Example research essay topic: Rest Of His Life Spartan Society - 1,211 words

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... on through Spartan military training, and seeing his friends die in battle while he remained alive. While my life has been event free and relatively good. When Xeones parents were killed he devoted his whole life to vengeance. I have never experienced such a powerful, driving form of vengeance, hopefully I never will. After the destruction of his country Xeones joins the Spartan military and spends the rest of his life undergoing going rigorous training.

He fights in dozens of campaigns in his short life. I am around Xeones age when he joined the military. But in my country I am to young to join the military. Once he joins the military Xeones has no one outside of it, he hardly even knows his wife and young children.

I on the other hand have a very close family. Xeones never really loves anyone in his life other than his parents Bruxieus, and Diomache. His parents and Bruxieus are killed and when he is faced with the decision of carrying on to Athens with the only person he has left in the world or going to Sparta to seek revenge, he chooses the latter. I know in my heart I wouldnt have been as strong, or depending on how you want to see it, as cold-hearted as Xeones. I would have chosen the safer, the happier route. Xeones spends the rest of his life in harsh military training.

Where men drop dead of exhaustion and punishments are a severe as being whipped to death. I guess Ive gone through something similar to this, football practice. Only punishments are sprints and up downs and if coaches kill you they get in trouble. In the end Xeones gives his life for his masters and his country, something I dont know if I could do. The values expressed in this story are surprisingly similar to the ones expressed in our country. Perhaps this isnt surprising, the values and culture of Greece formed the basis for Western civilization.

Perhaps it is because the traits which the Spartans exemplified are valued by all cultures. Sparta was offered great wealth and dominion over all of Greece in return for becoming part of the Persian Empire. The Spartans refused these terms saying that freedom was more valuable than any wealth. That is why they underwent their strict military training, to protect their freedom.

The U. S. has the greatest army in history for this same reason. However, in Sparta this need for a strong army turned the Lakedaemonians to way of life centered on war. In America this hasnt happened, hopefully it never will. The best was I can compare the values of the Spartans values of the Spartans are to those I have experienced in football.

An odd comparison I know but in both cases size, speed, strength, courage, toughness, loyalty, self control, and discipline are valued above all else. Except in football these values are harnessed for scoring touchdowns, not killing people. Entry Three: The Gates of Fire is set twenty-five hundred years ago in Sparta. In The Gates of Fire the Spartan society is focused on one thing alone, war. Sparta was ruled by the Lakedaemonians, an aristocracy who were direct descendants of the conquers of Sparta and ruled the polis with an iron fist. The vast majority of Spartans though werent Lakedaemonians they were the Messinian slaves who farmed the land around Sparta. The Messinians outnumbered the Lakedaemonians twenty to one.

To keep them under control the Spartans had a secret society that would kill a slaves entire family if he was suspected of being disloyal. Even the aristocratic Lakedaemonians didnt really have choice in the warrior culture of Sparta. Without exception every Lakedaemonians had to become a soldier. Defective children were killed, as were those who couldnt pass a ritual strength test directly after birth. Lakedaemonians were subject to military service from the age of seven till the age of sixty.

Those who werent killed by their instructors in the harsh training died in battle. Only a few men made it to sixty. Lakedaemonians lived this harsh life because they were indoctrinated from birth of the glory of the polis, which was more important than anything in Spartan society. Family, happiness, even your own life was secondary to the concerns of the polis. Two hereditary warrior kings, absolute monarchs, ruled Sparta and constituted their entire political system. A council of the few elders who lived pass sixty advised them and could assume the role of regent if both kings were campaigning.

Womans main role in Spartan society was to produce sons to carry on their husbands line. Women couldnt wear makeup or jewelry, such things would distract men from the military. Their job was to look after the house while the men campaigned. Mens only role was to fight. Entry Four: For an overall assessment of The Gates of Fire Pressfield has done an excellent job of writing a story preceding the battle of Thermopylae. Even though I already knew the outcome of the battle Pressfield wrote in such away that I still found myself hanging on the outcome of the battle. Maybe this time the Greeks will win, or reinforcements will arrive, were swirling through my end near the end.

Thats something that rarely happens to me, getting excited over the end of a book, especially a story like this where the author had already revealed the ending at the beginning of the book. What also intrigued me about The Gates of Fire, were the two parallel stories the author tells at the time. Pressfield can do this because the book is told as if it is a Persian writing down Xeones story. The Persian historian tells the Persian side of things in summaries to the king he places before each chapter in Xeones tale. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was how much I learned about ancient Sparta.

Before reading The Gates of Fire I knew little about Sparta and had never heard about the battle of Thermopylae before. Pressfield obviously did a lot of research for the book. Most of the last part of the book wasnt fiction but actual historical facts about the maneuvering and battle between the two armies. That is the part of the story I enjoyed the most. Pressfield does a good job of mixing these historical facts in with another story, that although it is fictionalized meshes in so perfectly with the historical part that they are nearly impossible to separate. The character (except Dienkess) arent really likeable.

I admired the Spartans courage, but Xeones quest for revenge in the end seems pointless because he never takes revenge on his family's killers. After I finished with The Gates Of Fire I realized what would have happened of the Spartans had been unsuccessful in delaying the Persians at Thermpolyae. Greece would have been conquered, the cradle of Western civilization destroyed before its ideas could flourish. And I hadnt even heard of the battle of Thermopylae before.

For that reason alone you should read it. The Gates of Fire though is rare because it uses this interesting historical context for the frame an excellent fictional story.

Research essay sample on Rest Of His Life Spartan Society