Odd Spartan 'Facts'

Odd Spartan 'Facts'

I have included some of the details of Spartan culture, which may surprise and shock. Some may be archaeological in nature; others have their origins in ancient literature.

At the Festival of the Cleaver, the Spartans used to nail sausages to the wall for the older men to gnaw on... (Athenaeus 138e)
The laconicum(the hot dry room) was called so because the Romans thought it was originally used by the Spartans.
It was agreed upon by all Greeks that Kleomenes was mad. The Spartans cited drinking as the problem and the rest of the Greeks said sacrilege (his destruction of the sacred grove of Argos). He was charged with bribery and the incident of the sacred wood (the oracle had told him that Argos would be captured when he burned the sacred wood). After a succession problem, Kleomenes left Sparta and went to Thessaly and then Arkadia, where he supported anti-Spartan sentiments. He was invited back home by the Spartans and when he (as Herodotos says) began beating every Spartan he met, he was put in chains. He then died by self-mutilation.

W.G. Forrest included an interesting paragraph in his book on Sparta that gives evidence for Kleomenes possible paranoid schizophrenia. He states that his inconsistency towards religion (a very ambivalent attitude), his application of inherited principles and his death all are characteristic of this illness.

Forrest also states that Kleomenes' death could have been murder hidden by the Spartans, who used madness as a tool of propaganda. However, Forrest states that he supports the former explanation of insanity.
The Spartan 'kothon' was a cup that the ancients claimed was suitable for military service for two reasons. First, it was easily transported. Second, because one often has to drink unclean water while on campaign, this cup with its dark color and ridges allowed one to not see what one was drinking and the impurities were trapped at the ridge. However, Athenians used it to get drunk as quickly as possible and the cup became a symbol of 'negative' drinking. In fact, Aristophanes used the cup as a literary device in one of his plays (The Banqueters). For those interested, it said that the kothon could hold two pints.
skytalê is a word found in Spartan contexts (Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Aulus Gellius), apparently to describe a message written on leather and wrapped around a stick. In the later authors, it is assumed that these were secret messages, BUT in Thucydides and Xenophon this is not the case.

Here is an example from Diodorus:
'The skuta/lh was a staff used for writing in code. The Lacedaemonians had two round staves of identical size, the one kept at Sparta, the other in possession of commanders abroad. A strip of paper was rolled slantwise around the staff and the dispatch written lengthwise on it; when unrolled the dispatch was unintelligible, but rolled slantwise round the commander's skytale it could be read. Even if Gylippus had found the dispatch he could not have read it.'
'Lapis Lacedaemonius'--It was found in the barren hills of southern Lakonia as described by Pausanias (3.21.4). It is said that the ancient quarrying area lies off the Sparta-Gythion road at Psephi. Deposits are also supposed to have been near Aghios Stephanos. This site was on the sea in antiquity and the islet of Trinasos could have been a export point for transmission of materials overseas. This stone was used quite often in the Minoan period and somewhat in the Mycenaean times. In the Hellenic periods, there is no clear evidence from artifacts, but it appears to was seen as a 'curiosity.' In the time of Rome, it was everywhere throughout the empire. Overall, it was a much awed and very popular stone.
Thucydides in I.134 tells us that the Spartans planned to cast the body of Pausanias into the Caeadas, a chasm into which, 'they thrown malefactors.' They changed their minds and buried him somewhere in the neighbourhood.
So, they had the Apothetai chasm for 'inadequate' children and the Caeadas chasm for the 'bad guys' of Sparta!
'For their own part they would grow used to making fun and joking without becoming indecent, as well as not taking offence when they were the butt of the joke. In fact this ability to take a joke would seem very Spartan. If a joke was too much for someone to take, he could plead with the person making it, and the latter left off.'
Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 12.
'In fact, Lykourgos himself was not uncompromisingly austere. But rather, according to Sosibus, it was he who dedicated the little statue of Laughter with the idea of suitably introducing humour to their drinking-parties and such diversions, so as to sweeten their rigourous lifestyle.'
Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 25.
Public flagellation--This is a curious ritual which has its roots in fights between Pitana-Mesoa and Konooura-Limnai (Pausanias). It is then altered to groups of boys fighting over the cheese at the altar and was an endurance test (winner was the bomonikes who actually had either a statue erected or a prominent inscription). It wasn't until sometime later that the flagellation was the main 'theme'. It became very popular in Roman times and in the 3rdC CE a theater was erected around the altar (if you want to see a photo of the alter remains, see the Spartan Legacy thread). This may not seem pertinent to the discussion, but I find it interesting how much the Romans enjoyed this ritual (mind you there were the Gladiators, hmmm....).
The 'phainomerides' or 'thigh-displayers'-- This was the nickname given to the Spartan women style of dress by Plutarch, who stated 'these quasi-tunics, the skirt of which, not being sewn from the hem, fell open as the wearer walked, revealing her thighs.' This peplos performed double duty as both a tunic and cloak and was made of a woollen fabric. It was pinned on each shoulder by a fibula, had no girdle and was unsewn. One side was truly covered by this garment and the other was visible with the slightest movement.
Did you know Sparta had a hereditary line (and guild) of cooks? Well, or so Herodotos (6.60) tell us.