Crypteia

The Crypteia or Krypteia (Greek: κρυπτεία krupteía from κρυπτός kruptós, "hidden, secret") was an ancient Spartan state institution involving young Spartan men. As an organization, the Krypteia's mandate and practices are still a matter of contest among historians, but some scholars, such as Henri-Alexandre Wallon, consider the Krypteia to be a kind of secret police and state security force organized by the ruling class of Sparta to patrol the Laconian countryside and to terrorize the helots. Others, including Hermann Köchly and Wilhelm Wachsmuth, believe it to be a form of military training similar to the Athenian ephebia.

History and function

The Krypteia was composed of young Spartan men, described as "those judged to have the most intelligence."[1] These were men had completed their training at the agoge with such success that they were marked out as potential future leaders. Through their participation in the Krypteia they were afforded the opportunity to test their skills and prove themselves worthy of the Spartan polity. Once their training was completed it is speculated that the chosen would've become special forces soldiers in the army.

According to Plutarch, the Spartan ephors would pro forma declare war on the helot population every autumn, allowing any Spartan citizen to kill a helot without fear of punishment.[2] At night, the chosen kryptai (κρύπται, members of the Krypteia) were sent out into the countryside armed with knives with the instructions to kill any helot they encountered and to take any food they needed. They were specifically told to kill the strongest and best of the helots. This practice was adopted to prevent the threat of a helot rebellion and to keep their population in check. According to some sources, Krypteia members stalked the helot villages and surrounding countryside, spying on the servile population.[3] Their mission was to prevent and suppress unrest and rebellion. Troublesome helots could be summarily executed. Such brutal repression of the helots permitted the Spartan elite to successfully control the servile agrarian population and devote themselves to military practice. It may also have contributed to the Spartans' reputation for stealth since a kryptēs (κρύπτης) who got caught was punished by whipping.[3]

Only Spartans who had served in the Krypteia as young men could expect to achieve the highest ranks in Spartan society and army. It was felt that only those Spartans who showed the willingness and ability to kill for the state at a young age were worthy to join the leadership in later years.

Plato (Laws, I, 633), a scholiast to Plato, and Heraclides Lembos (Fr. Hist. Gr., II, 210) also describe the krypteia.

On the battlefield

In Cleomenes, Plutarch describes the Krypteia as being a unit of the Spartan army. The Krypteia did not act in a similar fashion to hoplite soldiers, however. While hoplite soldiers were armored, members of the Krypetia were most likely naked and armed with only a dagger.[1] During the battle of Sellasia, the Spartan king Cleomenes "called Damoteles, the commander of the Krypteia, and ordered him to observe and find out how matters stood in the rear and on the flanks of his army".[4] Various scholars have speculated on the presence and function of the Krypteia on the battlefield, describing it as a reconnaissance, special operations, or even military police force.[4] If this is the case they would be the first special forces unit in the history of the world.

As rite of passage

French historian Henri Jeanmaire points out that the bushranger life of the Krypteia shares no commonality with the disciplined and well-ordered communal life (see Homonoia) of the Spartan hoplite. Jeanmaire suggests that the Krypteia was a rite of passage, possibly pre-dating the classical military organisation, and may have been preserved through Sparta's legendary religious conservatism. He draws comparison with the initiation rituals of some African secret societies (wolf-men and leopard men).[5]

See also

References
  1. Powell, Anton, ed. (2018). A Companion to Sparta. Wiley Blackwell. p. 530.
  2. "Plutarch • Life of Lycurgus". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  3. Paul Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300-362 BC, 2nd Edition, Routledge, 2001
  4. Brandon D. Ross Krypteia: A Form of Ancient Guerrilla Warfare
  5. Henri Jeanmaire, La cryptie lacédémonienne, Revue des études grecques, 26, 1913
  • Henri Alexandre Wallon, Explication d'un passage de Plutarque sur une loi de Lycurgue nommée la Cryptie (fragment d'une Histoire des Institutions politiques de la Grèce), Paris, Dupont, 1850;
  • Hermann August Theodor Köchly (aka Arminius Koechly), Commentatio de Lacedaemoniorum cryptia, Leipzig (aka Lipsiae), 1835;
  • Pierre Vidal-Naquet, The Black Hunter and the Origin of the Athenian Ephebeia, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, 194, 1968;
  • Wilhelm Wachsmuth, Hellenische Altertumskunde aus dem Geschichtpunkt des Staates (Teil 1 & 2), 2. Ausgabe, Halle, 1844 (Teil 1) & 1846 (Teil 2);
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