#ANCIENT WARS SPARTA AMAZON HOW TO#
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Girls had a similar education to that of boys. Unlike the rest of Greece, Spartan women could own property, including land. The SpartansвЂ™ reputation as a unique society carried over to womenвЂ™s legal rights. When rare defeat occurred, Spartan women were not allowed to mourn, but were taught to react with placidity and smiles. Sons were told to return home after battle behind their shield or on top of it. Even Spartan mothers bought in to this culture. The SpartansвЂ™ use of blunt force spread fear throughout Greece. Plato lauded parts of it in The Republic as an ideal society. Regardless, Lycurgus is credited not only with inventing the SpartanвЂ™s unique military machineвЂ¦ but with creating a new political system. The name Lycurgus was rarely given to a mortal. These were common titles for the god, not men. The name Lycurgus means Wolf-worker, or Wolfish.

Historians have found no evidence that Lycurgus existed, and suspect ApolloвЂ™s priests may have been involved. The Spartans said that a Lakedaimon named Lycurgus created the rigid system that fueled their military success. Other Greeks thought the city was strange, particularly since there was no art, sculpture, theatre or philosophy. In Sparta, the individual was obliterated. In other Greek cities, individualism was celebrated. And so the Spartan system created courageous soldiers who gladly gave their lives in battle The more worldly Athenians even joked about it, saying that living conditions in Sparta were so bad that of course theyвЂ™d sacrifice themselves! Any aversion to combat caused him to be ostracized.Д«y the time they fought their first battle, they were as hard as the bronze armor they wore for protection. A boy who showed the slightest sign of fear was shunned. This was believed to teach them pluck and resilience.Д«ravery and courage were mandatory. The boys were purposely underfed and encouraged to steal. Over time, they learned that nothing was more important than sacrificing themselves to the military goal. The boyвЂ™s education would go on until at least age 18. He was typically in his 20s, and was responsible for creating a new, fierce and unquestioning patriotic soldier. Their father was replaced by an older Spartan warrior.

#ANCIENT WARS SPARTA AMAZON HOW TO#

Instead, the boys lived communally with other boys to learn how to fight, harden their bodies and take pain. Agent, Lucas, Alexander, Whitley.Their lives shifted from the comforts of home to a barracks-style austerity.

#ANCIENT WARS SPARTA AMAZON SERIES#

It ties in to a PBS series to air this summer. Cartledge's crystalline prose, his vivacious storytelling and his lucid historical insights combine here to provide a first-rate history of the Spartans, their significance to ancient Greece and their influence on our culture. According to Cartledge, the Spartans' legacy to Western culture includes devotion to duty, discipline, the willingness to sacrifice individual life for the greater good of the community and the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for. Cartledge punctuates his absorbing tale with brief, engaging biographies of the city-state's kings from Lycurgus, the earliest Spartan leader, who brought constitutional law to the city, to Leonidas, who led the Spartans at Thermopylae. Between 490 and 479, Sparta joined Athens in fighting the Persians in three key wars-Thermopylae, Plataea and Mycale-that contributed to the demise of Persian power and the rise of Hellenistic power on the Mediterranean. The Spartans built their society through conquest and subjugation, ruling over their subject peoples with an iron hand and putting down revolts with devastating might. to the height of its fame and glory in the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Eminent historian Cartledge ( Spartan Reflections) provides a remarkable chronicle of Sparta's rise and fall, from its likely origins around 1100 B.C. Legendary for their ferocious combat skills, the Spartans built a warrior culture in ancient Greece unsurpassed for its courage and military prowess.

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