From the age of seven, boys were taken away from their parents and brought up in detachments (agels). The harsh system of education was aimed at ensuring that they grew up strong, obedient and fearless. Children were taught to read and write, taught to be silent for a long time and speak briefly and clearly (succinctly). Adults, watching the children, deliberately quarreled them, causing a fight, and watched who was smarter and bolder in a fight. For a year, the boys were given only one dress, they were allowed to wash only a few times a year. They fed the children poorly, taught them to steal, but if someone came across, they beat them mercilessly, not for theft, but for awkwardness.
Mature young men after 16 years were subjected to a very severe test at the altar of the goddess Artemis. The young men were severely scourged, while they were supposed to be silent. Some failed the test and died. Another test for the young men was cryptia - secret wars against the helots, who from time to time declared ephors. During the day, young Spartans hid in secluded corners, and at night they went out to hunt helots, killing the strongest men, which made it possible to keep the helots in constant fear.
The will of the legislator and the constant threat from the helots created an unusually close-knit civil community that did not know internal unrest for several centuries. But the Spartans paid a heavy price for this. Severe discipline, militarization of all aspects of life led to the spiritual impoverishment of the people, the economic backwardness of Sparta in comparison with other Greek policies. It has not given world culture a single philosopher, poet, orator, sculptor or artist. All that Sparta could create was a strong army. The unlimited right of the ephors to control all aspects of the life of the community made their power, according to Aristotle, "close to tyranny." Gradually, Sparta became the stronghold of political reaction for all of Greece.
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