Pueros

Spartan Boys

Chapter α' - Αφορμη (1 – Beginning)

(Hall of the Council of Elders, Sparta, Laconia, Greece, 444 BCE)

Legend relates that Sparta, or Σπαρτη, was founded by Lacedaemon, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Taygete. He named the city after his wife, Sparte, who was the daughter of Eurotas, king of Laconia, to whose throne he later succeeded.

Sparta was located in central Laconia, which formed the south-eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. The city was situated in the valley of the River Eurotas and was alternatively called 'Lacedaemon' after the legendary founder, hence the display of the Greek letter 'lambda' [Λ] on the shields of the state's formidable soldiers.

Sparta eventually came to control all of Laconia but also unfortunately evolved to be one of the worst governed city-states in Greece, endangered by ambitious and bellicose neighbours. During the 7th century BCE, Lycurgus, second son of King Eunomus, whose name meant 'under good laws', became, after the death of his father and elder brother, guardian to his young nephew, Leobotas, who had rightful claim to the throne.

Lycurgus later visited the sacred oracle at Delphi to seek advice as to how to resolve Sparta's problems. The Pythia priestess instructed him to revise the laws and constitution of his city and this he did on his return. The effect was to reform civic life completely, with ethnically pure Lacedaemonians basically concentrating for reasons of national security and advancement on the breeding of mighty warriors.

Meanwhile, other Laconians, controlled and considered inferior by the Spartans and called 'perioekoi', or 'neighbours', were allowed to conduct the militaristic state's commerce, whilst peoples enslaved, and largely employed as publicly owned agricultural labourers, were termed 'helots'. Many of the latter were later recruited from the conquered westerly adjacent state of Messenia.

The first long and bloody Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens had been ended in the previous winter by a supposed 30-year peace treaty that favoured the Lacedaemonians when the naked newly born son of Archidamus and Eupolia was presented for examination to the Spartan Council of Elders. The inspection by the 28 men aged over 60 years, who comprised this 'Gerousia', was literally a matter of life or death.

For any perceived imperfection of the baby boy's body or mind, the child would be left to die of exposure in, or be thrown into, a deep chasm called the 'Apothetae', or 'Place of Rejection', on Mount Taygetos near to Sparta. This mountain had been named after the mother of the founder of the city, the Pleiad Taygete.

Fortunately for young Agesilaos, the baby's physical and mental attributes were judged by the 28 elderly members of the Gerousia to be most suitable for a Spartan boy.

(Residence of Archidamus , Sparta, Laconia, Greece, 7 years later, early autumn, 437 BCE)

The Spartans had just celebrated their New Year, which began with arrival of the month of 'Herasios' on the day of the first full moon after the autumnal equinox, and a father and his exceedingly pretty blue-eyed 7 year-old son were currently engaged in conversation. They were sitting next to each other on a marble bench in the sunny courtyard of their luxurious residence.

"Are you sure, Agesilaos?" Archidamus asked of his son, whose long silky fair hair curled cutely at the ends into attractive tendrils. "Yes, father," the boy, who was rather small for his age, answered with resolution.

"But your existence will be very harsh," Archidamus protested, as he and his son discussed the fact the boy was surprisingly declining to follow his much older half-brother's earlier lead. To the 7 year-old's loving parents, the child's refusal was both unexpected and distressing but could not be denied if he continued to plead his constitutional rights.

"You'll have little if anything to wear or eat," Archidamus added, "you'll sleep in very cramped and uncomfortable conditions, you'll only be able to wash in the river and you'll have to perform frequent exercises until you're completely exhausted. You'll also eventually be given very dangerous challenges to fulfil. Given your special status and rather diminutive form, you'll additionally probably be bullied and you'll undoubtedly be regularly whipped, and some boys have been known to die as a result of the severity of their floggings and other punitive aspects of their new lives!"

"Like your older half-brother, Agis," Archidamus continued, "you can be excused such a terrible life. So why don't you follow his example?"

"Because, father," the clever, courageous and patriotic Agesilaos replied, "I want to be like any normal Spartan boy!"

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, a few days later)

Having allowed Agesilaos to say his farewells to his mother, Eupolia, during which process both boy and woman, as befitted Spartans, managed to prevent shedding any tears, Archidamus escorted his very pretty but rather diminutive second son in warm autumnal sunshine to the city's harsh military barracks. The rest of the blue-eyed 7 year-old's childhood was to be based here as a cadet, or 'ephebe', whilst he underwent his fierce militaristic training, or 'agoge', in preparation for warrior manhood, from which he had bravely declined to be excused.

Enlistment for the agoge at the age of 7 was compulsory for ordinary Spartan males. The training was subsequently deliberately harsh in order to produce excellent warriors, who could survive great hardship and suffering, whilst displaying tremendous courage and resourcefulness. The severity of the process was also designed to weed out the weak, with fatalities considered acceptable if boys proved physically or mentally frail or incompetent.

Archidamus experienced a mixture of emotions as he escorted Agesilaos to his harsh new existence, which was beginning slightly later than for the rest of the annual intake of 7 year-olds because of the efforts made to dissuade him from his intent. The father feared for his son because he was worried that the boy, whom he considered rather delicate, might not survive the severity of the 13-year agoge or would emerge from the lengthy training badly damaged, either physically or mentally. However, the man was also extremely proud of a clearly patriotically brave and selfless child, who was shedding a life of privileged luxury and safety for one of immense discomfort and danger.

After Archidamus and Agesilaos arrived at the ephebe element of Sparta's large military barracks complex, which was just outside the city on the banks of the River Eurotas, the senior army officer in charge of the training institution personally greeted them. One last attempt was then made to dissuade the boy from his intent.

In response to an earlier secret message from Archidamus, the head of the barracks, attired in the impressive uniform of a Spartan hoplite warrior, albeit currently without the large ornate helmet, looked straight at the prospective new ephebe. The man then repeated the question the boy's father had asked a few days previously.

"Are you sure, Agesilaos?" the head of the barracks enquired. The man, whose bronze cuirass was gleaming brightly in the sunlight, then added ominously "As, despite your status, you'll receive no special favours or treatment here, rather the opposite in fact. It'll be anticipated that you'll live up to your exceptional lineage and so you'll be expected to surpass the other ephebes and, to encourage you to succeed, you'll be treated very severely for any failings. There'll also be no going back. Once you've joined, you'll be here until you either graduate or die!"

The man was not lying, as Agesilaos' enlistment as an ephebe would be irreversible. If a boy of such pedigree did join the barracks, he would also be expected to out-perform most of the others in his age group and be severely penalised for any deficiencies. He would additionally undoubtedly become a prime target for bullies, who would enjoy humiliating and hurting someone of his exceptional status.

Agesilaos, who was mentally mature beyond his tender years, was aware that his future existence in the barracks would be hard. However, having lived a rather closeted life so far, during which friendships had been difficult to acquire because of his remoteness from other children of his age and their apparent wariness of his status, he yearned to be a normal Spartan boy.

In answer to the repeated question as to whether he was sure, Agesilaos therefore fatefully replied without hesitation "I am, Sir!"

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, shortly afterwards)

Archidamus eventually left Agesilaos at the barracks, sorrowfully knowing that he would only see his second son rarely over the next 23 years. The austere institution would even remain the boy's home for another decade after he graduated at the age of 20, if he survived that long.

On leaving Agesilaos in the barracks, Archidamus had only expressed a formal verbal farewell to his son, as any expression of emotion in such a setting would be considered unseemly, particularly by a man and boy who were expected to be epitomes of excellent behaviour. The pair had anyway previously hugged each other and confirmed their undying mutual love in private, just prior to entering the military complex.

The head of the barracks subsequently assigned Agesilaos to an adult supervisor, or 'paidonomos', who was in charge of the several packs of new 7 year-old ephebe recruits comprising that year's annual intake. Each of these roughly 15-strong troops was led by a prefect, who was chosen for the position because he had somehow displayed leadership capabilities. However, with the younger boys, such identified attributes were often confined to the physical or mental strength exhibited by bullies.

The paidonomos had been watching a fierce ball-game being contested, in a large square parade ground that was surrounded by a number of ramshackle wooden huts, by two of the packs for which he was responsible. All of the thirty 7 year-old contestants were naked and had short haircuts.

The first act that the paidonomos, who was attended by a young boy wearing a cheap and rather skimpy red woollen short-sleeved tunic, perpetrated on the late arrival was to order Agesilaos to strip naked too. The newcomer was unaccustomed to nudity in front of others, as he had never exercised in Sparta's public gymnasia because his father's palatial residence instead possessed a private facility for such exertions.

Nevertheless, Agesilaos did not hesitate to obey the paidonomos' command, as he appreciated that instant competent adherence to orders from a superior would hereon be the most important aspect of his new life. The boy's expensive tunic, made of the finest material, was therefore soon lying on the compressed soil, which comprised the hard surface of the parade ground, along with his loincloth undergarments and new leather sandals.

The paidonomos subsequently appraised Agesilaos' diminutive but lovely nude body for a few moments, with a licking of his manly lips being an indication that he was pleased with what he saw. The sudden hardening of his hidden cock was another sign of his satisfaction.

The paidonomos then interrupted his appreciation of truly delectable juvenile beauty by ordering the attendant boy, dressed in the red tunic, to take Agesilaos' discarded attire away. The clothing, which was obviously not required by the late arrival's family, would later be resold, as the previous wearer would no longer need such garments.

The boy attending the paidonomos subsequently returned with a red tunic, similar to the one he was wearing, and handed the attire to Agesilaos. "Put it on," the adult supervisor then ordered, "and look after it. The garment's the only item of clothing you're allowed and it won't be replaced for a year. If you lose it, you'll find yourself permanently naked, even in winter!"

Agesilaos slipped the tunic over his head. Despite the boy's diminutive stature, the garment, which must have been the smallest available size, proved to be tight fitting and short. The cut tucked the attire neatly in at the 7 year-old's slim waist, whilst the bottom hem only extended to just below his groin.

Realising the brevity of his new tunic, the astute Agesilaos immediately began to contemplate whether his expected physical growth over the next year before his attire was renewed would cause the hem to rise upwards and embarrassingly permanently expose his lower genitals. The boy would no longer have the benefit of undergarments to hide his private parts, although he would soon discover that he would actually spend a lot of time completely naked in the future, as many activities as an ephebe would be performed whilst nude.

Agesilaos would also no longer be permitted sandals, as he would hereafter go barefoot. The boy therefore additionally wondered how long the currently soft soles of his feet would take to harden and become accustomed to lack of protection by hard leather.

The paidonomos then interrupted Agesilaos' contemplation of the possible future problems relating to his new skimpy uniform when he produced a sharp knife. The boy's long silky fair hair, which currently curled at the ends into cute tendrils, was to be neatly shorn.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, shortly afterwards)

Agesilaos was later introduced to the prefect of his own pack, or 'angele', of 7 year-old ephebes, which formed part of their age division, or 'ile'. The boy was a tall and strong bully named 'Lysanoridas', who subsequently introduced the late arrival to the large but rather dishevelled hut where the troop lived on the fringes of the parade ground. The newcomer was then shown the patch of stone floor on which he was to sleep.

Agesilaos did not have to ask of the sniggering Lysanoridas what he was supposed to use for bedding. The sight of mounds of dried reeds from the adjacent River Eurotas, forming fourteen pallet mattresses elsewhere in the hut, clearly indicated what he had to secure to allow him some comfort at night.

Agesilaos, who had to remove his new tunic in order to fulfil this initial and rather damp task of his embryonic ephebe career, eventually retrieved the necessary quantity of reeds for the purposes of his bedding. However, as the rushes would take a few days to dry completely, the boy anticipated that he would be sleeping uncomfortably on the hard ground over the next few nights at least.

Agesilaos was already suffering some discomfort. The boy had not been allowed a knife or other help to collect the hardy reeds, whose edges could be razor sharp, and consequently his hands were red-raw, having experienced, as a rather diminutive 7 year-old, great difficulty in freeing the tough rushes from their riverside habitat. However, he fully realised that his present suffering would be nothing compared to what he would be expected to endure over the years to come.

After all, Agesilaos was now a normal Spartan boy.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, dusk of the same day)

"Right brat," the tall and strong Lysanoridas commanded of the diminutive Agesilaos, "strip so that we can all judge whether you can ever become a Spartan warrior!" The bullying prefect had decided to give the newcomer a particularly embarrassing introduction to ephebe life because he was secretly jealous of the boy's special lineage.

All of the other boys of the pack had now assembled to sleep in their hut, after a hard day spent receiving tuition and indulging in rigorous physical exercises and pastimes. Younger ephebes were instructed in basic literacy, the works of Homer and war poems and songs. They were also taught to dance and play musical instruments, whilst many of the strenuous exertions designed to toughen their bodies had military contexts.

Gymnastics, running, javelin-throwing and wrestling, as well as ball-games, were indulged, usually to complete exhaustion. Older pupils would also be introduced to real combat fighting and the use of deadly weapons. Meanwhile, many boys bore the marks of failing to satisfy their instructors, who all carried crops or whips and frequently used them for harsh chastisement.

Agesilaos knew better than to hesitate over Lysanoridas' instruction, as he appreciated that ephebes were expected to obey orders instantly and without question, including any reasonable commands from prefects, who could punish them for disobedience or misbehaviour. Unreasonable demands from boys holding such powers could be challenged and the matter raised with the relevant paidonomos. However, the adult supervisors usually then let the squabbling pair of youngsters decide the issue by fighting each other, with no holds barred except for the banning of eye-gouging.

If the prefect was subsequently defeated in a fight in such circumstances, he was invariably dismissed from his position of authority and replaced by the victor. However, Agesilaos currently did not want to challenge the taller and stronger Lysanoridas. He therefore quickly stood up from the patch of ground allocated to him and removed his skimpy woollen tunic to allow the boys, to whom he was now being introduced by the nasty pack-leader in a deliberately humiliating manner, to feast their eyes on his young naked form.

The body that the fourteen sets of greedy eyes now inspected, and which their paidonomos had greatly admired earlier, was small for the boy's age but very pleasantly proportioned and exceedingly pretty. Agesilaos' face was exceptionally attractive and his torso and limbs beautifully slender and lithe. His impressive physical assets also included nicely fulsomely shaped smooth genitalia and lustrously curvaceous buttocks.

Nevertheless, despite such lovely attributes, Lysanoridas continued to humiliate Agesilaos by commenting, amidst copious giggling from most of the other members of his pack, "What a shamefully skinny and weak physique. I can't see you, brat, surviving here for long. Just a few blows from a paidonomos' whip would surely kill you!"

The jealous Lysanoridas secretly planned to ensure that Agesilaos' early life as an ephebe was truly hellish, although he did not propose to make his intent too obvious and therefore potentially subject to challenge by someone friendly to the weaker boy and who could match him physically. He did not fear the smaller newcomer but, like many bullies, he was essentially a coward at heart and was therefore very wary of falling foul of anyone who might defeat him in a fight and possibly displace him as a prefect.

As Lysanoridas issued his insults, the shamed Agesilaos noticed that one ephebe did not appear to be enjoying the prefect's successful attempt to humiliate the naked newcomer. He was later to discover that the name of this also very pretty 7 year-old sympathiser was 'Eudamidas'.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, next morning)

Agesilaos did not, after all, have to sleep overnight on the hard ground, whilst he waited for his reed bedding to dry. The boy had instead been kindly invited to share Eudamidas' pallet mattress of rushes.

The two rested 7 year-olds subsequently awoke at dawn, of what would turn out to be another sunny and warm autumnal day, and went in the cool and dewy morning air to the nearby River Eurotas to wash themselves in the chilly mountain water before breakfasting and going to lessons. As they did so, they did not, of course, know that their overnight slumber together was an event that was to inaugurate an historically important lifelong friendship.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, later same day)

Watched by the other thirteen members of their ephebe pack, the naked Agesilaos had just lost the first three of his best-of-seven bouts wrestling match against the similarly aged and nude but bigger, stronger, fitter and more experienced Lysanoridas. The more diminutive newcomer had been thrown harshly onto the hard parade ground on each occasion, causing his body to begin to display some redness and darker bruising on the parts on which he had landed. The previously sublime curves of the boy's delectable bottom had become particularly sore.

The supervising paidonomos, aware that the diminutive newcomer of special family pedigree was expected ultimately to out-perform most of the others in his age group, had decided to test the boy seriously from the very beginning of his career as an ephebe. Consequently, he had matched Agesilaos against the biggest and strongest member of the pack, who also happened to be the best wrestler.

Lysanoridas, who had previously decided to bide his time carefully in inflicting more humiliations on Agesilaos, could not believe his luck. Without any provocation on his part, the prefect had been kindly afforded by the paidonomos another early opportunity to shame the newcomer.

The paidonomos now added to Agesilaos' woes and Lysanoridas' delight by warning the new boy that he would be flogged if he experienced a fourth successive defeat to the prefect, thereby losing the best-of-seven bouts contest without securing a single victory. The expression subsequently displayed on the ephebe pack-leader's face, after he had heard this threat, immediately suggested that the bully would be extremely pleased to inflict such a disaster on his more diminutive and less experienced opponent.

Lysanoridas' happy expression then increased in intensity when the paidonomos provided him with the pleasant extra incentive of being allowed personally to thrash Agesilaos if he secured a fourth successive victory. However, his smaller opponent, also stimulated by the threat, later proved to be a quick learner and fought with greater expertise and tenacity in the fourth bout.

Agesilaos held Lysanoridas at bay for a long time, as they grappled with each other's naked forms in order to throw or trip the opponent to the ground. The spirited smaller boy even caused his adversary to totter on the brink of falling on a few occasions. However, the newcomer's efforts ultimately sadly proved to be to no avail.

Using all of his currently superior size, strength, stamina and skill, Lysanoridas eventually managed to throw the wearied Agesilaos again to the hard ground, where the boy landed on his already sore bottom, which was now to become even more distressed. The supervising paidonomos then handed a sturdy leather crop to the young victor to enable him to celebrate his win in the promised manner.

Agesilaos subsequently obediently complied with the paidonomos' next worrying instructions. The abashed defeated boy stood, spread his legs and bent over, placing his hands firmly on his bare shins to try to establish a posture from which he would hopefully not be easily displaced despite the undoubtedly fierce blows to be received by his curvaceous bottom. The buttocks of the latter very pleasant physical feature were also now nicely exposed for imminent chastisement, which was to be watched by the other thirteen ephebes from his pack, most whom were keen to see how the newcomer would react to his first punishment.

"Lysanoridas, you can flog your losing opponent's bottom ten times," the paidonomos advised the delighted victorious prefect, to the consternation of Agesilaos, who had hoped in vain for a more merciful initial beating. The newcomer's dismay was then increased when he heard the adult supervisor's follow-up orders.

"As for you, Agesilaos," the paidonomos commanded, "you will loudly count every blow applied to your bottom and thank Lysanoridas each time for taking the trouble to punish your ineptitude at wrestling. Any failure to do so will mean that the hit does not count and, if at anytime you don't manage to stay on your feet, the whole procedure will begin again!"

Agesilaos was appalled to hear these words but knew better than to advise the paidonomos of his attitude. The bent-over boy instead just meekly peered through his splayed legs, beyond his dangling genitalia and towards the clearly excited and happy Lysanoridas, who had taken up position just behind him in readiness to inflict the imminent flagellation of the newcomer's creamy buttocks.

From their upside-down perspective, Agesilaos' sensuous blue eyes rather naturally gravitated to the cruel crop in Lysanoridas' possession. When this sadistic implement subsequently disappeared from view, having been raised in the air in preparation for the first strike against the newcomer's bottom, the proposed receiver of the blow realised that the hit was imminent.

Having previously been a well-behaved boy of esteemed pedigree, Agesilaos had never been beaten in this manner before and so the extreme excruciation induced by Lysanoridas' well-aimed and very hard initial strike came as quite a surprise. The agony and shock also caused the 7 year-old to scream aloud, lose balance and fall forward onto his knees, much to the noisy amusement of the prefect and most of the other watching ephebes.

Agesilaos, who was now shamefully displaying some dampness in his eyes, eventually subsequently recovered sufficiently from his noisy pained surprise to be able to hear and then obey the paidonomos' next instruction. "Stand up, you useless cowardly brat," the adult supervisor rather brutally commanded of the hurting and shocked boy, "and accept your well-deserved punishment like a Spartan ephebe should!"

Fortunately, Agesilaos somehow managed to stay on his feet when he subsequently returned to his demeaning bent-over standing position and his eager and apparently proficient young flagellator delivered the second harsh blow. However, the recipient of the anguishing hit forgot to count and declare his thanks for being grievously hurt until the giggling of most of the other ephebes made him realise his mistake, which unfortunately proved too late by then to correct.

Before the agonised Agesilaos could subsequently declare 'One' and thank Lysanoridas, the paidonomos was already announcing that the second accurately aimed hit across the boy's bottom would not count because of the victim's lack of courtesy. Consequently, the dampness in the blue eyes of the deeply distressed newcomer increased, despite his best efforts not to shed tears or exhibit any other symptoms of his anguish.

The dampness in Agesilaos's eyes subsequently intensified further when a third hard blow was inflicted on his now very sore posterior, causing another vivid scarlet stripe to form on the delectable curves. However, the boy also now did somehow successfully manage to stay on his feet and humiliatingly stutter "One" and 'Thank... you... Lysanoridas!"

Despite the fact that Lysanoridas was happily performing his sadistic task with eager enthusiasm balanced by careful deliberation, accuracy and skill, Agesilaos then continued to manage such feats, as the prefect later proceeded slowly to flog the pert bottom of his fellow 7 year-old another nine times. However, the excruciating agony, induced by each stinging blow rained on the boy's vulnerable rear, ensured that his brave efforts to restrain simultaneous cries and tears proved unsuccessful.

By the time that the majority of Agesilaos' previously creamy buttocks had been thoroughly reddened, the boy was reacting to each strike by emitting a muted but clearly audible moan and teardrops were falling onto the hard impacted soil below him. Consequently, for displaying such weakness, the paidonomos allowed Lysanoridas to culminate his chastisement of the newcomer by aiming from underneath a blow of the crop onto his fellow 7 year-old's small but nicely rotund scrotum.

As a result, Agesilaos concluded his penance by temporarily collapsing to and writhing on the ground, whilst he clutched his agonised genitals to the accompaniment of chortling from thirteen members of his pack. He was later as an adult to be slandered by enemies, who accused him of being lame and a cripple because one of his legs was shorter than the other. His detractors suggested that he would therefore have been killed at birth if he had not possessed a special family lineage. However, such comments were falsehoods because the boy suffered no such disfigurement.

The lies were instead based on nothing more than the fact that Agesilaos endured so much suffering during his early career as an ephebe that he gained a reputation for often being forced to walk awkwardly and in pain. The boy invariably bravely tried to minimise the visible effects of his injuries and hide his anguish but he was not always successful, and this moment, immediately after he had been beaten for the first time in his life, was just such an occasion.

Only Eudamidas from Agesilaos' pack appeared to consider the boy's anguish unfunny, although an older attired ephebe, who happened to be passing, also displayed some unhappiness at the newcomer's fate. The handsome 14 year-old concerned was of humble background. He was a 'mothakes', which translates as 'bastard', although his father, a full Spartan citizen, was actually married to his mother. However, the woman was a Messenian helot, which therefore did not convey full Lacedaemonian legitimacy on the son.

Nevertheless, despite his mixed parentage, the boy had qualified for admission to the brutal training system of the agoge and what he lacked in social standing he had made up for in bravery and intellect. He had soon stood out from the packs of fellow ephebes as someone liable to go far in his military career.

Agesilaos was now to gain substantial compensation for suffering his first flogging. Such recompense was in the form of two new close friends, namely the similarly aged Eudamidas and the 14 year-old boy, who had witnessed his current writhing. Both of these ephebes came to the agonised newcomer's aid, although the motives of the elder were not entirely altruistic.

The perceptive and ambitious 14 year-old recognised burgeoning beauty when he saw it. He therefore appreciated that Agesilaos, although a few years away from fully developing into the perfect peak of boyhood, was an exquisite bud merely waiting to blossom gloriously. He also realised that the very special lineage of the younger ephebe, of whose identity he was aware because he had seen him previously in the company of his very important father, might someday help him to lose the social stigma arising from being a mothakes.

The perceptive and ambitious 14 year-old later introduced himself to the mentally recovered Agesilaos by advising "My name is Lysander!"

(A farm near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, 8 days later)

Being an honest boy, who had spent his early years in comfort, Agesilaos was not accustomed to stealing, which was one reason why his first attempt to be a thief ended in disaster. His lack of experience, plus evasiveness hampered by suffering very sore soles, now that he had to go for the first time in his young life permanently barefoot, caused him to be an easy catch for a local farm manager. The latter was a member of the impure perioekoi class and was accustomed to having to suffer the attempts of Spartan ephebes to poach some of his produce.

Ephebes in Spartan military barracks received meagre rations, primarily consisting of unappetising and under-nourishing black broth, or 'zamos'. Such sparse provision was quite deliberate, as the boys were expected to practise using their guile and swiftness of foot to supplement their food through theft. Unfortunately, Agesilaos was not yet adept at the art and had also been deprived of relevant instruction and assistance, as he had been too proud to seek either advice or help.

Consequently, Agesilaos was easily trapped by the farm manager, who was aided by some of his adult helot slaves and trained hounds, whilst the boy was attempting to steal some apples from an orchard in the continued pleasant autumnal sunshine. He had been encouraged to make the effort after suffering nine days of sustenance insufficient for an energetic and growing child.

"Strip him," the farmer subsequently ordered of the two strong adult helots now holding Agesilaos, "and tie him to one of the apple trees, whilst I search for a stick to beat the Spartan brat with!" As the slaves subsequently obeyed the command of their manager, the boy did not struggle to avoid his fate.

Agesilaos was honour-bound to suffer the painful consequences of being shamefully captured, even at the hands of social inferiors. The boy also knew that he would experience even worse on his return to the ephebe barracks, where it would be his duty to report his capture and punishment on the farm.

Agesilaos would then receive another thrashing and be starved for days, as a result of his incompetence in allowing himself to be caught.

Chapter β' - Μαθημαι (2 - Lessons)

(A farm near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, early autumn, 437 BCE)

The honourably compliant Agesilaos soon found himself naked once more. On this occasion, the boy's pretty head was facing the narrow but nevertheless sturdy trunk of a young apple tree, around which his arms were wrapped, with his hands resolutely bound with stalwart twine to keep him in position. Meanwhile, the angered farm manager, in whose orchard the new 7 year-old ephebe had been unsuccessfully attempting to steal some fruit, had extracted an appropriately long and strong but slender branch from another nearby tree. The man was currently whittling his find with his knife in order to remove extraneous material to create the necessary instrument of imminent painful chastisement.

As Agesilaos waited to be caned, he tried not to display too much shame at his renewed public nudity or his fear of what was soon to be inflicted on him. The boy's young mind also drifted back to the conversation he had indulged with Lysander eight days previously, just after he had been beaten for the first time in his life by the prefect of his pack, or 'angele', of 7 year-old ephebes, Lysanoridas.

Agesilaos had at the time of his conversation with Lysander been recovering from his flagellation, which had not only despoiled his lustrous bottom but also culminated in a vicious uppercut onto his nicely rotund scrotum from the crop wielded by the nasty bully, Lysanoridas. The young recipient of such flogging had been hurting both physically and mentally, with the latter suffering exacerbated by his apparently cowardly failure to remain on his feet and keep silent and free of tears. Agesilaos had initially considered ending up whimpering and writhing on the ground, whilst tears flooded from his sensuous blue eyes, to have been the most shameful action he had ever perpetrated. The whole event had been considerably worsened by acting in such a debasing way in front of his adult supervisor, or 'paidonomos', and the other fourteen members of his angele, including his tormentor, Lysanoridas, and new friend, Eudamidas. However, 14 year-old Lysander had subsequently kindly disabused the younger boy of this viewpoint.

Seeing the deeply distressed Agesilaos squirming in agony on the ground in front of his paidonomos and the other 7 year-old members of his angele, all but one of whom were laughing merrily at the sight of the newcomer's anguish, Lysander had immediately rushed to the boy's aid. His action instantly stimulated Eudamidas, who was naked like his new friend after his own more successful wrestling match, to do the same.

Despite the expectation that ephebes should quietly individually endure the routine sufferings they would inevitably experience during their training, or 'agoge', in order to toughen them, there was no proscription against friends helping each other when one was in real distress. In fact, close co-operative camaraderie within each angele was positively encouraged, whilst in contrast intense competition between packs in each age group was fostered in order to offer the boys regular stiff challenges.

Meanwhile, competition between different age groups was not actively sought and so friendships between older and younger males were also considered beneficial for military camaraderie and to assist personal development. It was believed that the less mature would benefit from the companionship and advice of someone more experienced, whose leadership skills would also hopefully gain from such mentoring.

Such attitudes went to the extent that the eventual development of homosexual couplings was encouraged. As within the famed Theban Sacred Band, such relationships were believed to be conducive to producing good warriors, as surely no young man, youth or boy would want to display cowardice in front of his lover.

The founder of the Spartan constitution, Lycurgus, had strongly advocated such homosexual liaisons, declaring, about young men, youths and pubescent or older boys, that "No-one who does not have a masculine friend in his bed can be a good citizen!" Such relationships were also encouraged by the unavailability of females for males who, until they attained the age of thirty, were resident in barracks, or were practising or actually indulging in warfare elsewhere, and were simultaneously prohibited from marrying.

Up to the age of thirty, most Spartan males possessed lovers amongst the ranks of their fellow warriors and ephebes, who were living with them in the military barracks or elsewhere. In this sexual environment, pederasty between young and even mature men and pubescent or older boys was at least as common as homosexuality involving youths.

Given such ethos, the paidonomos did not prevent Lysander and Eudamidas coming to the aid of the obviously extremely anguished Agesilaos. Although the adult supervisor knew that he was expected to treat the newcomer with exceptional hardness, he also had a remit to encourage such displays of camaraderie by boys who were not members of a rival angele of the same age group.

In contrast, Lysanoridas was naturally unhappy at this sudden turn of events. Agesilaos had obviously quickly acquired a friend in the bigger Eudamidas and, more worryingly, the sympathy of Lysander, who was the most respected boy in the ephebe barracks, despite his 'mothakes' status.

Lysander was the prefect of his own angele of 14 year-old ephebes, which was a status he had won by successfully eventually challenging and fighting a larger bully who had first held the position during their early years in the barracks. It was a testament to the victor's amicability and leadership skills that the loser was now one of his closest friends.

Lysander had subsequently proved himself to be the most able and courageous boy in his age group. He was also someone who could often compete successfully in various challenges against older, bigger and more experienced ephebes, who therefore respected the 14 year-old and did not try to bully or otherwise intimidate him.

Despite the encouragement of camaraderie between age groups, bullying of younger boys by older was still very common and ignored by the adult supervisors. Such frequent events were just regarded as another method of trying to toughen ephebes through their reactions to the incidents.

Lysander had also displayed his leadership abilities by transforming his angele, which had previously been considered one of the weakest amongst their age group, to being clearly the strongest. In fact, the pack of fifteen 14 year-olds was considered by the adult supervisors to be developing into an elite unit, which should never be split up.

Lysanoridas possessed one mental comfort, as he observed clear embryonic companionship developing between Agesilaos, Lysander and Eudamidas. The prefect fully appreciated that, although the latter two boys could advise their friend and assist his recovery from distress, their help could not extend to fighting the 7 year-old's battles for him.

Barracks' ethos meant that Lysander could not intimidate Lysanoridas into desisting from harassing Agesilaos. Although the older boy could normally try to bully the younger prefect if he wanted, doing so in order to make someone else's life easier was considered unethical.

Similarly, Eudamidas, of whom Lysanoridas was wary because of his clear fighting ability, was not supposed to join with the more diminutive Agesilaos in order to challenge Lysanoridas as a pair. Personal disputes were expected to be resolved between individuals.

If Lysander and Eudamidas were to remain honourable in their conduct, which both were determined to do, their involvement in trying to stop Lysanoridas' future bullying of Agesilaos therefore had to be restricted only to practical advice. The 7 year-old prefect was fully aware of this situation, as he watched the very early stages of the close friendships between the three boys develop.

Lysanoridas' only concern therefore, in respect of his aspirations to make Agesilaos' life as an ephebe miserable, was the quality of the advice given by Lysander and Eudamidas. The prefect also judged that such pointers could not in the immediate future be so good that they would overcome the obvious significant physical differences between himself and the more diminutive boy he wanted to bully, who had experienced a much softer upbringing.

As the freshly naked Agesilaos again waited to be beaten, this time whilst tied to an apple tree, his recall of his conversation with Lysander of 8 days previously caused him to remember the older boy's initial advice. The astute 14 year-old had somehow perceptively realised that the younger anguished ephebe had suddenly become more pained by his display of errant emotions in front of others than his actual physical agony

"Don't worry about shedding a few tears, ephebe," Lysander had therefore suggested, whilst gently holding the crying boy in his arms, "as I think that anyone would display such weakness after being beaten as you have just been, especially at your young age." "In fact, I myself was sobbing all the time when being flogged as a 7 year-old ," the older cadet unashamedly continued, "and I still shed the odd tear when my paidonomos decides that I'm due punishment, which he occasionally does inflict. Eye dampness is a natural reaction that'll reduce but never entirely go away, never mind how hardened you become. So don't fret about it!"

"Now," Lysander then asked, as Agesilaos' tears suddenly began to dry up, "do you think that you could stand up with my assistance and that of your other friend here so that I can see what damage has been inflicted on you?" The younger boy was still speechless, although how much this lack of vocal response was a residual effect of his recent excruciating punishment or was caused by shock that such a handsome older ephebe was taking a kind interest in him, was indeterminable.

Consequently, as a result of his speechlessness, Agesilaos simply nodded positively, indicating that he was at least prepared to attempt to regain his feet with the help of Lysander and Eudamidas. Meanwhile, his own paidonomos, the sneering Lysanoridas and another twelve members of his angele looked on with interest but without interference.

With the assistance of Lysander and Eudamidas, Agesilaos was subsequently brought painfully to a standing position, where the older boy, attired in his coarse red woollen tunic, then carefully checked the welfare of the scarlet bottom and scrotum of the younger naked ephebe. "There's no serious damage," the 14 year-old eventually thankfully announced, whilst ultimately examining some delightful but currently very anguished genitalia, "and I've some decent herbal slave that'll soon heal the soreness to both your bum and balls!"

Agesilaos, whose excruciation from Lysanoridas' ultimate hit had been such that he had thought that his agonised testicles might have been irreparably damaged, was naturally pleased to hear the announcement that he had not been converted into a eunuch. The boy was also later content to be aided by Lysander and Eudamidas to hobble to the otherwise empty hut of the older ephebe's angele.

Here, whilst Eudamidas retrieved his own tunic and that of Agesilaos, Lysander carefully and gently applied the promised salve to the pert but currently red and hot curves of the hurt 7 year-old's normally very pleasant bottom and to his nicely rotund but presently scarlet scrotum. As the older boy proceeded, he successfully averted an immense temptation to try to kiss better the two damaged scenes. He sadly fully appreciated that custom dictated that such pleasures should await the youngster's advent to puberty.

As the autumnal day had remained sunny and warm, Lysander, Agesilaos and Eudamidas, now all attired, subsequently ventured, at suggestion of the eldest, to the quiet banks of the nearby River Eurotas. This watercourse was named after an early king of Laconia, father-in-law of Sparta's founder, Lacedaemon, and was fed by water flowing off the mountain ranges that surrounded the city on three sides.

The three boys then reclined and chatted on the riverbank, with Agesilaos lying on his side to avoid contact between his sore bottom and the grassy ground. The main topic of their later long conversation was Lysander's initial advice to the younger ephebes as to how they could successfully survive their early life in the barracks.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of his continuing hurt, or awe at being assisted by such a boy as Lysander, Agesilaos subsequently appeared not to have absorbed some of the older ephebe's wise counsel. This unfortunate fault seemed to be evidenced by his capture 8 days later by the farm manager, whilst attempting to steal a few apples from the man's orchard.

Agesilaos had apparently forgotten the advised tips for success in such ventures. Such recommendations emphasised the need for careful guileful pre-planning, including quick escape options in case anything went wrong, and suggested co-ordinated partnerships and not individual action.

Agesilaos, motivated by the hunger resulting from the basic ephebe diet of deliberately insufficient black 'zamos' broth and a proud desire to win the respect of his new friends and peers, had embarked upon his dangerous escapade alone, without telling anyone of his plans. If the boy had confided in Lysander, he would have been advised that his proposal was too simplistic and was bound to fail.

Lysander's gloomy assessment would have focused on the nature of the scheduled target and the fact that the prospective initiate thief was lacking in full mobility because he was still becoming accustomed to going permanently barefoot. Agesilaos had chosen a farm that was too near the military barracks and the manager therefore would not only be well accustomed to raids on his produce by ephebes but also have prepared excellent counter-measures to trap all but the most fit and skilled cadets.

Agesilaos' plan had simply been to venture into the orchard stealthily and then run away as quickly as he could with the stolen goods. However, the young and inexperienced boy had not expected the place to be patrolled by huge hounds, which not only rapidly detected the young intruder and sounded the alarm through loud barking but also subsequently helped to entrap him.

The very large and vicious-looking dogs were trained not to bite without orders but Agesilaos did not know this fact. Consequently, after the terrified boy was soon surrounded by four of the hounds, and saw the fangs in their open, loudly barking and saliva-drooling jaws, he became motionless, not daring to move.

Agesilaos was therefore easily caught by the subsequently arriving farm manager and his pair of helot helpers. Evidence of what the ephebe, whose role as a cadet was identifiable from his sparse red woollen tunic, had been perpetrating was still present in the petrified boy's hands, in the form of the rosy apples he had earlier plucked.

As the farm manager subsequently approached the rear of the naked and bound Agesilaos and aimed his whittled rod at the boy's vulnerable bare back, he commented "I hope this beating will teach you something, brat. The lesson to be learnt is that you should leave my produce alone in future, or I promise that you'll suffer much worse than this flogging!" An audible whoosh, followed by a anguished yelp, then signalled that the man's first hit had been accurately and agonisingly delivered.

During Agesilaos' first-ever beating, at the hands of Lysanoridas, who for one so young had proved very adept at using a leather crop to hit the bottom of a similarly-aged boy, the 7 year-old had been unable to prevent himself from uttering muted moans and shedding tears. The ephebe's reaction now, to each stinging blow from the farm manager's improvised but highly effective implement of chastisement, which did not just concentrate on his victim's buttocks, was shamefully similar.

The farm manager first proceeded to rain blows on Agesilaos' upper back and then advanced each subsequent hit slowly downwards. The boy's whole rear, including the backs of his legs, was later to bear the marks of his comprehensive beating, including particularly sore indented bruises created by slightly protruding remnants of supposedly whittled away branch offshoots.

During the painful punishment process, there were only two modicums of comfort for the regularly yelping and continuously sobbing Agesilaos. Firstly, given Lysander's comments of 8 days previously, the boy felt less ashamed at shedding copious tears. Secondly, unlike Lysanoridas, the farm manager was not a sadist but was just a man performing his duty. He therefore did not seek to increase his young victim's agony by beating him with such slow deliberation that the 7 year-old could fully experience the pain of each blow before the next was delivered. The busy adult, whose time was precious to him, especially now, during the annual harvest, instead performed his task with rapidity.

Consequently, Agesilaos' penance was quickly concluded, although about twenty vivid red stripes, gradually darkening in hue to various shades of brown, were evident on his back, buttocks and the rear of his legs. Despite the relative mercy granted by the speed of the punishment, the concluding agony induced in the boy's body was also immense.

"Release the thieving brat and let him go," the farm manager subsequently instructed of his two helots, after delivering the twenty vicious and accurately spread hits to Agesilaos' rear. The manager then began to walk away from the scene with his hounds, after picking up the boy's discarded tunic.

After being released from being tied to the apple tree, and seeing that the farm manager was departing with the young ephebe's new sole garment, the tearful Agesilaos managed to shout a request between his sobs. "Please, Sir," the naked boy asked, "can I have my tunic back?"

Without turning his back to look again at Agesilaos, the retreating farm manager answered "No you can't, brat. I'm requisitioning your tunic for my own children!"

With such a reply, the farm manager was not revealing personal cruelty but rather selfish practicality. The tunic might only be basic and sparse but the garment was new and made from good quality wool. The item would therefore partially compensate him for the trouble that ephebes from the nearby barracks frequently caused him. Despite his best efforts, fitter, older and more experienced and capable cadets than Agesilaos still successfully managed to steal some of his produce.

"But, Sir," the even more tearful Agesilaos shouted in desperation, "you're condemning me to death. I won't be allocated another tunic to compensate for my loss until this time next year. I won't survive the winter if I have to be permanently naked!"

"That's your problem not mine," the farm manager retorted, whilst still not looking back at the distraught Agesilaos. The man then advanced out of range of hearing the boy's subsequent desperate shouted entreaties.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, later same day)

Despite Agesilaos' tender years, the naked boy was astute enough to appreciate quickly that his desperate pleas would not persuade the farm manager to change his mind about confiscating the 7 year-old's tunic. The lachrymose young hurting ephebe therefore eventually began to make his way back to the military barracks, where was bound by honour to report the humiliating failure of his attempt to steal apples and his associated literally painful capture.

Agesilaos' failure would, of course, have been obvious anyway from the loss of his tunic and the clear marks of a severe beating on his rear. However, the honourable boy would have confessed his recent sad experiences even if such proof had not been evident.

The hungry Agesilaos appreciated that he would suffer further punishment for his shameful lack of success, as well as being refused any rations whatsoever for several days. Nevertheless, thought of not returning to his new harsh life as an ephebe also never entered the essentially very brave child's mind. The 7 year-old had wanted to live like a normal Spartan boy of his age and he knew that such sufferings formed an integral part of such an existence.

Nevertheless, public nudity, outside the ephebe barracks or exclusively male gymnasia, was not usual for a Spartan boy. Consequently, the abashed Agesilaos took great care to try to conceal his naked form behind the likes of trees and shrubbery, whilst he skirted the path and then fairly busy road, which led him back to the military complex that was now his home.

Only a few travellers along the road managed to spot a young boy with a red face and beaten rear hurrying along in attempted obscurity on one side of the route to Sparta before Agesilaos eventually ran through the gates of his barracks. The brave and honourable 7 year-old then proceeded to report his recent distressing failure to his paidonomos.

As Agesilaos tried to find his paidonomos within the busy barracks, he had to pass many other ephebes. Although these other cadets were accustomed to seeing naked and recently beaten boys' bodies, many still sniggered at the sight of the 7 year-old, especially as most recognised his identity.

After Agesilaos finally located his paidonomos and made his confession, the adult instructor confirmed the boy's fate. "You'll not be awarded a fresh tunic, and so will go naked until you somehow rectify the problem without the help of others," the man announced. "You'll also go five days without rations," he added, "and you'll imminently suffer, whilst bound to one of the punishment stakes on the parade ground, another beating in front of the other members of your angele and any other ephebe who cares to watch!"

"In view of the damage already perpetrated on your rear," the paidonomos continued, "the front of your body, including your genitals, will receive the twenty-five blows from my crop!"

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, shortly afterwards)

Consequently, Lysander had the opportunity to speak briefly to Agesilaos before the paidonomos, who today would personally beat the miscreant 7 year-old, arrived on the scene. Strictly, conversation with the condemned was forbidden but, with no adult yet present, no-one was going to suggest to such a renowned boy as the older ephebe that he should not exchange a few words with his new younger friend.

"I see that you either forgot or ignored my advice," Lysander ruefully commented to Agesilaos, whose hands had been tightly bound together above him by Lysanoridas to a metal ring firmly embedded in the wood, causing him to be so outstretched that he balanced on tiptoes. Such a desperately unstable face-forward posture negated the need for the boy's legs to be similarly tied.

"I must have," the rightly apprehensive Agesilaos rather sheepishly replied. "Well then," Lysander retorted, "let's hope that your imminent beating will be a lesson to you that'll instil into you the need to listen carefully to and obey my advice in future!"

"I hope so to," Agesilaos responded quietly, as he fearfully observed his paidonomos, with menacing crop in hand, now advancing towards him.

(A farm near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, several days later)

The moon was high in the cloudless starry sky. The naked Agesilaos, who was shivering in the autumnal night-time chill, as well as from nerves, tentatively approached the main farmhouse, which he had been secretly patiently observing from afar for several days, despite his now ravenous hunger and the anguish still inflicting his young body from his recent thorough beatings.

Agesilaos' paidonomos, who was fully aware that the boy needed to recover his lost tunic if he was to survive for long, had excused the new ephebe barracks' lessons so that he could attempt to recapture his only permitted item of clothing. However, the instructor did so not out of altruistic consideration but rather because he believed that the 7 year-old would learn more through his latest escapade. He also fully expected the cadet to fail again in his mission and thereby earn another beating or two.

Agesilaos' discomfort from the cold was not aided by the fact that his form was currently comprehensively smeared with cattle dung, which provided no real protection from the night chill but did smell and feel awful. However, the cow-pats, in which the boy had just rolled his nude body, should prevent the farmer's hounds from detecting him, if Lysander's advice proved correct.

Agesilaos had, for this dangerous mission at least, when failure would inevitably lead to more beatings, carefully absorbed Lysander's latest sage counsel regarding how the younger boy's much-needed tunic might be successfully retrieved. The 7 year-old was also rigidly following the older ephebe's wise suggestions.

Agesilaos had picked his moment carefully. The farm manager's wife had fortunately performed her regular domestic laundry late on this day because she had earlier been busy with other chores. As the cloudless hours of darkness would undoubtedly remain free of rain, she had subsequently left the cleansed clothes to dry overnight on the twine washing-lines outside the main farmhouse. The various garments were fixed in place by crude pegs, which were essentially partially split slithers of strong wood.

Amongst the clothing on the washing-line was Agesilaos' much-needed tunic, which had recently been worn by the farm manager's 6 year-old son. As the young ephebe crept in the moonlight across the farmyard, which was enclosed by low walls, and approached this skimpy red woollen uniform, he suddenly heard the ominous sound of a ferocious hound barking loudly nearby.

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, later same night)

Agesilaos was again shivering. However, on this occasion, the boy's bodily quivering did not mainly result from the cold in the air of this cloudless autumnal night or from nerves. The 7 year-old's normally lovely but currently rather marked form was instead reacting to the fact that he had recently bathed in the chilly River Eurotas, just outside his ephebe barracks.

Agesilaos had done so in order to remove the cow excrement despoiling his naked body and otherwise clean himself, in readiness to redress happily in his recovered tunic. Lysander's advice had worked perfectly, with the barking hound only reacting to the coincidental proximity of a fox hunting farm chickens, which was soon chased away without rousing from their beds the household, who were accustomed to such occasional night-time disturbances.

Nevertheless, Agesilaos had taken the precaution of grabbing his tunic and running away quickly from the scene. The boy was then helped in his subsequent rapid escape by two other factors.

Firstly, the local path and road, leading to Sparta, were deserted at this time of night and so there was no need for Agesilaos to conceal his nude body in embarrassment behind flanking trees and shrubbery. The boy could instead just run along the middle of these routes.

Secondly, Agesilaos' souls were finally hardening and so the boy was becoming inured to going barefoot. Consequently, the 7 year-old could now demonstrate how he could compensate for lack of physical size through the fact that he possessed natural running speed, which would soon make him the fastest ephebe in his age group over both short and long distances.

Agesilaos eventually entered the ephebe barracks by furtively climbing over one of the more secluded parts of the perimeter wall, previously suggested by Lysander as a good secret access point. Overnight absence was technically forbidden for cadets, although his paidonomos had ignored this regulation when allowing the boy to go on his mission, which the man had been told might take several days.

The paidonomos was again not being altruistically considerate in his attitude, as the rule existed to discourage post-pubescent ephebes and young warriors from having illicit outside liaisons with females, and a 7 year-old was unlikely to be similarly motivated. The threat of being beaten for being caught attempting to re-enter the barracks at night, as Agesilaos had been told he must try to do, also, in his instructor's opinion, comprised another useful challenge and potential harsh lesson for the boy.

In fact, Agesilaos did learn a valuable lesson on this night. The boy whispered his finding to the similarly aged Eudamidas, who had instinctively awoken when his best friend had returned to the hut shared by their angele.

The fretting Eudamidas had only slept fitfully over the previous nights when Agesilaos had been absent. The boy had been worried about his best friend's welfare but now joyously invited his clearly chilled fellow 7 year-old to share his reed pallet mattress and bodily warmth, whilst the other soundly somnolent members of their angele remained blissfully unaware of developments.

After the euphoric and excited Eudamidas had subsequently considerately wrapped his lovely warm form around the shivering Agesilaos in order to transfer bodily heat, he asked his best friend to appraise him about his latest mission, which had obviously been successful because the boy was happily redressed in his tunic. However, he only received the weary reply of "Can I tell you tomorrow, as I'm desperate to sleep."

Eudamidas was suddenly ashamed that his euphoria and excitement, engendered by Agesilaos' successful return from his latest dangerous mission, had encouraged him not to realise that his best friend would be very tired and would therefore want to sleep and leave lengthy conversation until the next day. The boy therefore answered "Of course!" However, his weary fellow 7 year-old did manage one last comment before his sensuous blue eyes closed and he succumbed to deep slumber, and his remark related to the key lesson that he had learnt on this day.

"What I will tell you, Eudamidas, before I fall asleep," Agesilaos happily whispered, "is that Lysander's advice should always be followed!"

(Ephebe barracks, near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, 3½ years later, early spring, 433 BCE)

Unfortunately, Lysander's sage advice could not always save Agesilaos from suffering regular acute distress over the next 3½ years. Despite the younger very intelligent ephebe's ability now to absorb and adapt wise suggestions, the boy's diminutive size was a major handicap to his welfare. His special social status was also an impediment to continued wellbeing, as he remained a target for grudging jealous bullies and their cronies, especially Lysanoridas. Even his superiority in certain skills, such as running fast, was ironically to prove occasionally detrimental to his best interests.

Lysander and Eudamidas could only observe Agesilaos' continued troubles with abhorrence and sorrow. Ephebe ethics meant that they could not directly interfere, only afterwards offer comfort and further advice. Their friend had to fight his own battles, and their sole compensation, as he frequently lost, was that the hope that he would eventually emerge as a better person as a result of such humiliating and often painful experiences.

Meanwhile, Lysanoridas remained wary of Eudamidas, who, despite being slightly smaller, could occasionally defeat him at wrestling. The prefect was therefore worried that his fellow ephebe might also be able to win a much rougher informal fight and so he never tried to bully the boy. However, such consideration did not extend to the more diminutive Agesilaos.

Lysanoridas continued to humiliate Agesilaos in various ways. The prefect would frequently call the smaller boy a 'wimp' and other derogatives, as well as insult him in other ways.

Lysanoridas would also allocate Agesilaos the most menial chores within the angele, for example cleaning the pack's hut and laundering his fellow ephebes' tunics in the nearby River Eurotas, as well as sending him on the least important errands. Some of the latter were sometimes invented for amusement.

Such invented errands were designed to waste Agesilaos' time or send him into personal peril. He was often despatched to the hut of an older angele, where Lysanoridas knew he would suffer additional verbal abuse and probable physical bullying. In fact, the boy often returned from delivering bogus messages displaying bruises.

Agesilaos also suffered physically at Lysanoridas' sadistic hands. The prefect would often find spurious fault with the boy's performance of chores and have him strip and bend over for a beating, in front of the other mainly chortling ephebes of their angele. The subsequent chastisement would be within the parameters allowed to his position, namely five strokes of a stick across the miscreant's bottom.

Lysanoridas was also occasionally permitted by the paidonomos to organise games just for members of his angele. The prefect could therefore choose the teams and act as arbiter if he wished.

Lysanoridas would invariably allow Agesilaos to be one of the captains. However, this was a very dubious honour as those holding such a position were personally punished if their teams lost.

Lysanoridas ensured that Agesilaos' teams nearly always lost by appointing to them only the worst performing in the relevant games of the ephebes of their angele. The reluctant captain was rarely able, through his own burgeoning sporting and leadership abilities, to compensate personally for such weakness in his ranks in order to secure unlikely victory and so usually earned another five blows of the prefect's stick across his buttocks.

Lysanoridas also supplemented his most common games' ploy to ensure that he could beat Agesilaos' bottom by means of an additional two fiddles. He showed blatant bias when acting as sports' arbiter and also occasionally joined the team competing against that of the boy he liked to bully, so ensuring that the latter was outnumbered by the extra player in his 15-strong angele.

Lysanoridas particularly enjoyed the irony inherent in such games' activities. Eudamidas was proficient at most sports and so was invariably reluctantly one of Agesilaos' most skilled opponents. The boy was also honour-bound to perform as well as he could and his successes were often major contributory factors in ensuring that his best friend's bottom was subsequently beaten by the happy manipulative prefect.

Agesilaos was not stupid and recognised what Lysanoridas was trying to achieve when sending him on bogus errands, accusing him of spurious work faults and appointing him as captain of usually losing teams. However, the boy could not disobey an order from the prefect unless he was either prepared to suffer severe punishment or challenge the bigger ephebe's authority with their paidonomos, who would undoubtedly resolve the issue by commanding the pair to fight each other.

In fact, despite being advised by Lysander not to allow Lysanoridas to taunt him into making such a rash challenge, Agesilaos' pride did occasionally spur him into ignoring his older friend's wise counsel.

Lysander had attempted to teach Agesilaos good unarmed combat technique and tricks, involving both sets of limbs. However, Lysanoridas had been a bully before he entered the ephebe barracks and could therefore add much greater experience at virtually no-holds-barred fighting to his far superior size and strength, which was a differential that was maintained as the years passed.

The inevitable results of the fights between Agesilaos and Lysanoridas were therefore sound, bruising and painful thrashings by the prefect, which invariably ultimately left the smaller boy almost unconscious on the ground. The paidonomos also later allowed the victor to flog the loser with the instructor's strap and, on such occasions, the whole of the vanquished boy's rear and not just his bottom suffered.

Eudamidas did sometimes consider challenging Lysanoridas himself in order to try to put an end to the bullying of Agesilaos. However, two factors prevented the brave boy from doing so.

Firstly, Eudamidas realised that, even if he became prefect by winning the resultant fight against the slightly bigger, stronger and more combat-capable Lysanoridas, he could not simply order the previous incumbent to desist from bullying Agesilaos. Given ethebe ethics, his new authority would not extend to such matters.

Secondly, and more importantly, when appraised of such a possibility, his best friend had begged Eudamidas not to risk such a precarious fight. The paidonomos would undoubtedly as customary allow Lysanoridas to flog any defeated challenger, and Agesilaos had firmly suggested that his conscience could not bear such an outcome.

Consequently, Agesilaos continued to endure Lysanoridas' snide and calculated bullying. The boy also suffered regularly at the hands of his paidonomos, who, because of the young ephebe's special social status, still frequently presented him with far more difficult challenges than other cadets had to face.

In fact, many of the set targets were completely unreasonable and unrealisable but the paidonomos wanted to test Agesilaos' response to facing such impossible odds. Failure to meet the challenges, which was frequent, always, of course, resulted in harsh punishment.

Given such cruel experiences over several years at the hands of Lysanoridas and the paidonomos, it is unsurprising that young Agesilaos acquired a reputation for often walking awkwardly and sometimes with a noticeable limp. However, the boy's many sufferings, including such temporary handicaps, amazingly did not adversely affect his brave spirit.

Both Lysander and Eudamidas could not help but admire such immense pluckiness, and many other aspects of Agesilaos' fine character. However, as the years passed, the pair also came to appreciate immensely one of the boy's other major attributes.

As Agesilaos approached puberty and despite his regular marks of recent painful chastisement, the boy with the silky fair hair and sensuous blue eyes was quite clearly developing into the most beautiful ephebe in the whole barracks. He was now a 10 year-old and had grown significantly since his arrival in the barracks, although he was still smaller than most other cadets of his own age, especially Lysanoridas. He was also someone whom many other older males were beginning to lust after and make plans to seduce when the time and the youngster's body were fully ripe.

Agesilaos was also now about to suffer again, on this sunny and warm spring day. The boy was once more naked and bound face-forward to the punishment stake in the barracks' parade ground, whilst members of his own angele, including the prefect, Lysanoridas, plus some other ephebes, had gathered to watch the imminent punishment.

Agesilaos had recently failed to complete a long and very wearying cross-country run in the required impossible fast time, set by his unrelenting paidonomos and measured by a water-clock. The last drop of liquid had fallen from the container just before the exhausted naked boy had returned to the barracks' parade ground from the surrounding river-plain and hills.

One aspect of performance that had clearly remained unaffected by Agesilaos' diminutive physique was his running speed over either short or long distances. Consequently, the boy happily proved to be the fastest in not only in his angele but also his age group. Unfortunately, such an attribute only encouraged his paidonomos to make the swift ephebe race against the clock and not fellow cadets and to set unrealistic time targets.

Agesilaos' rear had already suffered comprehensive chastisement for just failing a few days before to run naked ten times around the parade ground before the water-clock ran dry. This was the reason why the boy's front, including his smooth genitals, was to suffer now for his failure in the longer race.

Unlike when he had first suffered a similar beating on the front of his body 3½ years previously, Agesilaos' shame at his current predicament was increased by the shape his maturing cock had now incongruously chosen to adopt in readiness. The fearful boy's pleasant slender smooth uncut penis was erect and pointing towards his paidonomos, who was advancing towards him, not with menacing crop in hand but in possession of an even harsher short-stranded whip.

Chapter γ' - Τυρος (3 - Cheese)

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

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)

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 Αρτεμις 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)

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)

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]) [not yet published]