September 21, 2018 ▸ History, People

Episode 332: Sparta: Ancient Bad Asses

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at perhaps the most hardcore civilization to ever exist. This. Is. Sparta. Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece that was made popular in recent years thanks to Frank Miller’s graphic novel and Zack Snyder’s movie adaption of it—300. This tells the story of 300 elite Spartan warriors who hold off a million man Persian army. Is there any truth to this? Kind of, yes.

Sparta was a nation that was dedicated to two things: a strong state and warfare. The Spartans were actually the minority in their own society since the other two castes of slaves and craftsmen outnumbered them. However, they were the best of the best at warfare, and a Spartan only had career goal. Warrior. They didn’t farm, build house, make weapons or anything else. They simply fought in wars. To this end, the children were sent to a brutal training ground starting at age 7 called the Agoge.

The Agoge was a military training that lasted until they were 20. They fought each other, were starved to encourage them to steal food and fight each other for calories, and they finally graduated when they could sneak out of the barracks without being caught and murder a slave. They were the Navy Seals of the ancient world, born and raised for battle. Weak infants were discarded, women learned to fight, and men were in the army until they were 60.

So what was the story of the battle of Thermopylae? How accurate was the movie compared to true history? How did the Spartans get defeated in the Hot Gates? Why did they bathe their infants in wine? What did they do to keep the slave population in check? Listen, laugh, learn.

Movie versus Truth: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/300spartans.php