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Spartan Education: Youth and Society in the Classical Period

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... More specifically, the aim is to provide a wide-ranging review of the various readings of 9.85 that have been suggested and of the strengths and weaknesses of each of those readings. Though the text that 20 Kennell 1995: 14-16;Ducat 2006: 94-95. 21 See, for instance, Parker 1989Toher 1999: 118-26. ...
... On the worship of Poseidon in Lakedaimon, see Richer 2012: 41-42, 268-69, 459-60, 630-31. 145 Kennell 1995Ducat 2006: 94-95. Lupi 2000 has argued (in more detail than Kennell) that the occurrences of eirenes in the standard texts of the Lakedaimonion Politeia should be expunged, which would eliminate any evidence for eirenes as an age-class in pre-Hellenistic Sparta. ...
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At 9.85 Herodotus states that after the Battle of Plataia, the Lakedaimonians buried their dead in three separate graves: one for the ἱρέες, one for the rest of the Spartiates, and one for helots. Taken together with 9.71, this passage suggests that all of the Spartiates decorated for bravery at Plataia were priests, which seems prima facie improbable. The interpretive challenges presented by 9.85 have been the subject of lively scholarly debate since the eighteenth century because this passage potentially provides important evidence for Spartiates’ funerary, religious, and educational customs. With an eye to facilitating future research, this article offers a detailed conspectus of the extensive collection of relevant scholarship and, in part by drawing upon evidence from the archaeological excavations of the Tomb of the Lakedaimonians in the Kerameikos, identifies one reading, which involves athetizing part of 9.85, as the preferred interpretive approach.
... As Postman puts it, modern education lacks "a transcendent and honorable purpose" one that provides insight as to why the youth ought to continue educating themselves. 6 This paper maintains that at the root of the modern pedagogical crisis lay extraneous forces to the educational process primarily instituted by the economically oriented interests of homo-economicus. It is argued here, that economic forces constantly impelling scientific-technological and concomitant sociopolitical interests steer pedagogical narratives in the direction of pursuing utilitarian outcomes and fixedends. ...
... For this reason, educational practices have increasingly marginalized the humanities and the study of philosophy; and this progression can be traced to the beginnings of the rise of science in the sixteenth century, however, it has worsened during the industrial revolution and has attained epic proportions in our 5 Some of the archetypal figures whose legacy profoundly impacted Athenian cultural affairs and the educational environment of classical times, were the legendary poets Homer and Hesiod, also credited with first instituting religious customs, (ancient traditions later superseded by the culture of the famous mystery schools of Orpheus, Dionysius, Apollo, and Demeter, among others); and standing-out among the great lyric poets were Sappho and Pindar; and ever-present was Solon who outshined in the art of lawmaking and statesmanship, also Cleisthenes the great politician and lawgiver, and Pericles the outstanding statesman orator and general that brought forth the Golden Age of Athens; and, of course, enriching the Athenian milieu were flourishing orators like Antiphon, Aeschines, Demosthenes, Isocrates, Cephalus, and Lysias, notable personages who actively embellished the political and intellectual life of the city; and sophists of the caliber of Protagoras; and there too, admirably stood the renowned Aristophanes, master dramatist of comedy and political satire; and the sagacious tragedians Aeschylus Euripides and Sophocles, whose admirable performances filled theatres influencing public opinion; and definitely one has to pay homage to the eminent historians Herodotus Thucydides and Xenophon; and Hippocrates, who exceled in medicine accentuating its spiritual dimensions; and certainly standing-out was Phidias, the monumental sculptor painter and architect whom history eternalized for his magnificent masterpieces; and again, were the renown mathematicians and astronomers for instance the Pythagorean Philolaus and his student Archytas; and standing-out among many eminent scientists were Leucippus and Democritus, founders of atomic theory; and it would be a great omission not to refer to the successful and educated politician-generals, who remarkably affected the Athenian state of affairs such as Miltiades, Themistocles, Nicias, Laches, Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, and of course among others the outstanding Theban Epaminondas-, the great strategist general and statesman who transformed the politics of Greek city-states; and let it be noted, this perhaps not so seemly list is certainly not exhaustive. 6 Postman, The End of Education, x-xi. day and age: genuine philosophic and humanistic study has become as it were an endangered species, evermore-so a museum relic a historical artifact of glorious times now past and gone. ...
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This paper points to pathways that pedagogy may follow today in order to bridge the gap between two seemingly incommensurable systems of teaching and learning, namely: classical Greek paideia and modern education. Firstly, the present exploration elucidates the historical and cultural force of classical Greek education and then establishes Jaeger's conception of the paideia of the Greeks as imperishable cultural literary and philosophical genius. In turn, the discussion moves to the ways homo-economicus dominates homo-politicus and homo-educandus in Plato's Republic VIII, exposing the ways Greek philosophical paideia since Socrates overcame the weaknesses and destructive influences of 'economic-man'. It is submitted here that Plato's Republic VIII implicitly establishes that the paideia of homo-philosophicus is the best, perhaps the only way to reconcile the tensions between homo-economicus homo-politicus and homo-educandus in the politeia. Further, the paper ascertains that the unrestrained intentions and ministrations of 'economic-man'-his panourgia-are at the root of the global crisis in culture and education today, and shows how the modern university constitutes an arena of scientific inquiry at the beck and call of global economic forces. Mostly, the present exploration illumines the pillars of Greek philosophical paideia and exemplifies the differences and antithetical aims of modern education in order to firstly, clarify the lack of a transcendent aim in today's pedagogical systems, and secondly, to open the way for envisioning such an aim outside of economic criteria and dogmatic religious or prescriptive pedagogical positions. Since the Greeks of antiquity, the best way to begin rethinking an honorable spiritual aim that will revitalize and inspire pedagogical learning remains the sole prerogative of philosophical paideia. Indeed, for the Greeks paideia constitutes the opening philosophical movement of the ongoing search for the place of the human within the kosmic whole along the pathways of altheia logos and dialogos, whilst the modernist project of education apparently bears no philosophical backbone save pragmatism that is indistinguishable from the utilitarian movement of feeding the needs and voracious demands of the industrial conglomerate: down the bottomless pit of the economic hole created by the global economic rises, crises and metastases. In conclusion, the present inquiry re-contextualizes the possible contribution of classical philosophical paideia in today's emerging global environment through an exploration of the Greek conceptions of epoché (epoch) and the kairos-the apt or ripe time.
... Hodkinson (2006) 130-46;(2020a). On the Spartan education system see Kennell (1995) and Ducat (2006). 56 Hodkinson (2006) 136; (2020a) 354. ...
Article
The tactics of Cretan citizen armies differed markedly from those utilized in most regions of the Classical and Hellenistic Greek world: instead of fighting in phalanxes, Cretans fought in open order, specializing in archery, skirmishing, ambushes and night actions. These tactics (and the cultural attitudes that went with them) were disparaged by mainland Greeks such as Polybios and explained in terms of moral deviancy: a sign of the duplicitous nature of the Cretans. This article demonstrates that these descriptions of Cretan tactics and behaviours are factual, but argues against the idea that they derive from moral deviancy. Rather, they represent the outcome of a different line of historical development than that followed in mainland Greece. Cretan tactics and attitudes stand far closer to those described by archaic poets (especially Homer, Archilochos and Kallinos); in this regard, Cretan city states displayed strong continuities with archaic social practices and values, detectable in other areas of Cretan society and culture. The stability of Cretan sociopolitical organization from the late seventh century down to the Roman conquest fostered the endurance of such practices and attitudes, leading to cultural divergence from mainland Greece and, accordingly, a generally hostile representation of Cretans in our main historiographical sources.
... Los ilotas eran una clase subordinada, ubicada entre los esclavos y los ciudadanos libres. Sin embargo, a pesar de estos mitos modernos, los historiadores antiguos han demostrado una y otra vez que, aunque el militarismo era un factor importante en la sociedad espartana, no era el dominante (Ducat 2006, Hodkinson y Powel 2006. Los espartanos tampoco glorificaban a sus muertos en la guerra de la forma en que algunos de sus admiradores actuales nos quieren hacer creer. ...
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In this article, I first explore the use of discursive and iconographic tropes from antiquity by neo-fascist and white supremacist groups, primarily in Greece but also in other, western contexts. These rely on specific, historically and empirically problematic constructions of ancient Sparta, and on other cultural formations and events such as the Greek-Persian wars, ancient Macedonia, and figures such as Alexander the Great. Militarization, the notions of sacrifice at war, racist and orientalist hierarchies, and the cult of the leader give the tone. Paradoxically, modern archaeo-genetic research is at times deployed by these groups to claim scientific proof of genetic continuity, reminding us of the dangers of the biologization of identity. In the second part of the paper, I suggest that archaeologists should counter such neo-fascist deployments by critiquing teleological and progressivist time, decolonizing the sensorial and affective regimes of racial and capitalist modernity, and confronting the ontology grounded on an individualized and autonomous self. I illustrate some of these thoughts by briefly presenting my work on the archaeology of contemporary migration and border crossing in the Aegean, based on fieldwork on the island of Lesvos. Such work constitutes an archaeological intervention in one of the most crucial issues of our time, and one that is often exploited by racist and neo-fascist discourses and practices. At the same time, it challenges the very foundations of modernist archaeology foregrounding multi-temporality, and inviting us to revisit our conceptions of the archaeological, of monuments, and of heritage.
... A term that translates to "happiness", "flourishing", "wellbeing", or "whatever makes a human life good for the person living it" (Aristotle, 2004, p. 206). Meanwhile, the Spartan school system was renowned for its emphasis on physicality, discipline, and ferocious competition as it prioritised the training of youth for war (Ducat, 2006). ...
Thesis
This thesis explores the implications of the ecological crisis for the relationship between education and economic growth. The thesis is grounded in the researcher’s lived experiences as a primary school teacher in the Latrobe Valley, a region that is economically dependent on significant deposits of brown coal. However, the region is also particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The thesis explores the role of education in this context. It makes an original contribution to knowledge by demonstrating how the concerns of educational policy scholars are interrelated with many of the issues discussed within the field of ecological economics.
... It is believed that the Krypteia was disbanded in the battle of Sellasia, in 222 BC, where Sparta lost against the Macedonian army commanded by Antigonus III [35]. This resulted in the emancipation of many helots and without a Helot population, it was impossible to organize the Krypteia. ...
Article
In this work we propose a new algorithm to train and optimize an ensemble of classifiers. We call this algorithm the Krypteia ensemble, based on an ancient Spartan tradition designed to convert their most promising individuals into future leaders of their society. We show how to adapt this ancient custom to optimize classifiers by generating different variations of the same task, each one offering different hardships according to distinct stochastic variables. This is thus applied to induce diversity in the set of individual weak learners. Then, we use a set of agents designed to select those subjects who excel in their assignments, and whose interaction minimizes excessive redundancies in the resulting population. We also study how different Krypteia ensembles can be stacked together, so that more complex classifiers can be built using the same procedure. Besides, we consider a wide range of different aggregation functions in the decision making phase to find the optimal performance for the different Krypteia ensemble variations tested. Finally, we study how different Krypteia ensembles perform for a wide range of classification datasets and we compare them with other state-of-the-art design techniques of classifier ensembles, obtaining favourable results to our proposal.
... . Sergent 1993: 166-167;Ducat 2006 Ducat : 273-274 y 2009 Nafissi 2018: passim, esp. 170-171, quien por cierto defiende que las prácticas espartanas de resistencia al frío y al calor extremo están en consonancia con lo expuesto en un tratado hipocrático. ...
... 8 Ver Humble (2004), p. 215-216, especialmente n. 3 para una investigación de los académicos más tempranos. Además, agregamos Ducat (2006), p. 2 (filosófico, aunque no por las mismas razones que las aquí expuestas, y elogioso); Gray (2007), p. 39-44 (elogio/modelo para imitar) y (2011), p. 248; y d'Alessandro (2009), p. xxiii (elogio, y Lac. 14 representa la desilusión posterior). La sugerencia de Strauss (1939) de que la obra es profundamente irónica es menos radical que lo que aparenta, al asumir que la lectura superficial es lo que la mayoría de los otros comentadores piensa: un encomio o defensa. ...
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Este artículo analiza la estructura genérica y los fundamentos de la Lacedaimonion Politeia de Jenofonte. La Lac. ha sido frecuentemente considerada como un elogio o defensa de Esparta. Sin embargo, su retórica y estructura narrativa tienen poca similitud con prácticas contemporáneas para la composición de encomios o defensas. Aun cuando esto no impide un motivo elogioso o defensivo, examinar el tipo de retórica y los patrones narrativos de Jenofonte revela distintas afiliaciones genéricas, mostrando que la Lac., al igual que muchos otros escritos de Jenofonte, es un trabajo híbrido con características de la literatura de politeiai y de la investigación filosófica. En efecto, una cuidadosa pesquisa, en particular, de la manera en que Jenofonte utiliza interlocutores imaginarios (característica compartida por ambos tipos de escritura) sugiere que el encomio no puede haber sido el objetivo de este tratado.
... As we know from the history of education, the places in time or space where school was treated as a problem of the state were scarce. One of the most cited examples (Ducat 2006, Sienkewicz 2007 in this direction is the case of Sparta, but this too was singular among ancient states. Although many people tend to think that Plato was one of the most important proponents of compulsory education (through The Republic and some other dialogues), let us not forget that Plato, despite his notoriousness in Ancient Greece, was not taken seriously when it came to imposing real regulations of life (with the sole and somewhat bizarre experience in Syracuse). ...
Article
In the debates promoted by the Ministry of Education around the change of the Law of Education in Romania, there is very little or no talk at all about homeschooling. On the other hand, one can empirically observe that the importance of this topic is growing almost exponentially in circles outside the official discourse of education. Thus, homeschooling is seen, by man young parents or opponents of the Romanian school establishment as the only viable option for the future. Despite this, at the moment there are no legitimate research works on homeschooling in Romania and the theoretical approaches are, also, quasi-inexistent. This article aims to be the first piece on homeschooling published in a Romanian scientific journal; the pages below offer a contextual introduction to the topic and, at the same time, they intend to sketch the pathways for further research in Romania on this matter. It should be noted that this material is not meant to be by any means a plea in favor of homeschooling. Instead, it tries to argue that any kind of educational alternative is a plausible one, but only after its effects are carefully analyzed and measured.
... s. v. Γυμνοπαίδια. Ducat 2006a, 272-273. 93 Ducat 2006a. ...
Article
It is widely recognized that physical corporal punishment was experienced by many Greco-Roman children and youths when they attended schools. However, relatively little attention has been paid to family perpetrated or condoned violence that was directed at children with learning impairments. This study examines the role of physical, emotional, and verbal family abuse perpetrated by parents, relatives, and other members of the household, such as slaves and freedmen, in the education of males with learning impairments. It examines in detail the family abuse suffered by Kottalos, the son of Mētrotimē, Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, who at the age of 50 would become ruler of the Roman Empire, and Atticus Bradua, the son of the famous Athenian sophist Herodes Atticus and his Roman wife Regilla. All three were subjected to physical, emotional, and verbal family abuse because they were identified as individuals with learning impairments.
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Sparta, Antik Yunan şehir-devletleri arasında özgün bir yere sahiptir. Askeri bir devlet olan Sparta’nın bu özgün karakteri Lykurgos’a atfedilmektedir. Efsanevi yasa koyucu (nomothetai: νομοτεται) Lykurgos, Sparta devletinin sosyo-politik yapısını sözlü yasalar ile oluşturmuş ve bu yasaları en katı biçimde uygulamıştır. Lykurgos’un yaratmış olduğu toplum ve birey inşasında; Spartalı bir yurttaşın yaşama hakkı başta olmak üzere bütün hayatı devlet tarafından tasarlanmıştır. Sparta devletinde yalnızca sağlıklı bir çocuğun yaşamasına izin verilmekteydi. Çünkü sağlıksız ve kusurlu bir beden hem kişinin kendisine hem de devlete yük olarak görülmekteydi. Yaşama hakkı tanınmış olan yani bedensel olarak sağlıklı ve kusursuz bir çocuk ise ancak devletin izlemiş olduğu politikalar yönünde bir yaşam sürebilirdi. Bu yaşamın ilk koşulu da agoge denilen eğitim sisteminden geçmesiydi. Agoge sisteminin temel amacı kişinin güçlü, düzgün ve atletik bir bedene sahip olmasıdır. Bu beden formunun oluşturulmasındaki temel motivasyon ise devletin özellikle iç tehditlere karşı güçlü ve savaşçı askerler yetiştirme politikasıdır. Sparta, coğrafi olarak doğal sınırlarla çevrelenmiş ve dolayısıyla dış tehditlerden uzak bir şehir olmasına rağmen savaşçı ruhuyla öne çıkmaktadır. Sparta’nın askeri bir devlet olmasının en önemli nedeni ise şüphesiz helot isyanlarıdır. Sparta devletinin kölesi olan helotlar oldukça kalabalık bir nüfusa sahipti ve dolayısıyla devlet tarafından sürekli olarak kontrol altında tutulması gerekmekteydi. Gerek helot isyanlarını önlemek, gerekse olası dış tehditlere karşı her daim hazırlıklı olmak üzere bir toplum inşa eden Sparta Yunan dünyasının en güçlü savaşçı bedenlerini yetiştirmiştir.
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Bu kitap, Türkiye'de vatandaşlık okuryazarlığının önemini vurgulamak ve Türkiye'deki bireylerin vatandaşlık okuryazarlığını belirlemek amacıyla hazırlanmıştır. Vatandaşlık, bireyin devletle olan yasal ilişkisini ve toplumla olan politik, sosyolojik ve ekonomik ilişkilerini ifade eden çok yönlü bir kavramdır. Bireyin kendini geliştirebilmesi, çevresini ve toplumu tanıyabilmesi, sorunlara katılabilmek ve sorumluluk üstlenebilmek için vatandaşlık anlayışını anlaması gerekmektedir. Bu nedenle, vatandaşlık alanı hem siyasette hem de akademik dünyada önem kazanmıştır. Özgürlük ve hareketli bir toplum için bireylerin vatandaşlık okuryazarlığına sahip olması gerekmektedir. Bu kitap, Türkiye'deki bireylerin vatandaşlık okuryazarlığını belirlemek amacıyla hazırlanan bir doktora tezinin gözden geçirilmesiyle oluşturulmuştur. Kitap, vatandaşlık anlayışının ve vatandaşlık okuryazarlığının önemini vurgulamakta ve Türkiye'deki bireylerin vatandaşlık okuryazarlığını tespit etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. This book has been prepared to emphasize the importance of citizenship literacy in Turkey and to determine the citizenship literacy of individuals in Turkey. Citizenship is a multifaceted concept that refers to an individual's legal relationship with the state and their political, sociological, and economic relations with society. In order for individuals to develop themselves, understand their environment and society, participate in and take responsibility for problems, they need to understand the concept of citizenship. Therefore, the field of citizenship has gained importance both in politics and in the academic world. Individuals need to have citizenship literacy for a free and dynamic society. This book is created by reviewing a doctoral thesis prepared to determine the citizenship literacy of individuals in Turkey. The book aims to emphasize the importance of the concept of citizenship and citizenship literacy and to determine the citizenship literacy of individuals in Turkey.
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This paper examines two problematic appellations of boy victors, παῖς καθαρός and παῖς κρίσεως τῆς Ἀγησιλάου , and the subdivision of boys in the Spartan festival Leonidea in inscription IG V.1 19. I propose several emendations to the edition of this inscription with the hope to correct a mistake and add two events into the athletic contest. I argue that age and birth were important criteria for the sub-classification of παῖδες , whereas physical development did not play a major role in the process. By means of adopting different categorizations in different games, Sparta memorialized its heroes, both warriors in the past Persian war and contemporary benefactors, innovated its traditions of athletic training and contests, and displayed its reputation of excellence in the Leonidea.
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Characters in the Greek novels comprise a dizzying array of identities, but one group of people who have received barely any attention are Spartans. They appear only in Chariton of Aphrodisias and Xenophon of Ephesus, where analysis of their presence sheds crucial light on the novels’ literary and sociocultural agendas. After an introduction (section I), section II discusses Chaereas’ self-characterization as the Spartan Leonidas in book 7 of Chariton’s Chaereas and Callirhoe in the context of Imperial-period Sparta: its institutions (the Leonideia festival), prosopography (the Euryclid dynasty) and reputation for military greatness. I link these elements to the ‘kinsman of Brasidas’ in book 8, who can be directly connected to an Imperial-period descendant of Brasidas in Plutarch’s Sayings of Kings and Commanders , as well as to Thucydides’ Brasidas. Section III explores the Spartan identity of Aegialeus and Thelxinoe, the protagonists of an inset story told to Habrocomes in book 5 of Xenophon’s Ephesiaca . Details of their lives correspond closely to Spartan cultural phenomena familiar from Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus , especially in connection with marriage customs. This has consequences for the evaluation of Xenophon as a witty and sophisticated novelist, and for his compositional date. Section IV draws out the significant parallels between the depiction of Spartans in Chariton and Xenophon, which form the basis of proposals regarding their literary and chronological relationships.
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This thesis on nation and nationalism in the era of the so-called First Republic of (German)-Austria sheds light on the role of schooling for the development and spreading of an Austrian national identity between 1918 and 1938. Facing a comeback of nationalism all over the world in the beginning of the 21st century, questions on what nation and nationalism are, how national identities are constructed and spread and what implications these processes have on politics and societies rise anew. By examining Austria between 1918 and 1938, this case study allows to draw conclusions on the importance of state schooling for the formation of national societies, which eventually leads to the predominance of the nation-state as widely accepted organizational model for modern societies. By taking a closer look at specific schools, foremost gymnasia, in the Republic of Austria, I examined the importance of state schooling for the formation and perpetuation of an Austrian national identity between 1918 and 1938, keeping in mind the close ties between Germany and (German)-Austria that ultimately made way for the annexation of Austria in March 1938. As a result, it can be said that schools seemed to be rather non-national places from 1918 until the beginning of the 1930s in that sense that the Austrian nationality was not a central topic of discussion. This phase of a rather non-national school was replaced in the beginning of the 1930s when nationality – especially with references to the Austrian nation – became more popular. Within few years or even months, schools were turned into places where patriotic-nationalistic festivities took place and students were ordered to wear badges of the single political party “Fatherland Front” after all other parties had been prohibited and Austria had been turned into a dictatorship in 1934. Based on yearbooks and archival sources I could examine how these changes influenced schooling and instruction on the level of individual schools. The main outputs of this research are that the thesis of the eminent importance of schooling for the formation of societies and nations also apply to the case of Austria between 1918 and 1938. However, schools and instruction can only influence the formation of national societies when there is a distinct national ideology that can be spread. A genuine Austrian national idea was not widespread until the takeover of the “Austro-Fascist” regime under Dollfuß and Schuschnigg and consequently hardly matter of schooling and/or instruction. As the further story of Austria shows, implementing a (national) ideology from top (elites) down (majority of the population) is not easy and takes time. Only in the 1970s and 1980s more than half of the population of Austria referred to themselves as members of the Austrian nation, leading to a nowadays widely unchallenged assumption of Austrian “nationness”. In this thesis the roots of the notion of the Austrian nation after are examined and seen in the context of state schooling.
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Public finances as a reflection of a specific political mentality obtain contours through the comparison with the conditions at Sparta. The image of Sparta is essentially shaped by historiography and the philosophers of the fourth century. The literary sources draw the image of a polis with limited resources. Source criticism, however, proves this image to be a construct. Beyond this discourse, however, archaeological, epigraphic, and casual remarks in historiographical writings show that Spartan financial administration was much more complex than previously assumed. In this respect, serious differences from Athens can be identified. Even though economic disparaties existed in Sparta and Spartan society was characterized by competition and hierarchies, the ideology of equality among citizens who called themselves homoioi (“those who are alike”) prevented wealth from being used for the benefit of the community. This removed the possibility of using a traditional form of financing: the liturgies. To guarantee the necessary public tasks, one therefore resorted to the proto-liturgy system of the perioeci.
Chapter
Archaic Greeks expressed variable opinions about divine justice, either assuring that gods protect the human order or complaining about the inability to understand the ways of the gods. The article discusses the dynamics of the Archaic Greek society conditioning these various views.KeywordsArachic GreeceDivine justiceSpartaHistoriography
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The corpus of carved ivories from the sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta forms one of the most cosmopolitan assemblages from Archaic Laconia. One image within this corpus, however, has remained an anomaly: a mirror-image scene on two plaques showing three figures mourning a deceased male in the prothesis ritual. The puzzling nature of these plaques rests on the dearth of imagery elsewhere in Laconia from this period displaying the prothesis, unlike Attica. These images have been viewed as representing a mythical death or a commemoration of an actual death, tied to a period in Sparta's history when elite groups claimed power through ostentatious ritual, but their overall meaning within Orthia's sanctuary remains obscure. I argue, however, that these plaques are not anomalies within the ivory corpus, nor are they divorced from the broader ritual programme in Orthia's sanctuary – rather, the ivory corpus itself represents a unified composition that merged scenes showing ideal activities for Spartan citizens with heroic episodes from myth, geared towards the achievement of everlasting kléos . The semantics of these combined iconographies are clarified via comparison with cultic implements described in ancient literature alongside extant examples of multi-scene figural pottery from the seventh and sixth centuries. This paper thus highlights the mythological and ideological meanings of the prothesis plaques within the broader ivory corpus, and elucidates the role of complex figural iconographies in the elaboration of heroic ideals centred on Spartan citizens in this period.
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Bu çalışmanın amacı Klasik Çağ’dan Helenistik Dönem sonuna kadar okul öncesi Yunan eğitiminde kadının yerini belirlemektir. Çocuk eğitiminde annelerin yeri tartışmasız büyük olmuştur. Konu ile ilgili kaynaklar, çocuğun bakımı ve eğitimi konusunda annelerin öneminden bahsettiği gibi başka kadınların da varlığına işaret etmektedir. Bu kapsamda, hemşireler, sütanneler ve dadıların okul öncesi Yunan eğitim alanındaki rolleri açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır. Çalışmamızda, Yunan anakarası, Batı Anadolu, Girit, Kiklad Adaları, Roma ve Helenistik Krallıklar üzerindeki mevcut arkeolojik buluntular; antik yazarların ve modern yazarların eserlerinden yararlanılarak Antik Çağ okul öncesi eğitiminde kadının yeri ve önemi detaylı olarak ele alınacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Okul Öncesi, Yunan Çocuk Eğitimi, Hemşire, Sütanne, Dadı.
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This article seeks to find attitudes and judgments elite Romans made based on a person’s bed. It culls written sources from a diverse range of genres to argue that elite Roman men saw beds as transformative and reflective items. Through long-lasting and frequent contact, a bed’s qualities seeped into bodies and characters. Consequently, as a powerful part of the built environment, beds could strengthen or weaken soldiers as well as help or harm a person’s health. Furthermore, beds’ transformative power meant elite Romans thought where a man slept revealed who he was: his social status, moral fiber, and civilization. In short, beds marked a person’s identity. Examining how Roman elites conceptualized beds informs us on the larger issue of the history of the body, in general, and the sense of touch, in particular. Scholarship on the history of touch tends not analyze the effects of sustained and repetitive contact with a mundane object.
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This paper argues that Lampito, the Spartan character who takes part in the pacifist plot of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (411 BC), has been inspired by both parents of Agis II, the king of Sparta who led the war against Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian War and fortified Deceleia in 413 BC. Agis’ mother bore the quite rare name of Lampito as well; his father, the ‘pacifist’ King Archidamos II, voted against the war at the Spartan Assembly in 432. Aristophanes knew of Archidamos’ speech from oral tradition, possibly from the report of the Athenian ambassadors at Sparta or, alternatively and more probably, from public readings of Thucydides’ account of the pre-war debate that took place in the Spartan Assembly.
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The question of a Dorian migration divides scholarly opinion ‐ the case for the traditional view that new population groups occupied the Peloponnese during the Early Iron Age (EIA) has been defended. The story of their origin gave an identity to the Spartans, but it was constantly rewritten through time and according to historical circumstances. The Late Helladic IIIA/B period marks a high point in the story of Bronze Age Laconia, but the foundations of Mycenaean society were laid in the preceding centuries. The 8th and 7th centuries see the development of Late Geometric and SubG into the classic Laconian I and II pottery styles, the latter persisting into the early 6th century. From the middle of the 7th century onwards, Laconian fine pottery has been found through much of the Mediterranean; areas such as Samos, Taras, and Cyrenaica had traditional links with Sparta and perhaps family ties and friendships eased the transactions.
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In 2001, in a special issue of the Annales de démographie historique, four historians provided the first historiographical assessment on the history of childhood in the Western World: this field of study, born following the work of Philippe Ariès, had indeed generated researches in the 1970-1990’s, even if Véronique Dasen, who had written the part of the file dedicated to the ancient period, pointed out the relative delay of the Hellenists in this area. Fifteen years later, this article intends reviewing the works led since 2001, many studies having completed a field of research that historians and archaeologists of ancient Greece have now captured successfully.
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The study of deformities and disabilities in Sparta immediately raises the issue of sources: there is no appropriate Spartan documentation dealing with this subject. The little insight on this subject comes from an assortment of texts written between the fourth century BC and the rule of the Emperor Adrian. This scarcity makes it difficult to turn malformations and disabilities into subjects of history. Only Plutarch mentioned the fate of the deformed newborns (Life of Lycurgus, 16.1-2). Parallels can however be made with Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle. Concerning adult disabilities, only the case of king Agesilaos has actually been documented. A few questions are addressed here: how did malformed bodies fit into the political, social and cultural construction of Spartan strength and power? Did such perception exist in their statutes? Is there a Spartan specificity?
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