The Queen of Sparta by T. S. Chaudhry

Author:T. S. Chaudhry
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: T.S. Chaudhry
Published: 2014-02-18T16:00:00+00:00

Sherzada was sitting on the floor of his new accommodation. It was a larger room in the same building as Gorgo’s, only two doors down from hers. To Sherzada, the room did not look very different from the cell he had been in. Only it was larger, it had a large window – without bars – and a proper bed rather than a damp reed mattress. The rest was the same.

He was lost in thought when he heard a gentle knock on the door. Moments later, Gorgo entered. As always, he rose for her, but he did not smile as he usually did. “You seem pensive, my Prince. What is on your mind?”

He rose and offered her the single chair, which she took. “I have traveled through many lands,” he said, sitting back down on the floor, “and I did not find a single place where slavery did not exist in one form or another. Sparta is no different in that regard, and yet there is still something savage about this society of yours.”

“The Spartan system,” she explained with some indignation, “is designed to protect Sparta from enemies foreign and domestic. Had it not been for this, Sparta would have been overrun long ago by our enemies and the Peloponnesus would have remained in perpetual chaos. Sparta’s supremacy has provided a degree of peace and stability to this region that is missing in many other parts of Greece.

“Most Spartans fear that if we do not suppress the Helots, they will rise up and wipe us out, as they have tried to do in the past. And while we oppress our Helots, we are brutal to ourselves also, as you saw on the training ground today. Our military education is incredibly harsh and many do not survive it. The system demands our citizens be tough and disciplined. If we cannot even do that, we might not survive – and we might not deserve to survive. We even kill our weak babies so that only the strong survive.”

Gorgo bowed her head. “Why do you think I did not have a second child? I knew that my first baby, if it was a male, would not be that closely examined, even if it was weak … and Pleistarchus was certainly the frailest of babies. Being the first-born son of a king, the Ephor gave him the benefit of the doubt, and thus his life. But I knew my second child would not survive a similar inspection. It is one thing to lose a grown-up son on the field of battle, it is quite another to lose a child before he or she has even started to live. You are right, my Prince, there are aspects of our culture which are truly savage.”

Sherzada got up and looked back at Gorgo. “Well, change this savage behavior of yours,” he urged. “For a start, stop killing your infants.”

Gorgo shook her head. “Survival of the fittest babies is part of the Code of Lycurgus – our ancient Lawgiver.

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