Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Education- Xenophon (The practice of dining privately encouraged…
Education- Xenophon
The practice of dining privately encouraged misconduct so each member of the mess would contribute food, not too much or too little. Those who had been successful in their hunt were allowed to contribute a little extra.
-
Money could be provided to buy fish for the mess. This was a luxury, a common food was zomos- black broth.
-
In other states there were competitions to impress peers and so provide or consume too much, ruining himself.
At messes, older Spartiates would impart their knowledge to the youth. Conversations at the messes revolved around politics and great deeds of the past. This is contrasted against the drunkenness at gatherings in other states.
He hints at sexual relations between Spartiates and boys from the age of 12. He says that the practice was more common, and less moral, among the Boeotians and Eleians but in Sparta it was about a Spartiate seeking to improve a boy as he 'admired a boy's soul'
-
-
-
-
Elsewhere in Greece, boys learnt literacy and music, and wrestling. Sparta probably learnt this too but more focus on exercise
He implies music and dancing are part of the curriculum- linking to religion and the physical need to be balanced, in time and have endurance and rhythm to keep in time when marching.
They had a festival named the Gymnopaidiai "Unarmed Dancing' which foreigners were even allowed to watch
-
Boys were encouraged to steal food. It improved their cunning and resourcefulness. They could lie, use spies or ambush.
If he were caught, he would be beaten for his failure to remain undetected
Was Xenophon justifying this practice? Sparta didn't import much food and supplies may well have been limited, was this Xenophon's way of idealising?
However, there was a ceremony in which boys were to steal cheese from the altar of Artemis Orthia. The altar was guarded by older boys with whips.
-
Artemis Orthia was la Goddess linked to the boundary between youth and adulthood. Was this a right of passage? Though it is unclear what age they partook in this ceremony
The education system encouraged rivalry between young men. It produced the best choruses and best athletic contests
3 of the very best young men were picked by ephors to become commanders of the guard 'Hippagretai' who then each piked 100 men publically stating why they were chosen and others rejected.
-
One effect this had was fighting which Xenophon didn't see as a problem as it kept them fit. A Spartiate was allowed to break up the fight but if the youths failed to stop they could be taken to ephors and fined.
-
-
When the boys of the agoge were older, it was realised they became more disobedient. Xenophon says the agoge was designed to minimise this by being set to work for long hours to grind down their self will.
Anyone who avoided their duties would be prevented from achieving honourable positions in the future.
Youths were to be modest at all times- keeping their hands in their cloaks, eyes on the ground and not speaking. This would avoid fights. This seemed to work as Xenophon says they talked little in communal messes.
All Spartiates were given responsibility for a boys education. He could ask a boy to perform a task and punish him for misconduct
-
If a Spartiate whipped another man's son, the father would whip him again
A young man was considered an adult when he was eligible to hold the 'great office of state' at around age 30.
-
Communal organisation and spirit of the society had a powerful socialising role as it encouraged all to work together.
Spartiates also had the right to command another man's servant if it were for the good of the community. Hunting dogs could also be lent to other Spartiates. Or allowed to use another's horse without asking if he were ill or needed to get somewhere fast.
-
-
-
-
A benefit of dining in the open was that a Spartiate would never drink too much as he had to find his way home in the dark.
Those in charge of physical training exercises were required to set exercises to keep the trainees in shape. This was successful producing the fittest, healthiest men in Greece.