Lycurgos and the Spartans

A.) The theme of the story is how Lycurgos had chosen one guardian to have complete authority of the Spartans. The Spartans were trained to be tough strong warriors. The paidonomos was given a bearing whip to inflict punishment when necessary. This was only one of the many painful things the Spartans had to deal with. B.) “Again, as regards food, according to his regulation, the eiren, or head of the flock, must see that his messmates gather to the club meal with such moderate food as to avoid bloating and yet not remain unacquainted with the pains of starvation. His belief was that by such training in boyhood they would be better able when occasion demanded to continue toiling on an empty stomach.” This stood out to me because it reminded me of my friend Ashley who is in the navy. She wrote me a letter one time explaining that in the navy they only had 5 minutes to eat their meals. It also stands out to me because I believe it was a good way to train the appetite of the Spartants and even though it doesn’t seem reasonable it is was a good technique to prepare them for the worst. B) I believe something like this has generated some of the ideas that we have in training those in the army, just not as cruel. It has also generated the idea of giving one the authority to train others. I am sure that if Lycurgos had given many men the authority to train the Spartans, the Spartans would have not been respected the authority as much as they did. C./D.) The army trains soldiers to be tough and strong just as the Spartans were. Today they must go through boot camp which prepares them mentally and physically so that they are ready for whatever comes their way. Just like the Spartans were trained to eat my friend Ashley was too. I find it interesting that even this form of training that was used hundreds of years ago is still somewhat used today.