I watched a documentary on Sparta. While they were fierce fighters and the battle of Thermopyle was based, Sparta had a really cruel and fucked up society.

For one, all sons were taken from their mothers at 9 and forced into btutal military training until adulthood. They practiced a severe form of eugenics too throwing babies into a ravine.

Men basically had no rights but were basically slaves to the military. Women had all the rights, and ran shit basically.

They enslaved the neighboring tribes that were greek and spoke greek. They would brutalize them, and cull them if their population got too big. They would even have purge like culling parties where bands of youth would hunt down slaves for sport for one night a year.

Plus as everyone knows, homosexuality and pedophilia were enouraged amonst the men, so alot of them were faggots too.

I don't think being a Spartan was a great life, I can see why they were so eager to die in battle and just get it over with...