The Existence of Spartan Boys
The entire Spartan way of life was directed toward keeping the Spartan army at tip-top
strength. Boys lived at home only until their seventh year, when they were taken away to
live in communal barracks with other males until they were thirty.
They spent most
of their time exercising, hunting, training with weapons, and being acculturated to
Spartan values by listening to tales of bravery and heroism at the common meals
presided over by older men1. The standard of discipline was strict, to prepare young males for the hard life
of a soldier on campaign. For example, they were not allowed to speak at will. (Our word
“laconic” meaning “of few words” comes from the
Greek word “Laconian,” one of the terms for a Spartan; another is
Lacedaimonian, from the name Lacedaimon applied to Sparta). Boys were also purposely
underfed so that they would have to develop the skills of stealth by stealing food. Yet
if they were caught, punishment and disgrace followed immediately. One famous Spartan
tale taught how seriously boys were supposed to fear such failure: having successfully
stolen a fox, which he was hiding under his clothing, a Spartan youth died because he
let the panicked animal rip out his insides rather than be detected in the theft. By the
Classical period, older boys would be dispatched to live in the wilds for a period as
members of the
“secret band”2 whose job it was to murder any helots who seemed likely to foment rebellion.
