Quick questions on Spartan army and the agoge: HSC Ancient History

The agoge ("the upbringing" or "the system") was the compulsory state education for Spartiate boys from age 7 to 29.

The syssitia (also called the phiditia) were military messes of around 15 men, the basic unit of military and political life. From age 20 every Spartiate had to be elected to a syssition by the existing members. Election was by secret ballot; a single black bean blackballed the candidate.

The Spartan army was organised in morai (regiments). Each mora contained subdivisions: lochoi, pentekostyes, and enomotiai (the smallest tactical unit, roughly 32 men). The structure allowed precise battlefield manoeuvres.

The army was not separable from the rest of Spartan life. Citizenship was conditional on completing the agoge and maintaining the syssition contribution. Loss of military function meant loss of citizenship.

Paul Cartledge (The Spartans, 2002) treats the agoge as the central institution that linked the Helot system, the hoplite army, and the citizen body. The whole society was organised around military training.

Newborn boys were inspected by the elders of the tribe. Plutarch (Lycurgus 16) records that weak or deformed infants were exposed at the apothetai near Mt Taygetus, though the historicity of this practice has been questioned by modern bioarchaeology (no infant skeletons have been identified in the chasm).

At age 7 boys left the home and entered communal living. They were organised in agelai ("herds") under the supervision of the paidonomos (boy-magistrate) and the eirenes (older youths, age 20). Curriculum included reading, music (the lyre and the war-songs of Tyrtaeus), and rigorous physical training.

Training intensified. Boys learned hoplite drill, formation, and endurance. They were assigned to age-graded subdivisions (the names varied: melleirenes, mikkichizomenoi, etc.).

Boys were given one cloak only and slept on rushes they had to cut themselves. The "stealing" custom required boys to take food without being caught; if caught they were beaten "not for stealing but for being caught" (Plutarch, Lycurgus 17). The annual whipping contest at the altar of Artemis Orthia (the diamastigosis) tested endurance.

A selected group of young Spartiates near the end of the agoge entered the Krypteia ("secret service"). They lived alone in the countryside, hunting and killing Helots judged dangerous. The institution combined a rite of passage with Helot control.

Young men lived in the barracks rather than at home. They were eligible for election to a syssition from age 20, marking the entry to political citizenship.

Spartiates could marry from around age 20 but were expected to live in the barracks at night and visit their wives in secret until age 30. From 30 they could live at home. Military duty continued until age 60; from age 60 a Spartiate became eligible for the gerousia.

The agoge is the education (age 7 to 29); the syssitia is the adult mess (age 20 onwards).

It is the canonical institution linking the army and the Helot system.

His 1995 revision is standard scholarship now.