Spartans
knew their laws very well, they could debate in international forums,
and their sayings were considered so witty that they were collected by
their contemporaries. Furthermore, Sparta is known to have
entertained leading philosophers and to have had a high appreciation of
poetry, as evidenced by their many contests and festivals for poetry,
particularly in the form of lyrics. The abundance of
inscriptions and dedications found in Sparta is clear testimony to a
literate society; one does not brag about one’s achievements
in stone if no one in your society can read! Likewise, Sparta
sent written orders to its commanders, and anecdotal evidence suggests
that mothers and sons exchanged letters.
Certainly, ancient sources stress the Spartan emphasis on musical
education and on dance. Most importantly, ancient sources not only
concede that Spartan youth learned to read and write, but claim that
“devotion to the intellect is more characteristic of Spartans
than love of physical exercise.” (Plutarch, Lycurgus:20)
Last but not least, while everyone agrees that Spartan education was
designed to turn the graduates of the agoge into good soldiers, I have
tried to point out that the skills needed by a good soldier included
far more than skill with weapons, physical fitness, endurance, and
obedience. A good soldier also had to be able to track, to
read the weather from the clouds, to navigate by the stars, to
recognize poisonous plants, to apply first aid, to build fortifications
and trenches, and much, much more. Far too little attention
is paid by most commentators to this simple fact. I am
confident that while the ages at which certain things were taught are
fictional, the total picture provided here is closer to reality than
the one-sided and one-dimensional depiction of most modern
writers.
