Exercises on Spartan Education

On education in Spartan society, read the fragment below:

“It was a very militarized state, which managed to conquer about a third of Greece. In Sparta, all men should be warriors.”

(Catelli Junior, Roberto. History:Text and context:High school. Ed. Scipione – São Paulo, 2006. p, 31.)

In relation to Spartan society and its militaristic ideal, explain how the education of men in this city-state was directed.

Like the man, the Spartan woman was also influenced by militaristic ideology. So, make an analysis of the educational formation of women in Sparta.

The importance of Greek society in Antiquity is treated as one of the main sources of studies about the human past. Therefore, the film “300” by Zack Sinyder, based on the comic book “The 300 of Sparta” by Frank Miller, makes a representation of how militarist ideas were articulated in Sparta. Therefore, about Spartan education, we can highlight:

A) The priority of Spartan education was the military training of its soldiers, who should be the honor and glory of its people. Due to this idea, the Spartans in the early years of their education already started military training and did not value questions of ethical and moral life for their training as a warrior.

B) Spartan education valued above all the moral and poetic issues in the training of its soldiers. Until the age of twenty, young Spartans studied music, theater and poetry. Military training did not begin until after the age of twenty-one.

C) In Sparta, education was the same for boys and girls. Both were educated to be good administrators and good philosophers, as the ideal for the Spartan citizen was the formation of a literate and politicized person.

D) The practice of eugenics was used as a religious ritual by the Spartans. At birth, the child was examined in order to find out if his body was healthy or not. Therefore, there was a selection of species soon after birth, in which those considered “weakest” did not survive.

Concerned with maintaining social order, the Spartans maintained tight control over the city's cultural activities. The government encouraged laconicism, xenophobia and xenelasia.

(Piletti, Nelson / Arruda, José Jobson de A. Toda História:História Geral e História do Brasil. Ed. Ática – São Paulo, 2006.p, 46.)

On the education of the Spartan woman, we can say that:

A) It led the woman to understand exclusively politics and philosophy, as this would be important in the elaboration of good laws for Sparta and to improve the politics of the city.

B) The education of women was based on a totalitarian regime in which the government replaced the education of parents with education aimed at militaristic practice.

C) The Spartan woman, in addition to training in the barracks, was seen as an object of reproduction that needed a healthy body to generate strong children who would become future Spartan soldiers.

D) According to scholars, Spartan women could not perform physical activities in the barracks and were totally submissive to men, having the sole and exclusive mission of generating healthy children and taking care of domestic services.

Education in Sparta was public and compulsory. The Spartan child was handed over to the state shortly after turning seven years of age. Education was guided by the militarist ideology, in which the priority was the formation of good warriors. The man to become a soldier would have to go through a long journey of preparation. Once delivered to the State, the child began his civic education composed of ethical and moral values. At the age of 12, the boys were sent to the countryside to learn to live with adversities such as cold, hunger, thirst and the danger of facing large animals, those who survived moved on to the next phase. At the age of 17, the boys passed an initiation test called the Kryptia. They went out to capture slaves in order to try to murder as many as possible. Only at age 30 did the soldier become a Spartan citizen.

Like the man, the Spartan woman was also inserted in the militaristic education in Sparta. At the age of seven, she was handed over to the State to take civic education classes and to practice physical activities. However, she stayed in the barracks only during the day and during the night she received education from her mother. As an adult, if she was unable to have children, she could serve in the army in times of war.

Letter D . Eugenics was a common practice in Spartan culture and consisted of a species selection project, in which children born with physical problems were prevented from living. This practice was a way of constituting a warrior society with men able to defend Sparta and face enemy soldiers during wars. However, despite having this militaristic ideal, the boys during their education did not stop studying issues such as ethical and moral values ​​or important works by Greek writers until they were twelve years old.

Letter C . The woman was important in Sparta in the sense of being the reproducer of healthy children who would be good warriors in the future. Therefore, during the education of Spartan women, there was physical activity so that they had bodies conducive to the generation of healthy children. In this way, women, before getting married, passed a test to receive authorization from the State. She should get pregnant with a slave and prove that she would be a reproducer of children who fit the militarist ideal. Only after that could she get married.