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SPARTAN BOYS CHAPTER 3
by Pueros

copyright 2006 by Pueros, all rights reserved
This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY

This story is based on fact, with all characters being true historical figures.

 

Chapter γ – τύρός

 

(3 – Cheese)

 

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, early spring, 433 BCE)

 

'Courage has no value if justice is not in evidence too but, if everyone were to be just, then no one would need courage.'

- Agesilaos, when asked which of the virtues of courage and justice was finer.

 

The first harsh blow from the paidonomos' short-stranded whip struck Agesilaos' bare chest, leaving a horizontal scarlet stripe across the young flesh. However, the 10 year-old boy's reaction to the resultant intense excruciation was literally muted, as all ephebes were supposed to learn the ability to absorb pain without crying out.  A fanfare of agonised shrieks not only would suggest shameful current personal weakness but also might indicate possible future failings as a warrior. For example, an inability to absorb pain silently might lead a soldier on a covert mission to reveal his position or in battle to disgrace himself.

The second harsh blow from the paidonomos' short-stranded whip soon left another horizontal scarlet stripe on Agesilaos' bare chest, and also agonisingly cut one of his rosy nipples to produce the first blood. Nevertheless, the boy's reaction remained muted, being restricted to a barely audible moan, simultaneous to a tensing of his naked body and the appearance of some dampness in his sensuous blue eyes.

Agesilaos was not immune to the pain and fully felt the excruciation of each accurate powerful hit. However, having been beaten many times over the previous 3½ years since he had joined the agoge, the boy had gradually successfully learnt how to endure the agony bravely.

Agesilaos' brave reaction was the only positive part of the spectacle for his best friend, his fellow 10 year-old, Eudamidas, who had been forced to watch with the other members of their ephebe pack, or 'angele'. The bullying prefect, or 'bouagos', of the 15-strong group, Lysanoridas, was much less happy about the young penitent's show of fortitude but was nevertheless pleased to see the boy severely suffering once more.

The now 17 year-old Lysander was a voluntary witness to Agesilaos' public suffering, endured whilst again bound face-forward and nude to the punishment stake in the ephebe barracks' parade ground. However, the older boy was present not as a result of sadistic interest but of genuine concern.

Lysander's concern was furtively multi-faceted. Despite the almost 7-year age differential between them and the fact that his initial interest in Agesilaos had stemmed from the boy's unique status, the pair had become genuine close friends. He also secretly increasingly lusted after the younger ephebe, who was rapidly blossoming into the most beautiful in the agoge.

Close friendships, including sexual activity, between older and younger ephebes were not only permitted but positively encouraged by agoge ethics, formulated by the founder of Sparta's constitution, Lycurgus. What the latter hoped to achieve through such relationships is revealed by the title given to the youth involved, namely 'eispnelos', or 'inspirer', whilst the beloved boy was called the 'aïtas', or 'hearer'.

The practice also extended to full warriors, or 'eirenes', who had qualified from the agoge at the age of twenty for election to the 'andreia' or 'syssitia', the dining clubs or messes in which they would live without marrying until attaining the age of thirty. Here, the standard meal comprised barley bread, boiled sausage, figs and cheese, washed down by wine, whilst the standard sex objects for all of the men would be younger youths or boys.

Some much later commentators on the Spartan lifestyle, such as Plutarch, actually suggested that sex was not involved in the relationships. However, he was probably confused by the nature of such associations in his day, which was half a millennium after Agesilaos' era.

Plato, who was a contemporary of Agesilaos, and other similar sources contradict the later commentators. So do graffiti inscriptions found in recent years on rocks and boulders at the site of the sanctuary of Apollo Karneios, or Horned Apollo, on the Spartan island colony of Thera [modern Santorini], near which a gymnasium was also built.

 

The worship of Horned Apollo included acrobatics and games involving naked ephebes and eirenes, as well as ecstatic dancing in the nude, apparently often followed by informal sex between the young males. One nearby boulder inscription, signed by a man, reads "Barbax dances beautifully and he's given me pleasure".

Another nearby inscription suggests "Krimon, number one at qonialoi, has melted Simias", and is signed by the latter. Qonialoi was a dance in which naked young males portrayed fully erect satyrs.

The "number one at qonialoi" must have been much admired, as well as promiscuous. Another inscription reads, whilst using the verb 'oiphe' to describe sodomy in crude vernacular terms, "By the Delphian god [Apollo], right here Krimon got fucked by the son of Bathukles…."

A further boulder records "Here Krimon fucked Amotion". On this same rock is a list of other ephebes that the "number one at qonialoi" had sex with, including Isokarthus, Pasiowhos, Euaiswros and Kresilas.

Below this list is inscribed "Euponos fucked....". However, the name of the recipient of this lucky sodomiser's cock is lost to posterity.

 

The Spartans believed that an older lover could help and inspire a younger ephebe to become a courageous warrior and model citizen. Education for males was therefore actually based on such pederastic relationships.

Eirenes failing to enter into such a relationship, thereby ignoring their duty to the state by not 'inspiring' younger ephebes, were actually liable to be fined by the powerful executive magistrates called the 'Ephors'. Such a punishment was levied despite the fact that the youths and boys had the sole right to choose their older lovers.

To be so chosen, the eirenes and any youths, who wanted to compete for a younger boy, therefore had to contest for the affections of the junior ephebes. Some eventually even agreed, with the object of their desires' permission, to share their ultimate prize and work together as joint mentors on his development.

Any subsequent lapse in the development of the younger boy, as evidenced, for example, by him cowardly crying out in pain when being chastised or involved in a fight, would lead to the punishment of not only him but also his mentor. In fact, the latter would suffer worst, as he had demonstrably failed in his responsibility to nurture the ephebe in the right manner.

Meanwhile, on the younger boy's part, anyone who had not found an older lover by the age of 12 was considered negligent. However, given his supreme beauty and exceptional pedigree, Agesilaos was unlikely not to be wooed by many excellent older candidates when the appropriate time came.

Lysander certainly intended to promote himself as Agesilaos' mentor. Given his existing close friendship with the beautiful boy, he also had good cause to hope that his wooing would be successful.

Agesilaos was, however, currently disbarred from being involved in such a relationship. The young ephebe had not yet passed the necessary test that would confirm his evolution from infancy into proper boyhood.

Lysander was nevertheless fully aware that the relevant test was due to take place soon, at the forthcoming festival of Artemis Orthia in early summer. He was confident of Agesilaos' ability to survive the ordeal and looked forward to being foremost in the undoubted later queue of older ephebes and eirenes desirous of becoming the beautiful boy's older mentor and lover.

 

Meanwhile, Lysander now sorrowfully watched, as the paidonomos created several more scarlet stripes on Agesilaos' bare chest and belly, producing some more droplets of blood where hits intersected, before moving his attention to the young penitent's smooth genitalia, which had retained clear evidence of maintained superficially incongruous arousal. The boy's slender maturing cock was both fully erect and gently throbbing.

The paidonomos was, however, not surprised by the penile phenomenon, which he had witnessed a lot of times previously. He had not only seen many pubescent or adolescent boys exhibit such strange arousal under the whip, sometimes to ultimate orgasm and ejaculation, but also, as a young ephebe himself, had often reacted similarly when being punished.

Lysander was also not surprised at the penile phenomenon for the same reasons. He was also guiltily rather pleased at the sight, although he was, of course, not happy with the circumstances that had induced the spectacle.

To Lysander, Agesilaos' lovely throbbing erection indicated that the younger boy was maturing fast and would soon be fully ripe for what he wanted to do to those gorgeous rosy lips and wonderful body of his. The older ephebe's conviction was enhanced when, in reaction to the first agonising blow of the paidonomos' whip against his smooth scrotum, the younger boy's body visibly contorted, but in perverse orgasmic pleasure as opposed to pain.

Agesilaos' red engorged uncut cockhead then turned temporarily white in colour, as the tip of his penis released its first-ever seminal product, a tiny amount of creamy cum.

(Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, 3 months later, early summer, 433 BCE)

 

'Whereat an oracle was delivered to them, that they should stain the altar with human blood. He used to be sacrificed upon whomsoever the lot fell, but Lycurgus changed the custom to a scourging of the ephebos, and so in this way the altar is stained with human blood. By them stands the priestess, holding the wooden image. Now it is small and light, but if ever the scourgers spare the lash because of a lad's beauty or high rank, then at once the priestess finds the image grow so heavy that she can hardly carry it. She lays the blame on the scourgers, and says that it is their fault that she is being weighed down. So the image ever since the sacrifices in the Tauric land keeps its fondness for human blood.'

Pausanias (III, 16, 9-11)

The history of Greece began long before the arrival of the people whom we in modern times call Greeks. Two great civilisations preceded them in the region, namely the Minoan on the island of Crete and the Mycenaean on the mainland. However, they came to a sudden end in the 13th century BCE, which was about when tradition suggests that Troy was also destroyed.

During the next 4 centuries, a sort of 'Dark Age' fell on Greece. Population numbers dropped dramatically and the people either returned to subsistence farming for survival or indulged in chaotic tribal wandering. Cities were abandoned, trade and other forms of contact with foreigners ceased and artistic activity retreated to basic levels.

A vacuum was left into which ambitious migrating peoples from elsewhere could venture. Three such populations in particular made use of the opportunity.

Aeolians captured northern Greece and north-west Asia Minor [modern Turkey]. They also conquered the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Ionians occupied the central coast of Asia Minor and many of the other Aegean Islands. They also settled in Attica, where the city of Athens was later to rise, and the nearby offshore island of Euboea.

More pertinently for this story, however, the Dorians encroached around 1100 BCE from the north into the bulk of the Peloponnese Peninsula, including the area around the later city of Sparta. They also took Crete and south-west Asia Minor and the offshore islands there, including Thera [modern Santorini].

This take-over of Greece by the Aeolians, Ionians and Dorians was explained in legend by the story of Hellen, supposed father of all the Greeks, hence the term 'Hellenes'. He had three sons, namely Aeolus, Xuthus and Dorus, who became the ancestral founders of the three peoples.

The Aeolians and Dorians were naturally named after Aeolus and Dorus. However, the term 'Ionian' came from Xuthus' own son, Ion.

New Dorian settlements on the Greek mainland included Argos, Corinth and Sparta. The latter city was in central Laconia, which is essentially a large valley in the southern Peloponnese, well-watered by the River Eurotas and hemmed in on three sides by mountains, including the majestic crags of Mount Taygetos on the west and Mount Parnon on the east.

 

The valley peters out in the south towards the coast, which is about 35 kilometres [22 miles] away. The Spartans were never great seafarers but were renowned for possessing Greece's most formidable warriors, whose severe military lifestyle was much admired but significantly never emulated.

Protected by the mountains on three sides and the reputation of their forces, which represented Greece's only standing army, the Spartans also allowed themselves the luxury of one particular municipal uniqueness during Agesilaos' boyhood. The city, alone of the Hellenic states, did not yet feel the need to possess any fortification walls.

Meanwhile, Lycurgus' constitution, the 'great rhetra', from the Spartan word for 'decree', allowed for a pair of hereditary Kings with equal privileges. They were drawn from two great parallel dynasties, the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai, dating from the era before the Dorian move southwards and both were supposedly descended from the legendary hero Heracles.

The origin of this dual monarchy is lost in the mists of time. However, the system might have resulted from the Dorian invasion when two tribes united to conquer the valley of the Eurotas.

 

The Kings were the chief priests and supreme military commanders, with the right to declare war. They were attended by a special bodyguard and received primary honours on public occasions, such as sacrifices and feasts, when they were entitled to double rations. They could appoint ambassadors, or 'Proxenoi', and were attended by two 'Pythioi', who regularly consulted the priestess, or 'Phythia', at the oracle at Delphi on their behalf and preserved the relevant responses. Their sons could be excused the traditional Spartan education of the agoge.

With the 28-strong council of the Gerousia of elderly aristocrats aged over sixty, the Kings initiated the majority of political decisions. They also made most judicial rulings.

The authority of the Kings was, however, tempered by the assembly of all male Spartan warrior citizens aged over thirty, the 'Homoioi' or 'Equals'. They actually elected the members of the Gerousia, the Gerontes, and, although without the power to debate issues, met at fixed times when all decrees needed their assent by acclamation to become valid.

Such citizens had to have survived the agoge successfully and been allocated their equal share of state land, or 'kleros', with helot slave labour, to add to any inherited estate. The Homoioi also elected annually their favourites as the five increasingly powerful executive magistrates, or 'Ephors', in order to help assert their influence over the Kings and the Gerontes.

The dual monarchy had practical uses and not just in terms of avoiding tyranny through increasing the constitutional checks and balances, which were anyway safeguarded by the existence of the Gerousia, Ephors and citizen assembly. Sparta could afford to allow one King to endanger himself in war, whilst the other remained to look after the homeland.

Sparta was originally formed by the combination of four villages, or 'obai', namely Limnai, Kynosoura, Mesoa and Pitana. Common to this quartet of communities had been the cult worship of the goddess, Orthia, whose symbol was the sickle, which suggested an original agricultural relationship. She predated the Greek Olympian deities and later became locally associated with Artemis.

Artemis, or Αρτeuiς in Greek and called Diana in Roman mythology, was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo. She was the tall and beautiful virgin goddess of the hunt, wild animals and places, as well as, because she had helped her own mother with the delivery of her own sibling, safe childbirth.

Artemis was worshipped almost everywhere in Greece. However, she was most revered in Brauron, Mounikhia and Sparta, whilst her biggest temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was at Ephesus in Asia Minor.

Artemis Orthia's sacred sanctuary in Sparta was founded in the 10th century BCE in a natural basin between Limnai and the west bank of the River Eurotas. The original site was a simple 'temenos', namely a piece of land set aside for a special purpose, which possessed just one open-air rectangular stepped earthen altar, although this was replaced by a stone version over a hundred years later.

At the beginning of the 8th century BCE, the temenos was paved with river stones and surrounded by a trapezoidal wall. The first temple on the site was built about fifty years later, with the external altar also being rebuilt in wood and stone.

At the beginning of the 6th century BCE, the sanctuary was virtually destroyed when the River Eurotas flooded. The local terrain was therefore raised and consolidated on a bed of sand for the reconstruction of the altar and temple in stronger limestone whilst oriented in the same way as previously. The surrounding wall, within which was plenty of room for spectators to gather, was also enlarged and became rectangular.

This form of Artemis Orthia's sanctuary was still extant almost two centuries later during Agesilaos' childhood. By now, having just achieved the age of 11, the boy had become quite familiar with the place because he had attended ceremonies there with his family. However, instead of simply watching as before, he was about to be an active participant in ritual.

Much of the cult of Artemis Orthia in Sparta centred on an ancient and crude wooden carving, or 'xoanon', of the goddess. The image was supposedly imbued with malevolent powers and according to legend had been stolen by Agamemnon's children, Orestes and Iphigeneia, from Taurica [modern Crimea], where it was sinisterly associated with human sacrifice.

Human sacrifices were alleged to have continued in Sparta at the altar of Artemis Orthia in front of the wooden image, held by the goddess' High Priestess. However, Lycurgus, who had radically reformed his people's lifestyle in so many ways, supposedly substituted another bloodletting ritual, namely the 'diamastigosis', or 'διαμαστίγωσις' in Greek, which Agesilaos was about to experience.

The ritual involved the piling of large cheeses on the steps of the external altar of Artemis Orthia, which naked pubescent ephebes were to try to snatch in quantity and run away with in their possession. However, the word 'diamastigosis' is derived from the ancient Greek verb meaning 'to whip harshly' and so indicated the major obstacle that the boys had to survive in order to achieve success.

The cheeses were guarded by a line of older ephebes carrying whips, which they were supposed to wield harshly in order to try to prevent the younger boys from succeeding. The High Priestess, holding her precious xoanon throughout, supervised the ritual and controlled the venom of the flogging in line with the above quotation from Pausanias.

During the later 3rd century CE, when Sparta formed part of the Roman Empire, a semicircular amphitheatre was built on the site of Artemis Orthia's sanctuary. This structure was constructed in order to accommodate sadistic tourists, who were prepared to pay well for a good and comfortable view of naked boys, now lashed to the altar, being severely flogged, sometimes to death, in a corrupted version of the 'diamastigosis'. This perverse supposed test of endurance continued for about a hundred years.

The deaths under the lash of some young participants in the real ritual were sadly previously also not uncommon. However, to die in such a manner, whilst unsuccessfully attempting to secure cheeses, was considered by most, often including the victims and their families and friends, to be preferable to failure or any display of cowardice.

Success meant that the ephebes had passed an important test of maturity, passing from infancy into proper boyhood, a higher standing that meant that they could practise war with real weapons, as well as accept older male lovers. Such achievement was often recorded on inscribed marble stelai, also depicting sickles, and commissioned by proud families. Some of these carvings have been recently unearthed amongst the excavated remains of the sanctuary of the Artemis Orthia in modern Sparta.

The involvement of cheeses in the actual ritual and the carving of sickles on the stelai commissioned for successful participants harked back to the original relationship of the local goddess, Orthia, to agriculture, with which Artemis was not normally associated. Demeter was the usual Greek deity of the bountiful harvest.

On this day, at the early summer festival of Artemis Orthia and in the goddess' own sanctuary, Agesilaos was waiting with the fellow members of his ephebe pack, or 'angele', including his close friend, Eudamidas, and the prefect, or 'bouagos', Lysanoridas, for the ritual of 'diamastigosis' to begin. The boy, newly an 11 year-old, had watched the bloody spectacle several times previously and was now actually glad to be a participant.

Agesilaos desperately wanted to succeed in the ritual and survive to win his own stelai to record his achievement, which would surely make his watching family and friends proud and improve his standing with his fellow ephebes in the agoge. The brave boy was also fully prepared to die under the lash rather than fail.

Agesilaos was, though, actually confident of success, without being overly immodest. The boy's faith stemmed from his natural athletic agility and speed, which he believed would aid him to steal some cheeses without suffering too much whipping.

Agesilaos' confidence even allowed him the luxury of focusing his concern for survival of the imminent diamastigosis on Eudamidas, who, though prettily lithe in body, was less naturally nimble and swift. The boy feared that his friend's relative awkwardness might make him receive so much attention from the whips that he might collapse onto the ground, which would probably be fatal, as the lashes would subsequently rain down on him remorselessly until he either crawled away in defeated ignominy or died.

Agesilaos was, of course, much less concerned about Lysanoridas, whose fear of the imminent ritual was evident in his eyes. The prefect's tall and muscular size and resultant proficiency at fighting smaller boys might have helped him secure his current leadership over his angele but came with even worse deficiencies of agility and speed than Eudamidas. Consequently, he too was a prime candidate to suffer severely or even fail in the forthcoming diamastigosis.

The early summer day was cloudless and hot. The overhead sun beat down mercilessly on the crowded sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, where the families, friends and many fellow ephebes of the participants in the imminent diamastigosis had gathered to watch the ceremony, alongside others associated with the agoge and the customary dignitaries.

The ceremony had begun with dancing around the altar by ephebes. Amongst the participants in this preliminary ritual, performed to the accompaniment of flutes, or 'auloi', were those who were about to endure the imminent diamastigosis, including Agesilaos.

The practice of ephebes learning to execute joint dance routines and play auloi was considered by the Spartans to be not only appropriate for sacred ritual but also essential for their military training, along with memorising and singing warrior hymns. Acquiring such abilities formed a major part of agoge education for several reasons.

Dancing in male-only groups was not considered effeminate but manly and not only honoured the gods but also imbued unit co-ordination skills. Singing boosted comradeship and moral, and the rhythms of marching songs were useful for setting a pace for the usual immaculate drill of the Spartan hoplite military formations. The army also often advanced into battle with lusty voices raised in some fighting hymn to the accompaniment of auloi.

As Agesilaos had approached the ancient sacred altar of Artemis Orthia, which in his era was already half a millennium old, to dance with his angele, he had been aware of three sets of eyes in particular focusing on him. Amongst the most prominent of the dignitaries present to watch the impending diamastigosis were his parents, Archidamus and Eupolia, and older brother, Agis, who had been excused the agoge.

Agesilaos had rarely seen his parents and older brother since he had himself submitted to the agoge almost four years previously, and then generally only in ceremonial situations such as the present one when he could not speak to them. The boy was sure that regular reports about his progress must be being sent to his father, which were probably unflattering, given the regular beatings he endured for failing challenges and captaining losing teams in sport.

Agesilaos was therefore extremely eager to make his parents and older brother proud of him today and he began this process well. He and the rest of his angele, including Eudamidas and all currently attired in their skimpy and rather tattered but clean red sleeveless tunics, performed their co-ordinated dance routine around the stepped rectangular altar perfectly.

The perfection of the angele's dance routine occurred despite the fact that they were dancing around the altar on the steps of which the cheeses that they were soon to attempt to steal had already been piled under guard of intimidating older ephebes holding sinister whips. Agesilaos and Eudamidas were not even distracted by the fact that Lysander was one of the selected sentinels.

Lysander had not wanted to be chosen to be one of the guardians of the cheeses, as he naturally did not like the idea of using his whip on his younger friends, Agesilaos and Eudamidas. However, his companionship with the boys had been noted by his own paidonomos and the man had deliberately appointed him to the role as a further test of character.

Lysander appreciated that he could not avoid attempting to whip Agesilaos and Eudamidas as fiercely as he could in order to try to prevent their success in the diamastigosis. He could not derelict his duty because doing so would not only be disgraceful for a Spartan ephebe but also dishonour Artemis Orthia and the two boys under trial, who would additionally not expect him to be lenient with them.

The High Priestess of Artemis Orthia was also present at the altar whilst Agesilaos' angele danced, holding her precious xoanon. She actually acknowledged with a smile the brave performance of the boys, whose blood would soon honour her goddess.

The angele's success was undoubtedly assisted by the fact that the rather clumsy Lysanoridas was excused from participating because his role of prefect enabled him just to function as a supervisor. The bouagos therefore instead simply watched the dance critically, with a view to punishing any ineptitude later.

In the event, the cruel Lysanoridas ruled that Agesilaos deserved another beating, although he had performed flawlessly. The prefect had, in fact, made his decision before the dance and would simply make up a false excuse to cane the boy whom he loved bullying.

Agesilaos was, of course, unaware of Lysanoridas' cruel intent but the prefect's sadistic nefariousness would not have surprised him, given what he had suffered at the bully's hands over the previous four years. Moreover, if the boy had known about the planned wickedness, he would undoubtedly not have changed what he later personally perpetrated, which says much about his character.

Agesilaos was currently waiting with his angele, now under the supervision of their paidonomos, at the perimeter of the open space around Artemis Orthia's altar, which was in turn surrounded by the crowd of spectators, most standing but with the dignitaries seated. The High Priestess was concluding the ritual preliminary to the actual diamastigosis by invoking, through loud chants, her goddess' blessing for the occasion.

Each angele in Agesilaos' age group, or 'ile', had already danced in honour of Artemis Orthia in individual units and were waiting to face the diamastigosis separately too. However, the pack led by Lysanoridas had been given the honour by their year's paidonomos of embarking first on their challenging ordeal.

The paidonomos had afforded Lysanoridas' angele the honour because he genuinely believed that the pack was the best in the age group. The man was also astute enough to appreciate that the prefect had played little constructive part in acquiring this distinction.

Agesilaos' sufferings, generally endured unfairly because he had proved to be a highly capable ephebe and faced with much admirable bravery of late, instead appeared to the paidonomos to have stimulated most other members of his angele to similar achievement. The man had recently come to admire the boy a lot, and only continued to persecute him in particular to make him even tougher, as a child of such background had to prove himself in the agoge to be resiliently strong or die.

If there was a weakness in the angele, the paidonomos perceptively recently identified the boy as Lysanoridas, despite the prefect's brute strength. The man had realised that the bouagos was regularly bullying Agesilaos in particular and, in so doing, was displaying attributes unworthy of an ephebe leader, let alone a future military one. However, the adult also recognised that agoge culture dictated that such situations should be left to resolve themselves as a learning exercise and he was sure that somehow matters would come to a head soon.

After the High Priestess of Artemis Orthia had ceased her chanting to invoke the goddess' blessing, she signalled to the paidonomos to despatch his first angele to face the diamastigosis. The man in turn commanded Lysanoridas to send his pack and himself into action.

As the paidonomos issued his order, he noticed in disgust that, although all of the members of Lysanoridas' angele clearly displayed natural apprehension, the prefect himself was exhibiting intense fear. The man could tell from the petrified expression on the bouagos' face and this only reinforced his recently acquired belief that the boy was completely unworthy of his role.

Lysanoridas was actually now supposed to determine the order in which the members of his angele individually faced the challenge of the diamastigosis, with him going last. However, the prefect's trepidation appeared to have made him incapable of speech, let alone of displaying authority, which was a situation that Agesilaos quickly grasped.

Without seeking permission, Agesilaos took control of the situation by suggesting to all of the other members of his angele the order in which they should face the diamastigosis, with him volunteering to go first. After securing agreement, and without the still apparently traumatised Lysanoridas interfering, the boy then ordered "Right, let's strip and go!"

Fourteen skimpy red tunics were soon shed to the ground, which was paved with river stones. The fifteenth only arrived there after the paidonomos ended Lysanoridas' traumatised hesitation by commanding him to "Get a grip of yourself, prefect!"

When Agesilaos had first joined the agoge, he had considered public nudity, outside the exclusively male gymnasia and ephebe barracks, to be embarrassing. Consequently, almost four years previously, the abashed child had taken great care to try to conceal his naked form behind the likes of trees and shrubbery, whilst he skirted a path and then a fairly busy road back to his base after losing his tunic to a farmer in an unsuccessful attempt to steal some apples. However, his prudery resulted from his rather special sheltered upbringing and was not normal for an ordinary Spartan boy.

To be publicly naked and unashamed was one of the glories of the cultivated Greek male and the practice, which astonished and shocked many foreigners, was originally introduced by the Spartans. In the early Olympic Games, the athletes wore loincloths but in 720 BCE this changed because of what the participants from Laconia initiated.

Thucydides confirmed this Spartan innovation when he wrote that "The Lacedaemonians….were the first to strip and undress in public for anointing with oil after exercise. Originally the athletes used to wear loincloths about their middles even at the Olympic Games but that practice has now long been discontinued."

By now, almost four years after committing himself to the agoge, Agesilaos was like any ordinary Spartan boy. He was completely at ease with being naked in public, even in front of the many people, including his parents and older brother, who were currently present at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia. He therefore had no hesitation in stripping off his sole garment, which he actually anticipated never wearing again, in readiness to face the dangers of the diamastigosis in the nude.

Agesilaos also demonstrated his brave leadership when, without further ado after shedding his tunic, he ran towards the sacred altar of Artemis Orthia and the whips of the older ephebes that were ready to flog his vulnerable bare body in an effort to stop him stealing cheeses. As he advanced, he looked in particular at Lysander, who had raised his scourge in readiness to flog the approaching exceptionally beautiful and courageous boy, whom he was beginning quite genuinely to love as well as fancy.

Lysander also noticed that, as Agesilaos dashed towards him and danger, his hairlessly smooth but maturing genitalia were again adorned with a rather incongruous erection. Such a penile phenomenon only increased the younger boy's charm in the mind of the older ephebe.

Nevertheless, Lysander's eyes demonstrated that he was going to try his best to prevent Agesilaos from succeeding in the diamastigosis for, besides sorrow relating to what he was duty-bound to attempt to do, they also exhibited the brutal determination of a Spartan warrior.

(Athens, Attica, same time)

'I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world!'

- Socrates

At the same time that 11 year-old Agesilaos was bravely racing towards Lysander's whip under the hot summer sun in Sparta, a slightly younger boy was listening with interest to a private philosophic debate being conducted in the colonnaded and therefore shaded environs of a gymnasium in Athens. The discussion involved some youths and a man in his late 30s.

The boy, who was to come to know Agesilaos and Lysander very well, was the son of a prosperous man named Gryllus from Erchia in Attica, close to Athens. He was present at the debate because the man in his late 30s was his tutor.

The boy's name was Xenophon and man's was Socrates.

(Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, same time)

'Whichever gives brave men and cowards their due!"

- Lysander's answer to a Persian who had enquired about what type of constitution met with his greatest approval.

Agesilaos' earlier optimism about his ability to succeed in the diamastigosis proved well founded. The boy's natural agility and speed enabled him to elude many of the attempts to whip his naked form, whilst he grabbed a couple of large round cheeses in each hand from the steps of Artemis Orthia's altar.

Agesilaos subsequently fled victoriously from the altar to the opposite side of the open space from where the rest of his angele was stationed. By the time that the successful boy had attained his objective, he bore a couple of scarlet lash marks on both his front and back. However, the one that stung most was that inflicted on his bare bottom by Lysander, who was rather happy that his genuine best efforts to flog his young friend even more had been skilfully avoided.

The lashes that had succeeded in striking Agesilaos' gorgeous young form had cut some flesh. As a result, as intended, some of the boy's blood honoured Artemis Orthia and pleased her High Priestess by spilling onto the goddess' altar.

The successful lashes had also induced some pain, which had nevertheless not induced Agesilaos to lose his erection, which he simply ignored because he was actually unaware of the embarrassing penile phenomenon. The anguish resulting from the whipping was also quickly dispelled from his mind by the cheering that he now heard emanating from the surrounding crowd to celebrate his achievement and by the pride that he could see in the expressions of not only his parents but also Lysander. In fact, strangely for the boy, the clear happiness of the older ephebe somehow now appeared more important to him.

Agesilaos had nominated Eudamidas to follow him as the second member of their angele to face the diamastigosis. He now apprehensively watched as his friend attempted to display similar bravery and aptitude by courageously immediately launching himself into the challenge.

Agesilaos' worries about Eudamidas' ability to face the diamastigosis successfully now met with the opposite fate to his optimism about his own chances. In other words, his concerns proved totally unfounded and soon his almost breathless friend was standing next to him, with two large round cheeses in each hand and only more lash mark besmirching his pretty body. However, Lysander had again managed to inflict a blow and he fully intended to boast happily about his achievement later to the two young recipients.

Meanwhile, Agesilaos' erection had finally faded. The boy had somehow unknowingly become aroused when facing his own danger but watching his friend Eudamidas face the same ordeal had reversed the phenomenon.

The successful Agesilaos and Eudamidas subsequently watched twelve remaining members of their angele literally follow their example by succeeding at the diamastigosis, some more damaged than others but all having attempted to adopt the agile and speedy tactics of the two leaders. Now it was Lysanoridas' turn to face the challenge.

Lysanoridas again needed the verbal prompting of the paidonomos to overcome his trepidation and begin a slow clearly fearful advance towards the altar. The very requirement to galvanise the prefect into action would definitely earn him later punishment but his obvious current demonstration of immense fear undoubtedly also jeopardised his future position as bouagos of the angele, if not his whole career in the agoge.

Disgraceful exclusion from the agoge would mean loss of future full Spartan citizenship and the privileges that went with such exalted status. Such expulsion would rank someone alongside the likes of those who were defeated in battle and subsequently demeaned themselves by surviving, plus those of suspect hereditary. Such groups were given mocking nicknames like 'the tremblers', 'the maiden-born' and 'the lesser ones'.

As Agesilaos watched Lysanoridas slowly approach the altar in clear trepidation, he felt no current compassion for the prefect. After all, he had suffered much at the bouagos' instigation over the past four years and his downfall now might make future life in the agoge a bit easier for him. Eudamidas' shared his friend's lack of pity.

Agesilaos also appreciated that Lysanoridas, by failing to follow the previous ephebes' tactic of adopting elusive agility and speed to survive the diamastigosis, was literally making a potentially fatal error. The prefect's clumsy fearful slowness would surely make his flesh easy meat for the waiting whips to scourge.

This perceptive prediction proved correct when, in response to Lysanoridas' frightened approach, abusive jeering from the crowd finally stimulated the prefect into attempting to steal some cheeses. The boy's scared slow ineptitude was rewarded by him immediately being assailed by many whips, with Lysander especially happy to be brutally flogging the bouagos in revenge for what his near-namesake had perpetrated in the past on Agesilaos.

Amidst this unrelenting assault and with his mind in agonised turmoil, Lysandoridas fatefully neither attempted to complete his mission by snatching cheeses and fleeing or retreated. The traumatised prefect instead just stood and suffered before slipping in his own blood and collapsing to the ground, from where he made no attempt to rise.

All but one of the witnesses of Lysandoridas' failure assumed that another death during the diamastigosis at the altar of Artemis Orthia was about to occur to satisfy the goddess' bloodlust. Eudamidas shared this conjecture and he turned towards Agesilaos, who was standing beside him, to advise his friend of his supposition.

 

Eudamidas was just in time to see Agesilaos run off in order to dash back towards the currently highly dangerous altar of Artemis Orthia and the bloody whips that were seemingly flogging Lysandoridas to death.

(To be continued in chapter δ – έορττ [4 – Festival])

 

[Historical note: Calculations from different sources estimate Xenophon's year of birth at between 444 and 428 BCE. The author of this story has decided, for what he considers to be credible reasons about which he will not bore the reader, to assume against contemporary fashion a date towards the earlier of these parameters for the purposes of this tale.]