I. In Greece the polis of Sparta was the figure one military authorization for the people and for the clip period. There was nil that the Spartans could non make when it came to war. From the clip that Spartan work forces were born. they were evaluated for their hereafter services to the Spartan society. Each babe was sent to hold the 10. 10. one trial done on them as explained in the novel. The Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. This trial was to look into and do certain that there were no malformations. If there were the kids were killed because they could non assist the military. therefore had no intent in their society as a whole. Sparta was a militarist province. The other serfs and Athenians and so on. looked to the Spartans for counsel and frequently for overall protection during the times of war. Their society as a whole was really separated from the remainder of Greece though. For illustration in the novel when Xeones negotiations about his dreams to be a Spartan he knows that he would ne’er be recognized. while his cousin Diomache wants to be an Athenian she knows that is it possible. One could merely name himself a Spartan if he was born of a Spartan in Sparta.
The polis besides held itself high in importance. In the book. The Gates of Fire Rooster whose female parent was a Messenian did non see a demand to be honest to Sparta and protect it either. Rooster would cuss it and talk of the Gods as if they were nil. So in the novel Polynikes was traveling to kill Rooster because there is no demand for person who has no trust and award for Sparta.
The Spartan society was one of a sort. There was no other polis that was rather similar Sparta in the affairs of how they raised their people. The society had two male monarchs. one military and one spiritual. They besides had the council of seniors that helped do determinations. In Pressfields fresh Leonidas was the military male monarch of Sparta during the times of the conflict of Thermopylae.
The polis of Sparta had a system. and overall it worked efficaciously. The work forces protected the metropolis. and controlled everything through the council of seniors. Then in the times of war when the work forces were off the adult females were in control. They took attention of the metropoliss mundane affairs along with the serfs from the environing polis. The work forces responsibility to the state was to function. In fact the last paragraph of the novel does an first-class occupation in demoing this by saying. State the Spartans. alien passing by. that here obedient to their Torahs we lie. This was citing the fact that the 300 Spartans died as they were told to by their Torahs and manner of life.
Overall the polis of Sparta had an effectual system. The military worked as it was supposed to. and most other metropoliss and swayers feared the armed forces of Sparta. The polis besides had an effectual trade and regulating system overall. The adult females and serfs more frequently than non cover with the mundane trade and intercity traffics. The council of seniors besides was effectual in regulating the metropolis.
II. From the beginning of life flawlessness was the purpose and the lone manner for Spartans. When the kids had any imperfectness they were either killed or adopted by the serfs environing the Spartan polis. The work forces were put up to some of the toughest trials at highly immature ages. At the age of seven they were put into the agoge for their military preparation. This would fix them for the military life that they would finally take. Pressfields novel explains some of the trials that these immature male childs were expected to execute. Xeones speaks of the forcing of the tree. in which the male childs are expected to force down a immense. old tree with merely their musculus and force. This is known to be rather impossible. yet it prepares them for the force needed to contend subsequently on in life.
These immature male childs had to come in this agoge. It was portion of turning up in Sparta. They would besides hold to contend other male childs about their age in fist of fist conflicts as Xeones and Alexandros have to make. The Spartan male childs were expected to contend until they could non contend any longer. After these pealing battles the male childs would besides frequently be whipped until their spinal columns and musculuss would demo. The male childs could state them to halt. but this would demo failing. so they frequently would take the whippings until they passed out. This may hold seemed rough and frequently it was. but this preparation was what produced the strong military work forces that Sparta profoundly depended on to maintain its rubric as the military power house. Throughout the novel it shows Xeones battle to be accepted as a Spartan adult male.
This was his dream his full life. because as his friend Bruxieus stated. other metropoliss produce memorials and poesy. Sparta produces work forces. Then work forces continued to function in the military until they were 30 old ages old. when they were eventually pardoned of their military responsibilities. The seniors in Sparta were upon the most esteemed citizens. Their age and wisdom were respected more than anyone else. In the fresh Xeones awards Bruxieus as he should. Even though Bruxieus is merely a slave. with many disabilities that hold him back. Xeones looks past all of this. He sees the cognition and love that he offers to him and his cousin Diomache in their clip of most demand. Bruxieus ushers and takes attention of the kids after their town is attacked and their parents and farms are destroyed. So when Bruxieus died Xeones kept his promise that he would travel to Sparta and go a Spartan.
The adult females of Sparta were unlike any adult females from the environing countries. The adult females of Sparta were allowed to be educated. frock as they pleased. exercising and work out. and did many of the undertakings that the work forces did. This exercised the Spartan belief that a adult male was merely every bit strong as the adult females that he was born of. The adult females were non considered equal with the work forces though. There were many illustrations of this is Pressfields novel. One being the fact that when Diomache was raped by the military work forces they told her it was nil personal. but non to come back because it would go on once more. Besides it is seen in the fact that adult females such as Arete though strong in her overall beliefs and her address she was merely this manner in the privacy of her ain home. She frequently would speak to Xeones about personal affairs or inquiries and she would province her sentiment. but once more this was in the privateness of her ain place.
Though adult females were restricted in their power as a gender. they were besides greatly respected by the honest work forces in their society. This was greatly explored when Dienekes was inquiring the inquiry of what is the antonym of fright. Dienekes so states. Possibly the God we seek is non a God at all. but a goddess. He goes on to province that adult females have more bravery and less fright than the work forces themselves because of all they give to society. such as childbearing. They go on to later province that the antonym of fright is love. which the adult females show invariably.
III. Pressfields fresh explores the mundane lives of the Spartan at the clip of the conflict of Thermopylae. The frame narrative is a perfect manner to state Xeones narrative. The first chapter explores Xeones waking up after the conflict of Thermopylae and easy recognizing the state of affairs that has occurred. The novel starts out state the life narrative of Xeones and how he ended up in the quandary that he did. Pressfield does an astonishing occupation stating the history of Sparta through a personal narrative. The subjects of war. love. society. and spiritualty were explored and related to the history facet of the book.
When Xeones starts off his narrative as a kid. the novel shows the rough side of war. It is one thing for the soldiers themselves to be injured ; it is another for a kid to see his household and polis destroyed right before his ain eyes. Xeones and Diomache so have to scrounge in the wilderness with Bruxieus. a slave of Xeones that besides survived the onslaught on their polis.
The ferociousness of war and the life Xeones had to populate is explored throughout the following few chapters of the novel. The harshest was the colza of Diomache and the internal conflict Xeones faces with himself. After being caught stealing his custodies are nailed to a board. and Xeones believes they are ruined everlastingly. Finally he returns to Diomache and Bruxieus. yet he runs off to allow himself decease because he believes he will ne’er be a Spartan now with his disablement. At this point in the novel the spiritualty of the clip is seen. Xeones sees Apollo the bowman who guides him to his chosen calling by the Gods.
Love is seen throughout the full novel as Xeones craves for his cousins love and acceptance. In the beginning she tells him that he would ne’er be adult male adequate for her to get married and that he is merely a cockamamie male child. Yet. throughout the book he seeks her and she could so see in the temple in Athens the existent adult male that her cousin Xeones had become. He was a Spartan. and was a adult male. Though he loves Diomache and later it is seen she felt the same they both had kids and a partner that came foremost. before true love. Arete besides speaks on the affair and difference of love and matrimony to a Spartan when Xeones negotiations in private with her. She states that she ever loved Dienekes even when she was married to Iatrokles his brother. Yet. the society deems arranged matrimonies more of import than the love felt between two people.
The conflict of Thermopylae was barbarous. and bosom wrenching. Though merely explained through words in this book the blood spill was so life like. The work forces of Sparta spent yearss upon yearss contending Xerxes work forces. seeking to maintain their polis free. The saddest portion was the fact that they were contending so difficult. cognizing the whole clip that they were contending to merely finally die. They knew they would ne’er once more see the site of Sparta or the faces of their kids or married womans of all time once more. Yet. that was what kept them traveling ; the love for their state and households and the hope that it would stay free for them and the future coevalss. So though Thermopylae was a conflict of warfare and combat. it was besides a narrative of the Spartans contending for what they loved and what they respected.
So though the book as a whole focal points on the conflict of Thermopylae. it besides explores the Spartan society through the eyes of Xeones. He ever loved the Spartans and their ways of life. The Spartans were war ; it defined them and separated them as a polis. Xeones spent his full life to go one of these elect work forces. and finally through decease did so. He died functioning the polis that he wanted so bad to go a portion of. Yet. through his decease he did so. He served the polis and protected his people. and in the terminal Xeones dream came true. he was honored and named a true Spartan citizen.
