Random Ramblings VI
You know, in works pertaining to Ancient Greece, or at least non-scientific ones, Sparta is usually shown as the epitome of military power and badassitude. Which is, I guess, understandable, since they've already acquired that reputation in the time they existed, not the least due to the famous battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans died after holding off the entire Persian army for an ungodly amount of time, giving time to the other city-states to evacuate and generally prepare for the Persians' arrival. And even then only due to a traitor who showed the enemy a secret path. Pretty cool, I admit.
But to be honest, it's pretty much the only cool battle they had, and almost every city in those times had at least an equivalent. Even Athens, which is usually contrasted with Sparta (because these are the two cities we know the best) and portrayed as a more peaceful and cunning people, had the Battle of Marathon. So while Spartan life was undoubtedly harder than that of most contemporaries, it hardly led to some kind of unparalleled power and I have two examples to prove it.
First off is Argos. A very small and badly positioned city-state with no recorded aims of supremacy or wealth, right on the Spartan side of the buffer zone between the huge territories of Sparta and Athens and coveted by both (and Corinth, for good measure), its people most likely just wanted to be left to their own business. And they got their wish.
Let's review that. This was a city that had territories a fraction of the size of Sparta's and an even smaller fraction of the size of Athens', with no possibility or wish of expansion and continuously harassed by three of the major players in the later history of Hellas. And it routed their armies every single time. Every. Single. Time. These were people who lived with the knowledge that they will die on the battlefield holding off Spartans, Athenians, Corinthians and their allies just so their sons or their sons' sons could be quiet peaceful fishermen like they wanted to be. It should be no surprise that with time, they got rather good at it. But exactly because the city was small and kept mostly to itself (and because it got on the wrong side of most everyone with its stubborn not giving in), it isn't mentioned much.
The second example is Thebes. Thebes was a major player in Hellenic politics up until the Persian War, and the bitch of Hellas for the most of the time after. However, at the very end of its history, it shone again. I'm talking about the Sacred Band of Thebes, of course. Now, some people might be thinking that putting 150 devoted homosexual couples in a military unit will not improve morale or fighting ability much over a unit of 300 random people, but those people tend to forget that this was in an age where battles were very personal. You knew everyone in your unit and most of the people in the other units as well and you would watch them die on the battlefield close up. In that situation, it made a huge difference whether the person you'd have to watch die was your lover or some random schmuck you never knew before the battle. All indications are that the couples in this unit were actual devoted homosexual lovers rather than the usual pederastic arrangement (while still being just as pederastic), which served more as a way to introduce young boys to the mysteries of life and society through the guidance of older men they shared a sort of bond with and which still allowed both participants to enjoy the company of women (which they did frequently and enthusiastically). And guess what? It worked. Through the 40 years of its existence, the Sacred Band helped get Thebes out from under Spartan oppression, put it back on the political map and defended it more times than I care to remember. Then Philip II of Macedon came with his newfangled phalanx tactics and long spears and crushed everyone.