George Santayana once said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (Santayana 284). The Founding Fathers of America took a deep look into the past to avoid the fall of their nation. In Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts, Carl J. Richard writes about how the Founding Fathers learned from the ways Greeks and Romans ran their governments to better govern the United States. In chapter two, “Sparta and Individual Rights,” Richard explains that the Spartans lived in extreme discipline and in fear of foreign trade or travel, leading to patriotic and robust people with a lack of personality or art. However, The Founding Fathers learned from the fall of Sparta that socialization should never be overlooked and every citizen deserves natural rights but should be willing to make sacrifices during hardships. Sparta trained its people to serve under strict rules at all times to create a nation of powerful people from birth. Infants were inspected and thrown off of Mount Taygetus if they had illnesses or deformities (Richard 26). At the age of seven, girls were trained athletically so they would have healthier babies (Richard 26). Accordingly, seven year old boys learned to read and trained for battle (Richard 26). The Spartans focused so heavily on being resilience that boys were not taught lyric poetry or philosophy; those subjects …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson referred to the Spartans as “military monks,” only able to fight well (Richard 32). The Fathers actually preferred regular socialization for the nation, welcoming culture. In other words, they believed in expanding territory and trading with others. Although the Founding Fathers respected the Spartan’s strength, they preferred peace that included individual freedom for all. Therefore, Sparta would not become their model for government, but they would be history to learn from (Richard
The governments of these two city-states were not alike in many ways. “It is true that our government is called a democracy, because its administration is in the hands, not of the few, but of the many,” (Document 3). Athens’ government was what we would consider today a direct democracy. This means that their government was run by the people, or in other words “the many”, rather than a couple government officials, or “the few”. Although Athens was running their city as a government by the people, Sparta had a different form of government. “it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy,
To look at this epistemologically, there is an understanding that almost every aspect involved in this culture was derived for the good of the polis. This seemed to be a very proud and arrogant people. A city with no walls, and in almost certainty, only natural born were allowed to earn citizenship. To even be called a Spartan meant years of fighting, service and status. Tyrtaeus states this argument best in the last line of his work. “Thus a man should endeavor to reach this high place of courage with all his heart, and, so trying, never be backward in war.” These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion.
The women in Sparta were strong. They birthed warriors. They were warriors themselves. “They also underwent an intensive physical training program, which included discus and javelin throwing, and wrestling. The purpose of this training program was to ensure that they became fit breeders of Spartan babies.” (Garland, Robert. "The People." Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
Athenian girls were not officially schooled, they were usually taught in the own homes. The purpose of an Athenian education was to train people to be thinkers, people who are well-trained in the arts and sciences (Columbia). The education of the youth establishes a precedent for the differences between the way Spartans and Athenians lead their lives. At age seven, training for the military began for all Spartan boys, they’re forced to leave their homes and go to military schools, where they endure all types of harsh training and discipline. The main lesson was learning to take pride in enduring pain and hardship.
Spartan culture is a great example of how a society’s infrastructure will directly affect both, its social structure and superstructure. It also serves as a warning that any society that becomes too rigid in its structure and too static in its values will not last long when confronted with more agile and adaptable cultures. This paper will explore why Sparta became the Hellenic army par excellence, how this worked to create a very specific social structure founded on martial values, and, finally, how that social structure would ultimately be the undoing of the culture.
Young girls were taken to live with other young girls to learn physical training (Blundell). Spartan women were trained heavily in exercise such as wrestling, and gymnastics (Hodkinson). The objective of the training for Spartan women was slightly different than Spartan men. Women in Sparta were trained vigorously, because they believed the more physical the women were, the more likely they would bear stronger children that would become incredible warriors (Blundell). Just like the young men, girls were encouraged to be naked in physical competitions (Hodkinson). The idea of the men and women being able to be naked together, gave each of them the idea that they were equal, and needed each other to achieve
The weaknesses of education in Sparta outweigh the strengths because boys wore no shoes in public, they stole food, and schedules were harsh at 12 years old. Article 2 said,” Instead of softening the boys feet with sandals, [Lycurgus] required them to harden their feet by going without shoes” (Document b), If boys do not wear shoes, they could get some very severe disease that could kill them. Article 1 said,” Boys were encouraged to go out and steal food for the mess, but if caught stealing they were whipped” (Document A). People should not get whipped for stealing something important; they should get a harsh punishment because stealing is something terrible to do. Article 1
In their youth, Spartan women were allowed to train with Spartan warriors. This was done in the belief that their training would give them the power to bear warrior sons (Robert R. Edgar). In fact, women in Sparta formed a military background in their youth. They were also as strong
Sparta was known for being strong, but was it really? In case you don’t know, Sparta was a Greek city-state. Sparta only focused on war. Spartans were only taught the basics of other topics. Spartans were trained for 13 years just to fight. Reading and writing were only taught in Sparta for practical reasons. The strengths didn’t outweigh the weaknesses. There were more weaknesses to Sparta than there were strengths. The strengths of Sparta didn’t outweigh the weaknesses for three reasons. The first reason is that the babies were killed just if they looked weak. The second reason is that the Spartans barely new anything about other topics (math, reading, writing, etc). The third and final reason is that the helots outnumbered the Spartans 50 to 1.
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville writes that, “equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived” in America. With the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln rededicates America to this fundamental creed, holding the Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal” as the nation’s ideological foundation. Lincoln’s speech evokes Pericles’s Funeral Oration, which similarly flaunts equality as the bedrock of Athens. By linking the two speeches and states, Lincoln expands America’s national duty in demanding that the country provide an example to the world like Athens. Lincoln uses this duty as a reason to continue the war effort, following Pericles’s example of protreptikon. Most importantly, the linkage draws a contrast between the two states: Athenian exceptionalism is based on realized cultural values, while Lincoln’s American exceptionalism is purely doctrinal. In comparing the two, Lincoln displays that America must follow through on past intentions in order to realize its greatness.
...ing, wresting, and throwing the discus and javelin. Those who failed their training risked societal rejection by their families and friends. Girls trained to survive childbirth and bear the next generation of courageous warriors. Boys trained to be heroic soldiers, indoctrinated to rather die for Sparta than run from death. Although this harsh social system allowed Sparta to have the greatest army in all of Greece, it did however poison the minds of the Spartans. The Spartan paranoia of being conquered led to the advancement of military strength, but also led to the neglect of stability within the Spartan community (Richard). Being an individual in a society that rests on human disposability is impossible, and this very flaw prompted the Founders to stress the importance of individuality, memorialized in the saying “e pluribus unum” or “out of many there is one”.
...litary end even the women in Sparta would have been affected by the military ways of life almost as much as the young men. From childhood they were being primed to raise a family, they were taught in the ways of mid wifery, learning the correct manner in teaching the future young men of Sparta and keeping themselves fit to produce fit children.
The women of Sparta may not have been active in the military, but they were physically trained and educated like the Spartan men, but also enjoyed more liberties compared to the other women of Greece. Spartan women had a strong reputation for their gallantry and masculinity that other Greek women could not seem to match. Spartan women were women who were toughened up physically so that they could become the wives and mothers of strong soldiers. Therefore, at a young age, girls were taught to run, wrestle and throw the discus and javelin just like the boys of Sparta. The physical exercise women were granted was a guarantee that Spartan women would be able to reproduce and bear warrior children who also had strong bodies.
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers” states the gettysburg address, possibly one of the greatest things ever written. It all starts with our Fathers, and in other words...Our Founding Fathers. How could we get through history without the men who started our country? Would anything be the same without the men who set our nation? The answer to those questions are no, without the men and women of our history, we would be nowhere we are today. We wouldn’t be successful in government or really anything if they hadn’t of set the foundation for us.
In Classical Sparta, the agoge, was a successful education method as it bred discipline and fear into the future homoioi. Fear benefited the Spartan polis due to the fact that it created unquestionable obedience to authority. Plutarch expressed how that, ‘Where there is fear, there is also a sense of respect’ (Plutarch, Cleomenes). At the age of seven, the young Spartans started their agoge training, a paidonomos was placed in consistent supervision of the boy and was able to punish them when they felt necessary (Webb, 2012). Furthermore, the paidonomos was assisted by a young man, aged around 18-20, called an eirenes. The eirenes carried a whip around with them, able to chastise students for any misbehaviour (Amos and Lang, 1979), this was effective as it further created more fear, which lead to a higher respect for those older than them.