THE ETHOS:
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND FRATERNITY
AMONG
THE PHILOSOPHER WARRIORS
What set Sparta apart from other Greek
city-states was not language, religion, or even laws – all of
which were shared in broad terms with the rest of the ancient Hellenic
world – but a unique ethos that permeated all aspects of
life.
Spartan philosophy valued silence over
empty words, simplicity over decoration, and precision over
expansiveness.
Sparta placed the values of liberty, equality,
and fraternity at the center of their ethical system. While
love of liberty was shared by all the ancient Greek democracies, the
emphasis on equality and fraternity set Sparta apart.
While Sparta's ethos was
distinct, it was not a substitute for family, nor did it create
automatons or "new humans" – any more than socialism did.
There
is no clear explanation for the roots of Sparta's unique emphasis on
silence, simplicity, and precision, although it probably had Doric
roots. Doric architecture, for example, is the simplest of
the three Greek orders. Nevertheless, there is little doubt
that by the 5th century BC, Sparta had cultivated a tradition that
put conscious emphasis on silence and simplicity over eloquence and
decoration.
What is often overlooked by modern commentators is that the silence
cultivated in Sparta was not the silence of dumb animals, but of
thinking men, who recognize that it is wise to think before speaking
and to speak only when they have something worth saying. This
is the essence of Spartan rhetoric and the reason it was so highly
prized by philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. If one is
looking for a more modern parallel, the example of the Quakers might be
appropriate.
Simplicity in dress, architecture, and art was a natural expression of
this fundamental philosophy that "less is more" and precision
preferable to ambiguity and ambivalence. To say that Spartan
dress and architecture were simpler than that of contemporary cities is
not to say it was primitive, only that it was more precise and made
more use of natural elements. The focus on the
functional and the essential need not be associated with a disdain for
beauty. Most modern observers admire the Parthenon in Athens
today for the perfection of its proportions and would be irritated and
distracted to see it painted brightly, as it was in ancient
times. Likewise, modern architecture and design has
rediscovered the Spartan love of the pure beauty of form and
material.
The Spartan land reform (described in the essay on the Spartan
government and constitution) made all Spartan citizens equals, or
Peers; and they not only described themselves as such, but reinforced
the notion of equality by discouraging anything that would set one
citizen apart or above another. Sparta was the first
city-state to introduce a uniform for its army: scarlet chitons and
cloaks, and indeed uniform shields, all bearing the lambda, or L, for
Lacedaemon. Spartans also wore their hair in the same fashion: the boys
of the agoge going about shaved, the young men with short hair, and the
men over the age of thirty growing out their hair and often wearing it
braided. Not until the second half of the 5th century do
artistic depictions of Spartans indicate that the neat appearance of
the archaic period had given way to an unkempt, almost barbaric fashion.
All adult male citizens were, furthermore, bound together through three
distinct and separate institutions. First, the sons of
citizens were required to attend the public school system, the agoge, from the age
of seven through the age of twenty. Second, all male citizens
between and including the ages of 21 and 60 had to serve in
the army. A distinction was made between the first 10
age cohorts, who were required to live in barracks and were in effect
on active service, and the elder age cohorts, who lived at home but
could be called up at any time, similar to reserve status today.
Third, all male citizens were required to join a syssitia, or dining
club, and to eat at this club every night (unless excused), providing
set amounts of food from their estates to support the common meals.
Although every citizen had to belong to a syssitia (also
known as phiditia),
each citizen chose which club he wanted to join and the existing
members voted to admit the new applicant – or not.
One veto from an existing member was sufficient to prevent a
new member from joining. Unexcused absence from the mess
incurred a fine – something not even the kings were exempt
from. However, Spartiates (Spartan citizens) could be excused
for a variety of reasons, from war to hunting and the Olympic Games.
The bonds of
school, military, and club were designed to keep the
society closely knit and not divided along family and clan
lines. They did not, however, replace family ties, as some
modern observers assume.
Attending the
agoge, the public school, from the age of 7 did not
sever family ties any more than sending children to school today
does. There is no evidence that the small children slept in
barracks – they may well have slept at home – but
even if they slept in dormitories on school nights, they would still
have gone home for holidays. Sparta had many holidays, and
some were so important that observance of them was more important than
going to war – even in an emergency. School
children would have spent probably as much as one-third of any year
away from school, much as they do today.
Furthermore, Spartan
girls went to the same schools and gymnasiums as their brothers
– and future husbands. Spartan youth therefore had
far more contact with the opposite sex than did their contemporaries in
other Greek cities, which in turn meant that the bonds between the
sexes were also stronger than elsewhere. Shared memories of a common
schooling would have strengthened Spartan marriages, and parents would
have been careful to pass on their experiences of the agoge to their
offspring in order to help them survive this critical prerequisite of
citizenship.
The military
duties of Spartan men were likewise less onerous than
modern military service in distant theaters of war, which can keep men
away from their families for years on end. Until the
Peloponnesian War, ancient warfare consisted of marching out, meeting
the enemy on a flat, open plain, fighting a single battle, and then
returning home – victorious or defeated – within a
few weeks. Most campaigns lasted no more than a month or two,
and they usually took place after the harvest was in. Sparta
was not continuously at war until the second half of the 5th century.
Before that, Spartan men would not have been away at war for more than
a few months at a time, and by no means every year. Some men might have
been absent at war no more than a month or two in their entire
lives.
Finally, the fact
that men ate their evening meal away from their
families need not have been more disruptive of good marital or family
life than the fact that most modern couples eat their midday meal apart. On the contrary, the rhythm of
Spartan life might actually have fostered good family relations,
because men and women probably would have shared the middle of the day
together, when other activities were not possible because of the heat.
(For more on this, see my article, "Scenes from a Spartan
Marriage".)
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