The rather wonderful book “Schools of Hellas” that I mentioned earlier, appears to have been written especially for me.

Floggings were exceedingly common at Sparta. Any elder man might flog any boy. It was not etiquette for boys to complain to their parents in these cases; if they did so, they received a second thrashing.

But the triumph of the system was the flogging of the ‘epheboi’ yearly at the altar of Artemis Orthia, in substitute for human sacrifice. Entrance for the competition was quite voluntary, but the competitors seem always to have been forthcoming. They began by practice of some sort in the country. If the floggers were too lenient,.. the statue, according to legend, performed a miracle to show its displeasure.

I love that there was a statue with such specialised miracle powers. ‘The statue is not amused! Thrash them harder!’

Actually, I would be tempted to be lenient on the sacrificial boys just to see the statue do some cool tricks.

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