Why Agoge Project
If you’re reading this, you may be wondering why I choose the name ‘Agoge Project’. The inspiration of course comes from ancient Sparta and you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a cliché however at least it’s not called ‘Spartan Mind’.
Firstly, if you’re not familiar with what Agoge Project is, this is a community to empower everyone towards building and developing a growth mindset. I believe that we can achieve so much if we just have the right mindset to push us forwards and enable growth. I’ve seen too many great people beat themselves up and get caught up in a negative spiral and it’s driven me to creating this community to help people and coach people through the journey if they are looking for additional help. I’ve been on the journey myself and having experienced it I want to share it with those around me.
Now on to a bit of history
In Sparta, at age 7, the boys would be sent off to Agoge where they would spend most of their time until becoming citizens of Sparta at the age of 21 and joining the military full time. The Agoge was unique amongst the Greek city-states at the time in that it was a formalised state education system where everyone received the same level and standard of education.
Whilst we are often led to believe that the sole focus was on fighting and strict military training due to the fierce reputation the spartan army has garnered over time and was indeed true at the time too, you’d be surprised to hear that although military training was a part of the Agoge, it was accompanied by the teaching of the literacy, the rules and laws of the time, rhetoric, singing, dancing, various sports as well as basic skills in botany, trapping, hunting and survival. Furthermore, the boys of the Agoge not only learned to recite laws but were expected to discuss their purpose, virtue and effectiveness. There was also a large focus on the arts such as poetry and theatre and it was commonplace for the boys of the Agoge to perform during the festivals and holidays celebrated by the Spartans at the time.
Furthermore, alongside the various disciplines in sports, ranging from running, jumping, swimming, wrestling, boxing and rope climbing (let’s not forget that the Greeks invented the Olympics) there was a large emphasis on respecting your elders and cultivating leadership skills. These were developed through service starting with basic chores such as cooking, cleaning and washing up. As the boys grew older and their education continued they were given more responsibility until ultimately they were put in charge of the younger age groups in their final year named eirenes before graduating and joining the army.
Upon leaving the Agoge, Spartans were required to belong to a syssitia, or dining club where they were required to eat dinner and build ties with fellow citizens including taking part in rife debates about politics and general spartan life.
I’m sure any historian reading this may cringe on my very basic and short explanation however it’s here to give you a gist of what it looked like and why I thought Agoge Project to be a fitting name.
In short, the Spartans were and still are renowned for being one of the most successful and dominant powers in Ancient Greece. The lessons of moral integrity, loyalty, physical and mental strength as well as dealing with hardship and learning to live within one’s means and with little in terms of luxuries enabled the Spartans the strong myth and legend they enjoy to this day.
Just like in the Agoge, I believe that we are always learning and on that journey to become stronger, fitter, humbler and that it’s during times of hardship that we will be able to fall back upon our training to ensure that we not just survive but thrive and come out the other side a better person.
The impediment to action becomes the action. What blocks the way, becomes the way.
And although I fully understand that the Spartans and the Agoge were far from perfect, I believe that we could all benefit from some of the ancient lessons learnt by those boys in the Agoge.
There is of course little comparison to be made between the Agoge Project and the actual Agoge, and the content of the course is not based on the content of the ancient Agoge. Rather, the name is meant to reflect the building of a strong person, mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. And at Agoge Project, we believe that this all starts with Mindset. And by training that growth mindset, the rest will fall in place.
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This article was written by Stuart Munnich. If you’d like to know more or receive notifications for future articles, please head over to the Agoge Project Website or subscribe to updates right here!
