April New Moon Special
ADAMOS OF SPARTA
Anthony Thomas Voglino |
Adamos was a Spartan soldier who lived during the era of the Peloponnesian War. The Peloponnesian War was fought between the Spartan led Peloponnesian League and the empire of Athens. This protracted war, which engulfed much of Greece, lasted from 431 B.C. to 404 B.C. It was the reaction of Sparta and its allies to the excessive growth in power of the city-state of Athens. At the time the war erupted, Athens was the wealthiest city-state in all of Greece.
Adamos, who never had any non-military association with anyone outside of Sparta, was a Spartan supremacist. As a product of Sparta, Adamos was very proud. He loved Sparta, Spartan policies, and the Spartan way of life. Except for some of Sparta’s allies, Adamos viewed foreigners as inferior. He had no respect for peoples of other cultures or lifestyles. His intolerance for non-Spartans was strongly engraved in his mindset. The Spartan military machine was formidable. Spartan soldiers were the best trained and the most physically fit in all of Greece. In gymnasiums, Spartan soldiers trained in the nude for long hours. Some of the activities at which they trained included wrestling, swordsmanship, and hand to hand combat. Through extensive training, Spartan soldiers honed their fighting skills and developed their physiques to the utmost degree. On the battlefield, Spartan soldiers were trained to do whatever was necessary to win. Adamos was no exception to this policy. Without mercy, Adamos did what he had to in order to be victorious in battle. In his pursuit of victory, Adamos did not adhere to any scruples or ethical constraints. Accordingly, like his fellow Spartans, he was a serious warrior. As an adult, utilizing these extreme fighting tactics, Adamos helped Sparta conquer and subjugate many peoples. Often, those who he helped defeat suffered severely. The victimization of such people by the Spartan military was of no concern to Adamos. Adamos thought that these non-Spartan victims deserved to suffer. As a Spartan supremacist, he also felt that almost all non-Spartans were inferior. Furthermore, he felt that these non-Spartan vermin didn’t deserve the same kindness that he showed his fellow countrymen. At the age of 14, after extensive military training, Adamos made his official debut onto the battlefield. He fought with his fellow Spartans in a merciless campaign of slaughter. Because the Peloponnesian War was in full bloom at the time, most of the battles that Adamos participated in as a young man involved Athens and its empire. By the age of 19, Adamos had demonstrated to have great military prowess. If his count was correct, by that age he had already killed fifty foreign soldiers. As time passed, the death toll inflicted by Adamos grew ever larger. Yet even though Adamos was an excellent warrior, he was not invincible. Now and then, Adamos received minor injuries on the battlefield which temporarily removed him from the fray. Nevertheless, during the early part of the war, Adamos remained relatively unscathed. During this part of the war it seemed that he was somewhat immune to the aggression of his enemies. Towards the latter part of the war Adamos’ luck on the battlefield ran out. When he was 27 years old he was captured in battle by the Athenians in Attica, the region of Greece where the city of Athens was located. Upon his capture, Adamos was brought to the city of Athens and imprisoned with other prisoners from diverse backgrounds. Being captured and imprisoned in this manner was a new experience for Adamos. Throughout his prior career as a soldier he hadn’t considered such capture and imprisonment to be a realistic possibility. This was the first time that Adamos was ever exposed to foreigners off the battlefield. Within the prison where he was incarcerated resided a motley variety of captives. Some of these captives were criminals, while others were prisoners of war. Some of the places from which these diverse captives came included Africa, India, Macedonia, and Persia. Ultimately, Adamos was confined in a cell with several other prisoners. One of the prisoners of his new cell was a black man named Akeem. “My name is Akeem. I’m from Africa,” Akeem told Adamos, who didn’t respond in any way. “What’s your name?” “Adamos,” Adamos replied without any emotion and followed by a long pause. “Where are you from?” asked Akeem. “Sparta,” answered Adamos. “I’m told that Spartans are the best soldiers,” stated Akeem. “Of course,” stated Adamos. “Sparta will probably win the war,” added Akeem. “It will,” stated Adamos. Due to Adamos’ laconic manners and reluctance to talk, Akeem resigned from conversing with him. This was the very first time that Adamos had ever spoken with a black man. Also, Adamos found this initial experience to be very strange because the black man didn’t seem so terrible. The next day another foreigner incarcerated in Adamos’ cell tried to make conversation with Adamos. His name was Milo. “Hi, I’m Milo. I’m from Macedonia,” stated Milo. “Is it true that you Spartans are laconic with respect to manners?” “Yes,” replied Adamos without any emotion. “Did you hear the news? The Athenian navy has been destroyed at Aegospotami,” asked Milo. “Yes,” flatly answered Adamos. “They say the war will soon end. Soon we may be free,” stated Milo. Adamos does not respond. “Do you think the war will end?” “Yes,” stated Adamos. In this fashion, the conversation continued on. In an attempt to make small talk, Milo posed a series of questions, all of which Adamos answered laconically. Finally, one of the other prisoners in the cell, an Indian, entered the conversation. “I’m here because I robbed a statue from the household of some wealthy people. The residence from which I stole is located around the outskirts of Athens,” stated the Indian, followed by a pause. “The statue which I stole was so beautiful that I had to make it mine. As you can see, stealing it was a mistake.” “How much time must you spend in prison for your crime?” Milo asked the Indian. “Six months, but I have already been in prison for five,” answered the Indian. Next, the Indian turned to Adamos. “Spartan, do you have any idea how long you’ll be here?” “No,” replied Adamos in a stoical way. “Do you even care?” asked the Indian. “No,” Adamos answered laconically. “You’ll probably stay here until the end of the war, or until there’s a prisoner exchange between Athens and Sparta,” Milo told Adamos. As time passed, to Adamos’ surprise, he developed friendships with his cellmates. He even started to think that some of these foreigners were not as bad as he had believed them to be. Even the prison guards didn’t seem so terribly bad to him, although they were enforcing his confinement. These guards treated Adamos with decency and respect. Although many of those around him in the Athenian prison were non-Spartans, he did not despise them as he had despised non-Spartans in the past. The fact was that Adamos had changed his attitudes towards foreigners. Not only had he come to respect and tolerate other peoples, but he was no longer supremely motivated towards the Spartan cause. In the year 404 B.C., Sparta won the war and Adamos was eventually released from prison. Yet in part because he now enjoyed friendships with some non-Spartans, he decided to stay in the city of Athens. He took up residence in Athens where he became a trainer in a gymnasium. Unlike Sparta, Athens was a melting pot. It was home to people of many different cultures and races. Also, Adamos now found such diversity to be acceptable. Whereas in his youth he was a Spartan supremacist, as he aged he came to accept and tolerate others. THE END
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Each issue is published both online and in print. While we hope you’ll support the magazine by purchasing a print edition or subscription, the online editions are, and will always be, free to read and share.
The Empyrean Literary Magazine was launched by Kaylyn Dunn in December 2021, to give new writers a chance to express their voices and ideas, and be introduced in the world of publishing.
Empyrean's mission is simple: to share the writing & artwork from undiscovered talent.
Support us by subscribing, buying an issue, or connecting with us over social media or email.
Welcome to the Empyrean Community!