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beorna
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Topic: Sparta: the Nazis of the ancient world Posted: 09-Apr-2013 at 10:01 |
maybe a few words about eugenics. Plutrch reported, that the spartans bring their babies to the Eldest so that they decided, if the children were healthy and strong or ill and weak. If they were weak and ill, they were brought to the Apothetai. He explained, that it was better for such babies not to live longer and as well better for the state. But Plutarch failed to explain, what he originally wanted to explain, namely why it was the state who decided this, while in other greek states it was the father. Cos this is the difference between Sparta and the rest of greece, not that weak babies were only killed in sparta. So why did the state does it. If the state did not want to get ill and weak citizens later, after the children became adult, then to abandon babies was not necessary, cos there was the agoge. Nobody who did not manage to go to the agoge became a Spartan citizen. What makes sense is not, that the state wanted to avoid ill and weak babies, but it was the completely opposite. The state did not want to allow the father to decide, which baby should stay alive and which not. This was e.g. important for the heritage. Was it big enough for several children? Sparta granted special rights for fathers with three or more children, rights for mothers. So it was a method to make sure, that strong and healthy babies did not end in the Apothetai. Did the eldest decide to raise the children, the parents had to. Maybe this was decided even, when the kid was disabled, just see Agesilaos II.
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Nick1986
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Posted: 10-Apr-2013 at 20:42 |
Interesting. So the Spartans kept weak children alive with the full knowledge they would die in the agoge. Sounds like the Nazis' ideal of survival of the fittest, where only the strongest and most ruthless survive
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okamido
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Posted: 10-Apr-2013 at 23:40 |
I would probably rethink the agoge, Nick. Many 'friends of Sparta', such as Xenophon, sent their sons to the agoge. With childhood mortality rates being what they were for every era before the latter 20th century, do you think some wealthy oligarch would send his son and heir to a place were he might possibly be killed so easily? Logic usually wins out over gossip.
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TITAN_
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Posted: 11-Apr-2013 at 03:21 |
The U.S. House of Representatives chamber features an ancient Nazi?
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αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν
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“Ever to Excel“
From Homer's Iliad (8th century BC).
Motto of the University of St Andrews (founded 1410), the Edinburgh Academy (founded 1824) and others.
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beorna
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Posted: 11-Apr-2013 at 12:12 |
Originally posted by okamido
I would probably rethink the agoge, Nick. Many 'friends of Sparta', such as Xenophon, sent their sons to the agoge. With childhood mortality rates being what they were for every era before the latter 20th century, do you think some wealthy oligarch would send his son and heir to a place were he might possibly be killed so easily? Logic usually wins out over gossip. |
yes, indeed. the fail in the agoge doesn't men to die, just to lose the status as homoioi. There is nothing nazi-like in sparta
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Nick1986
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Posted: 13-Apr-2013 at 20:14 |
Originally posted by TITAN_
The U.S. House of Representatives chamber features an ancient Nazi? |
The House also features a medieval traitor (Simon de Montfort), a slave owner (George Mason), a dictator (Boney), and the pope who ordered the Fourth Crusade (Innocent III).
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Me Grimlock not nice Dino! Me bash brains!
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beorna
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Posted: 14-Apr-2013 at 04:54 |
And maybe Lykurg is as real as Artus.
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TITAN_
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Posted: 14-Apr-2013 at 05:55 |
Originally posted by Nick1986
Originally posted by TITAN_
The U.S. House of Representatives chamber features an ancient Nazi? |
The House also features a medieval traitor (Simon de Montfort), a slave owner (George Mason), a dictator (Boney), and the pope who ordered the Fourth Crusade (Innocent III).
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So what? Alexander the Great was not innocent either but he offered a lot in terms of cultural exchange between the West and the East. We are talking about positive legacy regarding law-making here... None of the persons you mentioned was a Nazi.
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αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν
Een aristevin
“Ever to Excel“
From Homer's Iliad (8th century BC).
Motto of the University of St Andrews (founded 1410), the Edinburgh Academy (founded 1824) and others.
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beorna
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Posted: 14-Apr-2013 at 06:50 |
so was not Lykurg, if he existed at all.
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TITAN_
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Posted: 14-Apr-2013 at 07:30 |
Originally posted by beorna
so was not Lykurg, if he existed at all.
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The name means nothing. Someone was the first law-giver of Sparta. Whether that was Lykurgus or ....Merkel makes no difference, whatsoever. There was a person who gets the credits for being the first law-maker of Sparta and that person lived in the 8th century BC.
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αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν
Een aristevin
“Ever to Excel“
From Homer's Iliad (8th century BC).
Motto of the University of St Andrews (founded 1410), the Edinburgh Academy (founded 1824) and others.
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beorna
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Posted: 14-Apr-2013 at 08:55 |
We don't know much that is certain about those far days.It seems, that it was the so-called 2nd messenian war which caused the change in the social charcter of the Spartans. The time inw hich these reforms seem to have happened is the 7th and 6th century, so we should doubt, that it was invented by one person or even a single group of persons and some of sparta's constitution is probably older than those reforms.
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andy4675
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Posted: 16-Jul-2013 at 15:32 |
It have not been proved yet. Not archaeologically.
Edited by andy4675 - 16-Jul-2013 at 15:37
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If Parmenion is a trator, then whom to believe? But if he is not, then what to do? - Antipatros
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andy4675
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Posted: 16-Jul-2013 at 15:36 |
No more than Athens was. Every city-state could be blamed for such ideology. To survive they had to believe that they are the best and that their neighbors are created just to give them goods. As the strongest state Sparta is blamed more than them all. But there is no real reason...
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If Parmenion is a trator, then whom to believe? But if he is not, then what to do? - Antipatros
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