Spartan Krypteia Initiation (900 – 396 BC)
The Greek city-state of Sparta was home to some of the most feared warriors in history. Many movies and books recount the stories of a martial society so grim that their very name is invoked today when describing rugged individuals or localities devoid of frivolous comforts or luxuries. The Spartans are frequently portrayed as champions of western liberty and freedom, bravely defending the Hellenistic world against encroaching adversaries from the near east. The reality of the matter was much grimmer—especially for the young men who were forcibly recruited into an elite and mysterious Spartan faction known as the Krypteia.
Spartan life was demanding from the start. Baby boys, if deemed weak of unfit at birth, were often left to starve in the wilderness or pitched off the edge of a cliff. Infants fortunate enough to make it past this initial inspection were pressed into a life of austere frugality where any sign of emotional or physical weakness was met with quick and swift punishment. Preadolescent boys were indoctrinated into a harsh military environment and warrior lifestyle by participating in ritualistic combat training, receiving public beatings, and being cast off on survival excursions into the unforgiving Laconian wilds.
Candidates who passed all the above trials earned the iconic crimson cape of a Spartan hoplite. For some, however, the journey did not end there. A select few went on to join the ranks of the Krypteia, an elite branch of covert killers and Bronze Age commandos. Many historians agree that the Krypteia served three purposes. First, they kept the helot (slave) population in check by terrorizing local peasants. Second, they acted as a sort of quasi-secret police force that performed the bidding of the state. Finally, they waged guerrilla warfare against any who dared oppose Sparta on the battlefield.
Pairs of Krypteia recruits were provided with nothing more than daggers and ordered to roam the countryside under the cover of darkness. Their initiation was literally an exercise in coldblooded murder. Eager candidates would stealthily approach groups of unsuspecting peasants and pounce upon them, while they either slept or were otherwise unprepared to defend themselves against a surprise assault. The timeless philosopher Plato described the practice in a more romantic light, writing that the Krypteia “afforded a wonderfully severe training in hardihood, as the men go bare-foot in winter… and rove through the whole countryside both by night and day.”