It considered members under the age of 60 as mature enough. True power was in the hands of this elderly and mature council called the Geriousia (Brand)
Despite the fact that they were positioned as kings, both were inferior to the Senate in every matter. With the passage of time, they lost their power (Durant 1997)
The two ancient Greek rivals clattered for the most part and gave the majority of customs and traditions to the world. Regardless of the fact that the two city-states were close together on the map, their beliefs and principles, societies, forms of governance, political systems, constitutions and the basic approach towards living were drastically different (Solanki 2012)
One can most definitely conclude upon reading this work that Spartans were raised in a society or culture that praised fearlessness, cunning, strength and courage. The text begins with the account of the leader, referred to as "Majesty" recounting the following of his most recent battle with Spartan warriors: "In three days Spartans had slain no fewer than 20,000 of Persia's most valiant warriors (Pressfield, 6)
Leonidas The Spartans: The World of the Warrior Heroes of Ancient Greece Paul Cartledge's book known as The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece is by far one of the most intriguing books about one of the most looked at civilizations of ancient Greece. It brings to light new thoughts on the civilization that was known as a pure warrior society (Cartledge, 2004)
These terms are thus viewed in the overall context of what was essential for the preservation of the State and not from any other cultural, social, political, economical, or religious context. The most important thing to the Spartans was to be brave (Christesen 194) and to this end, men and women were educated equally, trained so as to be fit, strong and healthy, and taught to be moral and upstanding
For babies who were not discarded, care for them by the women revealed some strong traits that were very advantageous in the preservation of the State's strength and bravery. For instance, Spartan women did not coddle or "baby" their children, but raised them in such a way that the children were "without swaddling cloths around their limbs" and the babies were "not fussy about food, and not scared of the dark or afraid to be left alone, and free of ignoble irritability and whining" (Lefkowitz, Fant 87)
There is also the matter of infanticide in Spartan society -- occasions in which the male babies were examined by a council and determined to be fit with a strong constitution or weak and deserving of death (as a weak male was considered a drain on the society). Weak male babies were killed and the "woman's investment" of nine long months all for naught, they she was raised to believe that this method of extraction of only the best of the breed was the best way to preserve the Spartan society (Pomeroy 35)
Still, the slave revolt showed just how precarious the Spartan situation was, and how its advantages also had their disadvantages. As Aristotle states, the Spartan women would have had some say in the governing of the city-state regardless, for they were, according to him, "luxurious and intemperate (in contrast to the ascetic men); they asserted themselves in political affairs (by seeking to control the male office-holders)" (Redfield 149)