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Exaggeration

  • 15-12-2015 11:51am
    #1
    Seanachai
    Registered Users Posts: 2,544 ✭✭✭


    Hi, I've been thinking about harsh tribal and cultural customs lately and was wondering if there is any solid evidence that the Spartans really did leave babies out in the woods as a survival test?. I realise that there can be a lot of embellishment and exaggeration in historical accounts but is there any reliable information or archaeological proof of this?.


Comments

  • #2
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,735 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    The Spartan state would filter on newborns and then at various ages (after been taken from their mothers) to test their survivial skills.

    I've need to check some of the secondary sources on this (offhand this would be Victor Davis Hanson, Paul Cartredge) but from what I remember from my course the Spartans had a eugenics policy for its future citizen soldiers, the homini. If the child was defective in some way as per an examination by the elders it was felt to be both a burden to society and more importantly incompatible to operate as a Hoplite. This demanded a high level of fitness to fight and bear the hoplite armour. That and surrounded by 1000s of helots who would interpret a weak Spartan as a chink in their ideological armour of superiority would mean that it was not an exaggeration.


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