Spartan Education
When examining any society, one of the most important aspects of its civilization to identify is the education of the youth. Children yearn to please their instructors. Therefore, when all children throughout a society are taught a certain way to live and think, when they grow up, the society itself models these values instilled upon the children. Naturally, when using this ideal to study the history of the Ancient Greeks, focus falls upon its two major city-states, Athens and Sparta. As in almost every aspect of comparison, the difference between the education of the warlike Spartans compared to the education of the philosophical Athenians is like comparing black to white. The main focus of a Spartan education was not to focus on literacy. Instead, as a result of the system of helotry practiced in Sparta, fitness, obedience, and courage had to be taught in order for the Spartans to retain the militaristic supremacy that they had over the rest of the Peloponnesus. In contrast, an Athenian education was devoted to the three basic categories of literacy, music, and physical education in hopes of creating intelligent, well-rounded citizens who could responsibly participate in the Assembly. For purposes of comparison, the educ
The society that did not focus the education of their children on warfare was the Athenians. New York: Columbia University Press, 1930. Rather it was training for living and achieving a healthy body and mind. Also, another division of the education was teaching the children to play the lyre early in life because it not only helped them to better understand the lyric poets, but also served useful in Athenian society as well. They were never forced to endure any physical pain that would make them stronger for battle. Between the ages of fourteen to twenty, the young Spartans officially became men. The success of this educational process can be noted in Herodotus' Historia, when the reputation of the Spartans battlefield superiority reaches Xerxes, king of Persia, by word of mouth from Demaratos, The conversation is as follows, The same goes for the Spartans. Bibliography BibliographyAristotle. When comparing the hardships the young Athenians went through to that of the Spartans, they are almost nonexistent. Although the Athenians did not stress physical prowess as much as the Spartans, they did not disregard it all together. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. To fight in the hoplite-phalynx, one must trust and have faith in his neighbor. For he observed that at this time of life self-will makes strong root in a boy's mind, a tendency to insolence manifests itself, and a keen appetite for pleasure in a different form takes possession of him.
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