The Spartans

The Spartan family was quite different from that of other Ancient Greek city states. The word spartan has come down to us to describe self denial and simplicity. This is what Spartan life was all about. Children were children of the state more than of their parents. They were raised to be soldiers, loyal to the state, strong and self disciplined.Despite their PG 13 portrayal by Hollywood in the movie 300 that didn t do their civilization justice, the Spartans were actually pretty hardcore. Just to get a basic understanding of their culture think about this Every single Spartan male was a soldier. Every other job was done by slaves; the Spartan men were warriors and that was that. They fought until they could finally retire at the age of 60. And if that wasn t enough dyin didn t earn him a headstone, he didn t deserve it. The only Spartans who got marked headstones were the ones who died in battle, during victory. In those times as only the ones who perished in battle got to have their graves marked for the future generations to marvel at their heroism. And if someone lost his shield during battle, he got the death penalty. A true soldier would have gone back to get it, or died trying.