{ "attribution": "Source: Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer, the Sparta dragon novel. Lexicon: https://acenes-of-sparta-the-dragon-slayer.netlify.app/lexicon/ . Read the novel free on Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJ9V8YWV", "book": { "title": "Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer", "tagline": "The Sparta dragon novel", "author": "Manolis Tsongas", "hook": "A dragon is the reason the 300 died.", "kindle_unlimited": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJ9V8YWV", "illustrated_hardcover": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H26KTD9C", "website": "https://acenes-of-sparta-the-dragon-slayer.netlify.app/" }, "category": "sparta", "count": 28, "data": [ { "id": "agoge", "name": "Agoge", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The rigorous education and training program in ancient Sparta that all male citizens underwent from age seven to thirty. It emphasized military training, hunting, discipline, pain endurance, and survival skills.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/agoge.json" }, { "id": "apothetae", "name": "Apothetae", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The place of discarding. Plutarch reports that a Spartan father could not decide whether to raise his own child. The infant was carried to a building called the Lesche, where the elders of the tribe examined it. If the child was sound, they assigned it one of the nine thousand allotments of land and ordered the father to rear it. If it was judged ill-formed, it was sent to the Apothetae, a ravine at the foot of Taygetus.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/apothetae.json" }, { "id": "black-broth", "name": "Black broth", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Melas zomos, the dish that made Spartan food proverbial. Pork boiled in its own blood, sharpened with vinegar and salt. It was the staple of the common mess, and the older men are said to have preferred it to the meat itself.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/black-broth.json" }, { "id": "carneia", "name": "Carneia", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The festival of Apollo Carneus, and the reason Sparta sent three hundred men to Thermopylae instead of an army. Herodotus states it directly: the Spartans meant to march in force, but the Carneia was in the way, and they sent an advance guard intending to follow once the festival ended.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/carneia.json" }, { "id": "come-and-take-them", "name": "\"Come and take them!\"", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Famous response attributed to Leonidas when the Persians demanded the Spartans surrender their weapons.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/come-and-take-them.json" }, { "id": "eiren", "name": "Eiren", "category": "sparta", "summary": "A youth of about twenty placed in command of a troop of younger boys. Plutarch defines the eiren as one two years out of the boys' class, and gives melleiren, would-be eiren, as the name for the oldest boys still below that line.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/eiren.json" }, { "id": "ephor", "name": "Ephor", "category": "sparta", "summary": "One of five annually elected magistrates who formed the most powerful governmental body in ancient Sparta. Chosen by the popular assembly of Spartan citizens, Ephors (\"overseers\") served as a check on the dual kings' power, with authority to supervise, fine, prosecute, and even depose monarchs for misconduct. Their extensive duties included presiding over the Gerousia (council of elders) and assembly meetings, receiving foreign ambassadors, controlling foreign policy, serving as judges in civil cases, overseeing the education system (agoge), and enforcing Spartan law and customs. Each month they exchanged oaths with the kings - the kings swearing to rule according to law, the Ephors swearing to preserve the kingship as long as the kings kept their oath. The Ephorate, likely established in the 8th or 7th century BCE, represented a democratic element within Sparta's oligarchic system and was unique among Greek city-states, effectively making these five men the most powerful officials in the Spartan state despite their non-aristocratic origins and one-year terms.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/ephor.json" }, { "id": "for-sparta", "name": "\"For Sparta\"", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The battle cry and dedication of Spartan warriors, emphasizing their commitment to the state above individual concerns.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/for-sparta.json" }, { "id": "gerousia", "name": "Gerousia", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The council of elders. Twenty-eight men over sixty, holding office for life, sitting with the two kings to make thirty. Plutarch says Lycurgus set it between kings and people as ballast, checking whichever side was pulling hardest, and that this was the innovation that made the Spartan constitution stable where others were not.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/gerousia.json" }, { "id": "gymnopaediae", "name": "Gymnopaediae", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The festival of naked youths, held in high summer in the Spartan agora. Choruses of boys and men danced and sang through the heat, and the occasion doubled as a public display of who had come through the upbringing well.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/gymnopaediae.json" }, { "id": "helots", "name": "Helots", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The subject population of Laconia and Messenia, bound to the land and to the Spartans collectively rather than owned as individual chattel. They farmed the allotments that paid each Spartan's mess contribution, which is what made a citizen body of full-time soldiers possible at all.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/helots.json" }, { "id": "hoplite", "name": "Hoplite", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The heavy infantryman of the Greek city states. Bronze helmet, breastplate and greaves, a round shield about three feet across carried on the left arm, a thrusting spear, a short sword for when the spear broke.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/hoplite.json" }, { "id": "iron-money", "name": "Iron money", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Sparta issued no silver coinage in the classical period, and Plutarch explains the absence as deliberate: Lycurgus withdrew gold and silver and substituted iron, then ruined the iron with vinegar while hot so that it could not be reworked into anything useful.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/iron-money.json" }, { "id": "krypteia", "name": "Krypteia", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The secret service, or the secret thing. Plutarch describes young Spartans sent out into the countryside with daggers and rations, hiding by day and killing helots on the roads at night, taking the strongest first.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/krypteia.json" }, { "id": "laconian-expression", "name": "Laconian Expression", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The Spartan practice of speaking with extreme brevity and directness, avoiding unnecessary words.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/laconian-expression.json" }, { "id": "laconic-speech", "name": "Laconic speech", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Named from Laconia, and attested as a Spartan habit by writers who were not Spartan. Herodotus gives an early instance: Samian envoys make a long speech asking for help, and the Spartans reply that they have forgotten the beginning and cannot understand the end. The Samians come back with a bag and the words that the bag wants barley, and are told the word bag was unnecessary.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/laconic-speech.json" }, { "id": "paidonomos", "name": "Paidonomos", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The warden of the boys. A magistracy, not a schoolmaster's post: Xenophon says the office was given to a man drawn from those eligible for the highest honours, and that he carried the power to punish. He went about with a body of young men bearing whips, so that discipline was never further away than the next street.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/paidonomos.json" }, { "id": "peloponnesian-league", "name": "Peloponnesian League", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The alliance of Peloponnesian states under Spartan leadership, which the Greeks themselves called the Lacedaemonians and their allies.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/peloponnesian-league.json" }, { "id": "phalanx", "name": "Phalanx", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The formation hoplites fought in: a block of men several ranks deep, shields overlapping, spears levelled over the top of the rank in front.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/phalanx.json" }, { "id": "return-with-your-shield-or-on-it", "name": "\"Return with your shield or on it\"", "category": "sparta", "summary": "A famous Spartan saying mothers would tell their sons before battle, meaning come back victorious (with your shield) or dead (carried on your shield), but never in retreat (which would require dropping the heavy shield to run).", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/return-with-your-shield-or-on-it.json" }, { "id": "spartan-men-and-women", "name": "Spartan Men and Women", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Spartan society was unique in ancient Greece for the mutual respect and admiration between men and women. Unlike other Greek city-states, Spartan women enjoyed considerable freedom, education, and economic independence. They could own property and conduct business affairs. The relationship between Spartan men and women was characterized by equality rather than dominance. Spartan women took great pride in their men's courage, as exemplified by Queen Gorgo's famous quote about Spartan women being \"the only ones who give birth to men.\" Marriage was viewed as a partnership with practical purposes, with both sexes marrying later than in other Greek states. Sexual relations were considered \"an activity between equals,\" emphasizing mutual enjoyment. Both men and women embraced sacrifice for their shared ideals, as demonstrated by the stoic attitude of Spartan mothers towards their sons' military service. This mutual respect created a society where both sexes contributed to Sparta's strength in complementary ways - men through direct military service and women through producing and raising warriors while maintaining the economic and social foundations of the state.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/spartan-men-and-women.json" }, { "id": "spartan-men", "name": "Spartan Men", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Spartan men were raised from birth with one purpose: military excellence in service to their state above all else. From age seven until thirty, they lived under strict discipline in military barracks as part of their training in agoge. Their lives revolved around physical toughness and obedience; they were taught stealth (even encouraged to steal food but punished if caught), survival skills in harsh conditions, and unwavering loyalty to Sparta's laws and comradeship within their phalanx formations.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/spartan-men.json" }, { "id": "spartan-mother", "name": "Spartan Mother", "category": "sparta", "summary": "Spartan women, including mothers, held a unique position in ancient Greek society. They underwent rigorous physical training, could own property, and wielded considerable influence. Spartan mothers were instrumental in instilling values of courage and loyalty to the state in their children. Their unwavering commitment to Spartan ideals is exemplified in a famous quote: When a Spartan mother was burying her son, a common woman expressed pity, to which she replied, \"No, by Heaven, but good luck; for I bore him that he might die for Sparta, and this is the very thing that has come to pass for me.\" This attitude reflects the Spartan ethos of prioritizing the state's welfare above personal loss.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/spartan-mother.json" }, { "id": "spartan", "name": "Spartan", "category": "sparta", "summary": "A citizen of Sparta, renowned for their military prowess, discipline, and austere lifestyle. Interestingly, Spartans believed themselves to be descendants of the Spartoi (\"sown men\"), who in turn were born from dragon's teeth. This mythical lineage implies that all Spartans carry dragon blood in their veins, which may explain their legendary strength and ferocity in battle. This dragon ancestry adds a layer of irony and depth to Acenes' quest to slay Kalaxes, as he is, in essence, confronting a distant relative of his people.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": false, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/spartan.json" }, { "id": "stealing-in-the-agoge", "name": "Stealing in the agoge", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The most misread element of Spartan upbringing. Xenophon is explicit that boys were underfed on purpose, on the theory that a spare diet produced height, and that they were then permitted to steal in order to close the gap. He is equally explicit that a boy caught stealing was beaten, and he anticipates the obvious objection: why punish what you encourage? His answer is that the beating is for incompetence, exactly as any other taught skill is punished when performed badly.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/stealing-in-the-agoge.json" }, { "id": "syssitia", "name": "Syssitia", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The common mess. Every Spartan of citizen standing ate his evening meal not at home but in a fixed group of about fifteen men, and continued to do so for life. Xenophon, who lived in the Peloponnese and knew the system at first hand, says Lycurgus brought the messes into the open precisely so that men would be ashamed to overeat or to arrive drunk, and that the walk home in the dark, with no torch permitted, was itself training.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/syssitia.json" }, { "id": "tresantes", "name": "Tresantes", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The tremblers. The formal Spartan status of a man who had shown cowardice in battle, and the sharpest illustration of how the city enforced its standard without needing to execute anyone.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/tresantes.json" }, { "id": "with-it-or-on-it", "name": "With it or on it", "category": "sparta", "summary": "The instruction a Spartan mother is said to have given her son as she handed him his shield: come back with this, or on it. Return carrying the shield, or be carried home dead upon it.", "attested_in_ancient_sources": true, "api": "https://acenes-of-sparta.pages.dev/api/v1/entries/with-it-or-on-it.json" } ] }