The man responsible for laying down the foundation for the way of life in Sparta, one of the most famous ancient Greek city-states, was, according to the historian Plutarch, Lycurgus. The key to Lycurgus’ Spartan system was education. This education was intended to be holistic and differed in modern conceptions of education in that its sole goal was to produce citizens who displayed physical prowess, obedience to the state, and overall excellence in order to create a strong state. Lycurgus claimed that due to this system the Spartans attained a freedom no one else had. Few modern observers would agree with this assessment, however.
One of the most obvious aspects of Spartan life was its focus upon physical prowess. Even newborn infants had to show fortitude or risk being the victims of infanticide (Plutarch, paragraph 16). Physical training began in childhood and was given to both mates and females (14). Boys, however, once they reached the age of seven were placed in “herds” where they would be subject to extreme training. While some of this training was intellectual, the vast majority was physical and was designed to instill obedience, teamwork, develop fortitude, and teach martial skills (16).
All of this, of course, was quite important to the continuance of the Spartan state. Without a strong military it is unlikely they could have survived for long. The development of fortitude and martial skills allowed the Spartans to defend their territory against outside enemies, such as the Athenians, and possible internal ones such as the helots – slaves living in their own lands which had been conquered by Sparta (28). One part of this educational system, the krypteia. In this, youths would be armed and sent into the countryside to observe the helots. At night they would strike out at the strongest helots they observed. Therefore, this served the double duty of teaching youths survival skills, and weakening the fighting capacity of the helots by striking fear into them and removing their strongest individuals.
The “herds” were not the end of the Spartan education. As Plutarch mentions, it continued on into adulthood (24). There were a variety of reforms put in place by Lycurgus to educate the adult population. These included such things as redistribution of land, monetary reform (specifically the abolition of privately held capital), anti-luxary laws, and common messes. These reforms taught citizens to think of the state first, to put the needs of the group above their own, and how to live simple lives in accordance with the Spartan concepts of goodness and virtue.
It was these reforms which led to Sparta becoming one of the most powerful ancient Greek states. Plutarch writes that before the land redistribution, there were landless people who were crowding into the city and threatening the social order (8). This landless class represented a threat to the security and the stability of the state, and, as such, had to be addressed to prevent chaos. Lycurgus’ answer to this was to redistribute the land. Once this had been accomplished, each man had an equal share that he could live off of, thus eliminating the problem.
Seeing that equality led to a strong state, Lycurgus further tried to divide up personal goods, but, when he found this impracticable, he decided upon monetary reform instead (9). The effect of this reform was to make the accumulation of wealth not only virtually impossible but altogether undesirable. Once the Spartans were no longer focused on the hording of wealth they were able to focus their energies on the state and were able to pursue personal excellence.
Furthering the land redistribution scheme and the monetary reform, Lycurgus also put into effect an anti-luxury law (13). According to this law Spartans had to live in simple homes. To go along with their simple homes they were to have simple furnishings and simple dress. Much of this was also the result of earlier reforms. Due to the land redistribution and monetary reform, few people could build up enough surplus to afford any luxuries. But, to the Spartans, this lack of luxury was a choice, and reflected who they were. All of this was to mirror their unostentatious lifestyle. By living simply equality was furthered, people had more opportunity to focus on creating a powerful state, and to pursue the goal of personal excellence and virtue.
This desire fro equality and uniformity also carried into their dining habits with the creation of common messes (10-12). All Spartan men were required to join a dining club in which there was a common diet. Each member would in turn bring a set amount of food for the mess. By instituting common messes, Lycurgus taught the Spartans to be willing to share their supplies with each other and how to better live with each other since the messes increased camaraderie among their members. The common diet also ensured that all Spartans had equality of food, and that they remained healthy citizens thus being useful to the state.
Despite living in what could be seen as a highly controlled society, the Spartans saw themselves not only as free Greeks but as the only truly free Greeks. It seems that there were two main reasons for this attitude: their equality and their lack of manual labor. As previously stated, the Spartans saw equality as strengthening the state and important to the development of individual character. Since the Spartan educational system so ingrained this quality, the Spartans likely saw themselves as free from want of needless things in a way no other Greeks were.
Unlike all other Greeks, the Spartans were free from maual labor (24). This allowed them the leisure to fully serve the Spartan state. This also allowed them the time to develop excellence and virtue as the Spartans saw it. So while other Greeks were busy growing crops to feed themselves or engaging in business ventures to accumulate wealth, the Spartans were free to pursue perfection.
In comparing Spartan views of freedom to more modern views there appears to be one main similarity, but a number of differences. This similarity is devotion to the idea of equality. In both the Spartan system and in the modern concept of freedom, equality exists at several levels. It exists on the legal level with equality before the law. This is key in virtually every modern conception of freedom. While there are fewer consensuses on the idea of economic equality in the modern view, it does exist to some extent in all societies which are termed free whether it is actual equality or merely equality of opportunity.
With that being said, there remain the vast differences between Spartan and modern conceptions of freedom. All modern views of freedom state that the institution of slavery is wrong. The Spartan system was based upon the slavery of the helots (2). Without this system, the Spartans would not have had the leisure time necessary to completely serve the state and have near total equality for citizens. Most modern people would argue that true freedom cannot be achieved through the suffering of the many to the advantage of the few.
Spartan society had, by most modern standards, a totalitarian nature. Plutarch speaks of this, and seems to approve of it (24). All aspects of life revolved around the Spartan state and individuals were seen simply as cogs in a giant machine. Even when pursuing their much venerated personal excellence and virtue it had to strictly conform to the standards of the society. Most modern societies, even collectivist ones, accord much greater freedom to the individual. If feels safe to say that, even though there are lessons which even today Lycurgus’ system can teach us, its totalitarian nature, coupled with the institution of slavery, makes the Spartan system, taken as a whole, incompatible with any modern idea of freedom.
Source:
Plutarch. “Lycurgus.” In Greek Lives. Translated by Robin Waterfield. Edited by Philip A. Stadter. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 3-41.
