The poems of a patriotic general called Tyrtaeus were learned by heart and used as marching songs. They called for valor in the field, as these typical lines make clear.
For a good man to die in the vanguard is a fine thing
Doing battle on behalf of his native land.
But to leave his city and rich fields,
To go begging is the most miserable of fates.
Spartans did not enjoy gossip and could not stand having to listen to long speeches. They were men of few words—hence our “laconic.” Fellow-Greeks loved collecting specimens of their down-to-earth brevity, as when a Spartan king was asked what type of training was most practiced at Sparta. He replied: “Knowing how to take orders. And how to give orders.”
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Adult male citizens—the Spartiates or “Equals”—joined a military mess, a syssitia (literally, a “common meal”). It had about fifteen members, who spent most of their time together and shared everything in common.
Around the age of eighteen a trainee entered the army reserve and two years later was eligible for election to a syssitiai by its members. He had finished the agogē, but went on living with his comrades. At the age of thirty he became a full citizen, but only if he was a member of a syssitia—not necessarily a simple matter, for one vote was enough to blackball a candidate.
An Equal owned farming land, which was tilled by helots, or serfs. Its produce enabled him to make a contribution to the costs of the syssitia. Apparently, this would include for every month seventy-four liters of barley, thirty-six liters of wine (not too bad a ration), about two kilograms of cheese, one of figs, and a small sum of money for cheap “relishes” (namely, flesh or fowl). In this way he was freed from working for his own living and enabled to spend his active life as a soldier, in training or on campaign. If he could not afford the contribution, he was dismissed from the mess.
All contributions were equal and the same standard of living was intended for all. Young Spartans were not to be tempted to make money. They were forbidden to engage in business or to own silver or gold. Gold and silver coins were not struck, and instead only iron bars were used. These were given a very low financial value, so that a substantial sum of money was inconveniently heavy and large to transport easily or to store. There was little point in receiving cash in this form as a gift or a bribe or in stealing it.
Cowardice was punished by social ostracism. Mothers and wives would tell their menfolk to return home victorious or dead: “Come back with your shield or on it.” In fact, on the rare occasions that an army lost a battle the Spartan soldier was better advised to give his life than save it. If he was injured, it was essential that his wounds were on the front of his body. Cowards could not hold public office, were expelled from their mess, had to wear a cloak with colored patches, and were not allowed to marry.
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Women in ancient Greece spent much of their lives in discreet seclusion, and above all were banned from taking part in public sports, riding, or hunting. In Sparta it was quite the opposite. Girls were brought up like their brothers to excel physically.
They were made to harden their bodies through exercise. They ran, wrestled, threw the discus, and hurled the javelin, just as the boys did. Motherhood was to be their main purpose in life and the theory was that in this way they would be able to manage the pangs of childbirth and give birth to healthy and strong sons.
Although this was shocking to other Greeks, who expected the opposite sex to be modestly clothed, Spartan girls wore only a scanty tunic or even went about naked. Makeup, long hair, or gold ornaments were barred. Women were not shy at coming forward and enjoyed engaging in hostile banter with men, but, if there was no prudery in Sparta, flirtatious and conventionally feminine behavior was discouraged.
Marriage was handled in a typically unappealing manner. Men were fined if they failed to marry. The would-be husband, who had to be at least thirty years old, carried off his intended by force. A bridesmaid shaved her head and dressed her in a man’s cloak and sandals. She was then made to lie down on a rush mattress, alone and in the dark. After dining with his comrades in the mess, the groom slipped away surreptitiously and carried his bride to the marriage bed. He spent a little time with her and then went back to his barracks as if nothing of any consequence had taken place.
And this was how he continued to act. He spent his days with his comrades, and slept with them at night, visiting his wife briefly, secretly and after dark, full of dread that they would be found out. Plutarch writes:
and they did not carry on like this for a short time only, but long enough for some of them to become fathers before they had seen their own wives in the light of day.
Married couples were to be neither jealous nor unduly amorous.
Brothers were allowed to share their wives. The techniques of animal breeding were applied; husbands could give another man permission to sleep with his wife, if he believed he “would fill her with noble sperm.” He would happily adopt the consequential offspring and bring them up as if they were his own. Once they had their own families, women were expected to manage their households when their husbands were away at war, as they often were.
The name of one independent-minded great lady has come down to us. This was Cynisca, sister of a Spartan king (for more on the monarchy see below on this page). Born about 440, she was an expert horsewoman and, being royal, had plenty of money. She was the first woman to score a victory at the ancient Olympic Games. The games were almost entirely a men-only affair and women were only allowed to compete in equestrian events—not directly but by owning, breeding, and training horses.
Cynisca won the four-horse chariot race, but she would not have witnessed her victory for only men were allowed to be spectators. She was very proud of her achievement and commissioned a statue of herself, which stood in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The inscription on its stone base reads:
I, Cynisca, victorious with a chariot of swift-footed horses,
Have erected this statue. I declare myself the only woman
In all Hellas to have won this crown.
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A grove sacred to Zeus stood in a pleasant, grassy, and wooded plain in the northwest of the Peloponnese. Here at Olympia in the summer of the year 756 an international athletic competition was held for the first time in honor of the god. These were the Olympic Games and they were staged every four years through the next millennium. They were soon joined by others, which were also quadrennial, and filled in the empty years—the Pythian Games at Delphi, the Isthmian Games at Corinth, and the Games at Nemea between Argos and Corinth. These were genuinely Panhellenic events and attracted crowds of visitors from across the Greek world.
So that competitors and audiences could reach Olympia safely a sacred truce was declared for one month (later extended to two and then three months). Heralds called spondophoroi or truce-bearers, wearing olive wreaths and carrying staffs, were sent out to every Greek state to announce the date of the festival and proclaim the truce. States taking part in the Games were forbidden to wage war, to enter into legal disputes, or to put anyone to death.
Women were allowed to participate neither as athletes nor as spectators (although apparently virgins were not refused admission to the games, perhaps because of their ritual purity). They had their own four-yearly Games of Hera, at which competitors took part in three foot races for different age groups.