cats Wrote:Sunspot Wrote:Krypteia are best understood as coming not from an aristocracy in the peak of its bloom but rather the ruthlessly pragmatic actions of a ruling caste insecure in its position.
I doubt that very strongly. Even if the practice had waned and waxed over the years or the Athenians got a few details wrong, the Krypteia are clearly a continuation of the tradition of the Aryan kóryos, which is royal and thus high status in every descendant culture. The specifics aren't important anyway, since I only set out to disprove Mason's idiotic assertions on historical societies.
That's nonsense.
It's questionable whether the Krypteia in serving as a means of culling even existed. There are only two sources describing the Krypteia: Plato (
Laws) and Plutarch (
Lykurgus, 28). Plutarch is not reporting directly but is working from Aristotle, who is unreliable in matters concerning Sparta.
For context, the most significant helot revolt was in 465 B.C., prompted by a deadly earthquake, which was instigated by and composed of Messenians. Plato wrote
Laws between 356 and 348 B.C.
Plato's description of the Krypteia entails young men venturing away from home and hearth with nothing to their name, a rite of passage similar to others which independently arise across varied human groups. There is no mention of apprehending helots, much less systematically reducing their number.
Plato Wrote:Now I want to know whether the same principles are observed in the laws of Lycurgus and Minos, or, as I should rather say, of Apollo and Zeus. We must go through the virtues, beginning with courage, and then we will show that what has preceded has relation to virtue.
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'I wish,' says the Lacedaemonian, 'that you, Stranger, would first criticize Cleinias and the Cretan laws.' Yes, is the reply, and I will criticize you and myself, as well as him. Tell me, Megillus, were not the common meals and gymnastic training instituted by your legislator with a view to war? 'Yes; and next in the order of importance comes hunting, and fourth the endurance of pain in boxing contests, and in the beatings which are the punishment of theft. There is, too, the so-called Crypteia or secret service, in which our youth wander about the country night and day unattended, and even in winter go unshod and have no beds to lie on. Moreover they wrestle and exercise under a blazing sun, and they have many similar customs.' Well, but is courage only a combat against fear and pain, and not against pleasure and flattery? 'Against both, I should say.' And which is worse,—to be overcome by pain, or by pleasure? 'The latter.' But did the lawgivers of Crete and Sparta legislate for a courage which is lame of one leg,—able to meet the attacks of pain but not those of pleasure, or for one which can meet both? 'For a courage which can meet both, I should say.' But if so, where are the institutions which train your citizens to be equally brave against pleasure and pain, and superior to enemies within as well as without? 'We confess that we have no institutions worth mentioning which are of this character.' I am not surprised, and will therefore only request forbearance on the part of us all, in case the love of truth should lead any of us to censure the laws of the others. Remember that I am more in the way of hearing criticisms of your laws than you can be; for in well-ordered states like Crete and Sparta, although an old man may sometimes speak of them in private to a ruler or elder, a similar liberty is not allowed to the young. But now being alone we shall not offend your legislator by a friendly examination of his laws. 'Take any freedom which you like.'
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MEGILLUS: I think that I can get as far as the fourth head, which is the frequent endurance of pain, exhibited among us Spartans in certain hand-to-hand fights; also in stealing with the prospect of getting a good beating; there is, too, the so-called Crypteia, or secret service, in which wonderful endurance is shown,—our people wander over the whole country by day and by night, and even in winter have not a shoe to their foot, and are without beds to lie upon, and have to attend upon themselves. Marvellous, too, is the endurance which our citizens show in their naked exercises, contending against the violent summer heat; and there are many similar practices, to speak of which in detail would be endless.
Aristotle is most active between 335 and 323 B.C., and Plutarch around 100 A.D. According to Plutarch, Aristotle attributes the Krypteia to Lycurgus, who set the Lycurgan reforms which define Spartan society, but Plutarch finds this attribution inconsistent and inconceivable, meaning that in Plutarch's time, there were no reports besides Aristotle and none preceding the Messenian revolt of 465 B.C. (the only credibly attested helot revolt of Sparta's seven century existence).
Plutarch Wrote:Now in all this there is no trace of injustice or arrogance, which some attribute to the laws of Lycurgus, declaring them efficacious in producing valour, but defective in producing righteousness. The so‑called "krupteia," or secret service, of the Spartans, if this be really one of the institutions of Lycurgus, as Aristotle says it was, may have given Plato also this opinion of the man and his civil polity. This secret service was of the following nature. The magistrates from time to time sent out into the country at large the most discreet of the young warriors, equipped only with daggers and such supplies as were necessary. In the day time they scattered into obscure and out of the way places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet; but in the night they came down into the highways and killed every Helot whom they caught. Oftentimes, too, they actually traversed the fields where Helots were working and slew the sturdiest and best of them.
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However, in my opinion, such cruelties were first practised by the Spartans in later times, particularly after the great earthquake, when the Helots and Messenians together rose up against them, wrought the widest devastation in their territory, and brought their city into the greatest peril. I certainly cannot ascribe to Lycurgus so abominable a measure as the "krupteia," judging of his character from his mildness and justice in all other instances. To this the voice of the god also bore witness.
Why would the Spartans annually, for hundreds of years, cull the most promising crop of helots, when they often recruited helots to serve as the bulk of their forces in times of war (Plataea, both wars against the Persians, the Peloponnesian War, the war against Argos)? Afterwards, helots who served with distinction were freed. Spartan hoplites were each accompanied by a body servant. Would the Spartans nurture such a profound antagonism with helots alongside whom they were to fight?
Thucydides reports in the
History of the Peloponnesian War (431-401 B.C.) 20,000 slaves fled Athens to seek better conditions under the Spartans. If the Spartans declared war on their helots every Autumn for centuries, the behavior of the Athenian slaves would be very strange indeed. One would certainly expect more than a single report — a tertiary source who doubts the verity of the claim.
Laws by Plato
Life of Lycurgus by Plutarch