A Nation Of Warriors

Yesterday I watched the movie 300. Although I am not really a fan of graphic novels or comics, Frank Miller's works are one of those I really like. The movie is about King Leonidas and the 300 spartans who fought a massive army of invading Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. The movie is an historical fiction (is that an oxymoron?) in that in included some ghouls and mythical monsters in the battle. However, that battle did occur. In August 480 B.C., Leonidas and his 300 men fought to the death defending the Pass of Thermopylae (Hot Gates). They killed hundreds, maybe even thousands, of King Xerxes men.

During that time, Sparta (now a city in Southern Greece) was a nation of warriors. It was said that they were a direct descendants of Heracles. Men began their training virtually at birth. Just after birth, the child is bathed in wine to see whether the child was weak or strong. If the child survived it was brought before the elders of the tribe by the child's father. The elders then decided whether it was to be reared or not. If found defective or weak, the baby was left on the wild slopes of Mt. Taygetos, also known as Apothetae or Place Of Rejection.

The Spartans began military training at about the age of 7 —everything from physical training such as hunting and dancing, to emotional and spiritual training. At that age they would have to go through a series of tests. They would have to run around a group of older children, who would flog them continually with whips, sometimes to death. At age of 21, they would leave home for military boarding school and were required to serve in the army until age thirty. Men could marry at the age of twenty but could not live with their families until they left their active military service at age thirty.

A Spartan could only return to Sparta from a battle in one of two ways, victorious or dead. If a Spartan hoplite (infantryman) were to return to Sparta alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment.

Random Odds & Ends

• Dry cleaning isn't really dry. It is called that way because the fluid contains little or no water and does not penetrate the fibres as water does.
• The average temperature of a fart is 37 degrees Celsius and travels at just over three meters per second.
• According to New Scientist magazine, sex boosts a compound in the body called IgA which is the first line of defense against colds and flu.
• There are 25 calories in a Hershey's chocolate Kisses. 26 calories are burned during a passionate kiss.
• By the year 2000, there are 10,000 vials of sperm stored at New England Sperm Bank.