(2 – Lessons)

(A farm near Sparta, Laconia, Greece, early autumn, 437 BCE)

The honourably compliant Agesilaos soon found himself naked once more. On this occasion, the boy’s pretty head was facing the narrow but nevertheless sturdy trunk of a young apple tree, around which his arms were wrapped, with his hands resolutely bound with stalwart twine to keep him in position.

Meanwhile, the angered farm manager, in whose orchard the new 7 year-old ephebe had been unsuccessfully attempting to steal some fruit, had extracted an appropriately long and strong but slender branch from another nearby tree. The man was currently whittling his find with his knife in order to remove extraneous material to create the necessary instrument of imminent painful chastisement.

As Agesilaos waited to be caned, he tried not to display too much shame at his renewed public nudity or his fear of what was soon to be inflicted on him. The boy’s young mind also drifted back to the conversation he had indulged with Lysander eight days previously, just after he had been beaten for the first time in his life by the prefect of his pack, or ‘angele’, of 7 year-old ephebes, Lysanoridas.

Agesilaos had at the time of his conversation with Lysander been recovering from his flagellation, which had not only despoiled his lustrous bottom but also culminated in a vicious uppercut onto his nicely rotund scrotum from the crop wielded by the nasty bully, Lysanoridas. The young recipient of such flogging had been hurting both physically and mentally, with the latter suffering exacerbated by his apparently cowardly failure to remain on his feet and keep silent and free of tears.

Agesilaos had initially considered ending up whimpering and writhing on the ground, whilst tears flooded from his sensuous blue eyes, to have been the most shameful action he had ever perpetrated. The whole event had been considerably worsened by acting in such a debasing way in front of his adult supervisor, or ‘paidonomos’, and the other fourteen members of his angele, including his tormentor, Lysanoridas, and new friend, Eudamidas. However, 14 year-old Lysander had subsequently kindly disabused the younger boy of this viewpoint.

Seeing the deeply distressed Agesilaos squirming in agony on the ground in front of his paidonomos and the other 7 year-old members of his angele, all but one of whom were laughing merrily at the sight of the newcomer’s anguish, Lysander had immediately rushed to the boy’s aid. His action instantly stimulated Eudamidas, who was naked like his new friend after his own more successful wrestling match, to do the same.

Despite the expectation that ephebes should quietly individually endure the routine sufferings they would inevitably experience during their training, or ‘agoge’, in order to toughen them, there was no proscription against friends helping each other when one was in real distress. In fact, close co-operative camaraderie within each angele was positively encouraged, whilst in contrast intense competition between packs in each age group was fostered in order to offer the boys regular stiff challenges.

Meanwhile, competition between different age groups was not actively sought and so friendships between older and younger males were also considered beneficial for military camaraderie and to assist personal development. It was believed that the less mature would benefit from the companionship and advice of someone more experienced, whose leadership skills would also hopefully gain from such mentoring.

Such attitudes went to the extent that the eventual development of homosexual couplings was encouraged. As within the famed Theban Sacred Band, such relationships were believed to be conducive to producing good warriors, as surely no young man, youth or boy would want to display cowardice in front of his lover.

The founder of the Spartan constitution, Lycurgus, had strongly advocated such homosexual liaisons, declaring, about young men, youths and pubescent or older boys, that "No-one who does not have a masculine friend in his bed can be a good citizen!" Such relationships were also encouraged by the unavailability of females for males who, until they attained the age of thirty, were resident in barracks, or were practising or actually indulging in warfare elsewhere, and were simultaneously prohibited from marrying.

Up to the age of thirty, most Spartan males possessed lovers amongst the ranks of their fellow warriors and ephebes, who were living with them in the military barracks or elsewhere. In this sexual environment, pederasty between young and even mature men and pubescent or older boys was at least as common as homosexuality involving youths.

Given such ethos, the paidonomos did not prevent Lysander and Eudamidas coming to the aid of the obviously extremely anguished Agesilaos. Although the adult supervisor knew that he was expected to treat the newcomer with exceptional hardness, he also had a remit to encourage such displays of camaraderie by boys who were not members of a rival angele of the same age group.

In contrast, Lysanoridas was naturally unhappy at this sudden turn of events. Agesilaos had obviously quickly acquired a friend in the bigger Eudamidas and, more worryingly, the sympathy of Lysander, who was the most respected boy in the ephebe barracks, despite his ‘mothakes’ status.

Lysander was the prefect of his own angele of 14 year-old ephebes, which was a status he had won by successfully eventually challenging and fighting a larger bully who had first held the position during their early years in the barracks. It was a testament to the victor’s amicability and leadership skills that the loser was now one of his closest friends.

Lysander had subsequently proved himself to be the most able and courageous boy in his age group. He was also someone who could often compete successfully in various challenges against older, bigger and more experienced ephebes, who therefore respected the 14 year-old and did not try to bully or otherwise intimidate him.

Despite the encouragement of camaraderie between age groups, bullying of younger boys by older was still very common and ignored by the adult supervisors. Such frequent events were just regarded as another method of trying to toughen ephebes through their reactions to the incidents.

Lysander had also displayed his leadership abilities by transforming his angele, which had previously been considered one of the weakest amongst their age group, to being clearly the strongest. In fact, the pack of fifteen 14 year-olds was considered by the adult supervisors to be developing into an elite unit, which should never be split up.

Lysanoridas possessed one mental comfort, as he observed clear embryonic companionship developing between Agesilaos, Lysander and Eudamidas. The prefect fully appreciated that, although the latter two boys could advise their friend and assist his recovery from distress, their help could not extend to fighting the 7 year-old’s battles for him.

Barracks’ ethos meant that Lysander could not intimidate Lysanoridas into desisting from harassing Agesilaos. Although the older boy could normally try to bully the younger prefect if he wanted, doing so in order to make someone else’s life easier was considered unethical.

Similarly, Eudamidas, of whom Lysanoridas was wary because of his clear fighting ability, was not supposed to join with the more diminutive Agesilaos in order to challenge Lysanoridas as a pair. Personal disputes were expected to be resolved between individuals.

If Lysander and Eudamidas were to remain honourable in their conduct, which both were determined to do, their involvement in trying to stop Lysanoridas’ future bullying of Agesilaos therefore had to be restricted only to practical advice. The 7 year-old prefect was fully aware of this situation, as he watched the very early stages of the close friendships between the three boys develop.

Lysanoridas’ only concern therefore, in respect of his aspirations to make Agesilaos’ life as an ephebe miserable, was the quality of the advice given by Lysander and Eudamidas. The prefect also judged that such pointers could not in the immediate future be so good that they would overcome the obvious significant physical differences between himself and the more diminutive boy he wanted to bully, who had experienced a much softer upbringing.

As the freshly naked Agesilaos again waited to be beaten, this time whilst tied to an apple tree, his recall of his conversation with Lysander of 8 days previously caused him to remember the older boy’s initial advice. The astute 14 year-old had somehow perceptively realised that the younger anguished ephebe had suddenly become more pained by his display of errant emotions in front of others than his actual physical agony

"Don’t worry about shedding a few tears, ephebe," Lysander had therefore suggested, whilst gently holding the crying boy in his arms, "as I think that anyone would display such weakness after being beaten as you have just been, especially at your young age." "In fact, I myself was sobbing all the time when being flogged as a 7 year-old ," the older cadet unashamedly continued, "and I still shed the odd tear when my paidonomos decides that I’m due punishment, which he occasionally does inflict. Eye dampness is a natural reaction that’ll reduce but never entirely go away, never mind how hardened you become. So don’t fret about it!"

"Now," Lysander then asked, as Agesilaos’ tears suddenly began to dry up, "do you think that you could stand up with my assistance and that of your other friend here so that I can see what damage has been inflicted on you?" The younger boy was still speechless, although how much this lack of vocal response was a residual effect of his recent excruciating punishment or was caused by shock that such a handsome older ephebe was taking a kind interest in him, was indeterminable.

Consequently, as a result of his speechlessness, Agesilaos simply nodded positively, indicating that he was at least prepared to attempt to regain his feet with the help of Lysander and Eudamidas. Meanwhile, his own paidonomos, the sneering Lysanoridas and another twelve members of his angele looked on with interest but without interference.

With the assistance of Lysander and Eudamidas, Agesilaos was subsequently brought painfully to a standing position, where the older boy, attired in his coarse red woollen tunic, then carefully checked the welfare of the scarlet bottom and scrotum of the younger naked ephebe. "There’s no serious damage," the 14 year-old eventually thankfully announced, whilst ultimately examining some delightful but currently very anguished genitalia, "and I’ve some decent herbal slave that’ll soon heal the soreness to both your bum and balls!"

Agesilaos, whose excruciation from Lysanoridas’ ultimate hit had been such that he had thought that his agonised testicles might have been irreparably damaged, was naturally pleased to hear the announcement that he had not been converted into a eunuch. The boy was also later content to be aided by Lysander and Eudamidas to hobble to the otherwise empty hut of the older ephebe’s angele.

Here, whilst Eudamidas retrieved his own tunic and that of Agesilaos, Lysander carefully and gently applied the promised salve to the pert but currently red and hot curves of the hurt 7 year-old’s normally very pleasant bottom and to his nicely rotund but presently scarlet scrotum. As the older boy proceeded, he successfully averted an immense temptation to try to kiss better the two damaged scenes. He sadly fully appreciated that custom dictated that such pleasures should await the youngster’s advent to puberty.

As the autumnal day had remained sunny and warm, Lysander, Agesilaos and Eudamidas, now all attired, subsequently ventured, at suggestion of the eldest, to the quiet banks of the nearby River Eurotas. This watercourse was named after an early king of Laconia, father-in-law of Sparta’s founder, Lacedaemon, and was fed by water flowing off the mountain ranges that surrounded the city on three sides.

The three boys then reclined and chatted on the riverbank, with Agesilaos lying on his side to avoid contact between his sore bottom and the grassy ground. The main topic of their later long conversation was Lysander’s initial advice to the younger ephebes as to how they could successfully survive their early life in the barracks.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of his continuing hurt, or awe at being assisted by such a boy as Lysander, Agesilaos subsequently appeared not to have absorbed some of the older ephebe’s wise counsel. This unfortunate fault seemed to be evidenced by his capture 8 days later by the farm manager, whilst attempting to steal a few apples from the man’s orchard.

Agesilaos had apparently forgotten the advised tips for success in such ventures. Such recommendations emphasised the need for careful guileful pre-planning, including quick escape options in case anything went wrong, and suggested co-ordinated partnerships and not individual action.

Agesilaos, motivated by the hunger resulting from the basic ephebe diet of deliberately insufficient black ‘zamos’ broth and a proud desire to win the respect of his new friends and peers, had embarked upon his dangerous escapade alone, without telling anyone of his plans. If the boy had confided in Lysander, he would have been advised that his proposal was too simplistic and was bound to fail.

Lysander’s gloomy assessment would have focused on the nature of the scheduled target and the fact that the prospective initiate thief was lacking in full mobility because he was still becoming accustomed to going permanently barefoot. Agesilaos had chosen a farm that was too near the military barracks and the manager therefore would not only be well accustomed to raids on his produce by ephebes but also have prepared excellent counter-measures to trap all but the most fit and skilled cadets.

Agesilaos’ plan had simply been to venture into the orchard stealthily and then run away as quickly as he could with the stolen goods. However, the young and inexperienced boy had not expected the place to be patrolled by huge hounds, which not only rapidly detected the young intruder and sounded the alarm through loud barking but also subsequently helped to entrap him.

The very large and vicious-looking dogs were trained not to bite without orders but Agesilaos did not know this fact. Consequently, after the terrified boy was soon surrounded by four of the hounds, and saw the fangs in their open, loudly barking and saliva-drooling jaws, he became motionless, not daring to move.

Agesilaos was therefore easily caught by the subsequently arriving farm manager and his pair of helot helpers. Evidence of what the ephebe, whose role as a cadet was identifiable from his sparse red woollen tunic, had been perpetrating was still present in the petrified boy’s hands, in the form of the rosy apples he had earlier plucked.

As the farm manager subsequently approached the rear of the naked and bound Agesilaos and aimed his whittled rod at the boy’s vulnerable bare back, he commented "I hope this beating will teach you something, brat. The lesson to be learnt is that you should leave my produce alone in future, or I promise that you’ll suffer much worse than this flogging!" An audible whoosh, followed by a anguished yelp, then signalled that the man’s first hit had been accurately and agonisingly delivered.

During Agesilaos’ first-ever beating, at the hands of Lysanoridas, who for one so young had proved very adept at using a leather crop to hit the bottom of a similarly-aged boy, the 7 year-old had been unable to prevent himself from uttering muted moans and shedding tears. The ephebe’s reaction now, to each stinging blow from the farm manager’s improvised but highly effective implement of chastisement, which did not just concentrate on his victim’s buttocks, was shamefully similar.

The farm manager first proceeded to rain blows on Agesilaos’ upper back and then advanced each subsequent hit slowly downwards. The boy’s whole rear, including the backs of his legs, was later to bear the marks of his comprehensive beating, including particularly sore indented bruises created by slightly protruding remnants of supposedly whittled away branch offshoots.

During the painful punishment process, there were only two modicums of comfort for the regularly yelping and continuously sobbing Agesilaos. Firstly, given Lysander’s comments of 8 days previously, the boy felt less ashamed at shedding copious tears. Secondly, unlike Lysanoridas, the farm manager was not a sadist but was just a man performing his duty. He therefore did not seek to increase his young victim’s agony by beating him with such slow deliberation that the 7 year-old could fully experience the pain of each blow before the next was delivered. The busy adult, whose time was precious to him, especially now, during the annual harvest, instead performed his task with rapidity.

Consequently, Agesilaos’ penance was quickly concluded, although about twenty vivid red stripes, gradually darkening in hue to various shades of brown, were evident on his back, buttocks and the rear of his legs. Despite the relative mercy granted by the speed of the punishment, the concluding agony induced in the boy’s body was also immense.

"Release the thieving brat and let him go," the farm manager subsequently instructed of his two helots, after delivering the twenty vicious and accurately spread hits to Agesilaos’ rear. The manager then began to walk away from the scene with his hounds, after picking up the boy’s discarded tunic.

After being released from being tied to the apple tree, and seeing that the farm manager was departing with the young ephebe’s new sole garment, the tearful Agesilaos managed to shout a request between his sobs. "Please, Sir," the naked boy asked, "can I have my tunic back?"

Without turning his back to look again at Agesilaos, the retreating farm manager answered "No you can’t, brat. I’m requisitioning your tunic for my own children!"

With such a reply, the farm manager was not revealing personal cruelty but rather selfish practicality. The tunic might only be basic and sparse but the garment was new and made from good quality wool. The item would therefore partially compensate him for the trouble that ephebes from the nearby barracks frequently caused him. Despite his best efforts, fitter, older and more experienced and capable cadets than Agesilaos still successfully managed to steal some of his produce.

"But, Sir," the even more tearful Agesilaos shouted in desperation, "you’re condemning me to death. I won’t be allocated another tunic to compensate for my loss until this time next year. I won’t survive the winter if I have to be permanently naked!"

"That’s your problem not mine," the farm manager retorted, whilst still not looking back at the distraught Agesilaos. The man then advanced out of range of hearing the boy’s subsequent desperate shouted entreaties.

(Island of Delos, Cyclades, Aegean Sea, same time)

The island of Delos was one of the smallest but most significant in the Cyclades archipelago. The place had acquired importance through being the legendary birthplace and therefore the centre of the cults of the twin deities, Apollo and Artemis, and more recently for housing the treasury of the Delian League.

The Delian League, named after Delos, was an anti-Persian alliance of Greek states, dominated by Athens, which had invoked its power to transfer the all-important treasury to the Attican city 17 years previously. Robbed of such an important and prestigious role, the island had tried to compensate by utilising its convenient geographical position to become an important trading centre.

Delos was situated roughly midway between mainland Greece and Asia Minor [modern Turkey], which then formed part of the Persian Empire. Trade between the two rival political entities, which were currently at peace, was extensive and lucrative despite frequent conflict.

Amongst the profitably expanding commercial activities conducted on Delos was trade in human beings, slavery being a key aspect of ancient civilisations. The island’s market was currently not as extensive and important as it would become in later centuries, especially when, as part of the Roman Empire, it was said that up to 10,000 people a day could be sold. However, transactions were still sufficiently numerous and profitable to gain the place a growing reputation in the business.

The Delians also had no scruples in overseeing the sale of fellow Greeks to foreigners, especially the Persians, who, since the reign of Cyrus the Great, possessed a taste for Hellenic servants. Most of the human goods comprising such trade had been on the wrong side in the many petty wars that often erupted between the little states of Greece, or had simply been born as slaves or sold into slavery by impoverished families.

Nemos was two years older than Agesilaos, and his mother had actually originally been a free Athenian. She and her husband had suffered the misfortune of being detected by some enemy hoplites when the pair had ventured from within their city’s impregnable long walls.

During the first 15-year long Peloponnesian War between the two powerful Greek states, which ended in a truce in 445 BCE, Athens had regularly been besieged by the formidable Spartan hoplite army. However, the city had been protected by the long walls, which extended to the port of Piraeus, through which vital supplies could be shipped from allies. This allowed the citizenry to survive relatively unscathed, despite the loss of their local farms in Attica.

The Spartan soldiers also frequently lifted the siege for two reasons. Firstly, they did not trust their helot slaves and so, in order to prevent revolt, regularly returned to Laconia to reassert their authority. Secondly, they liked to be in their homeland to oversight the crucial annual harvest.

Consequently, many Athenians with rural interests would make use of the opportunity of temporary Spartan withdrawal to see how their own farms were faring. The citizens appreciated that such landholdings would have been devastated by the enemy but nevertheless for most the desire to inspect the condition of property, which might have been in families for many generations, was often irresistible.

Unfortunately for Nemos’ mother and her husband, they ventured from the walls of their city not long after the battle of Coronea, in 447 BCE. A vengeful Athenian army under Tolmides had entered nearby Boeotia to attempt to reduce certain of the local towns, which had thrown off their allegiance in favour of alliance with Sparta, but was then totally defeated. The reverse eventually led to a truce and the end of the first Peloponnesian War two years later.

Nemos’ mother and her husband had unfortunately discovered, on arrival at their own already thoroughly pillaged Attican farm, that some victorious Boeotian hoplites had chosen to replace the temporarily withdrawn Spartans in attempting to extract further agricultural plunder from the place. The soldiers killed the Athenian man and gang-raped the woman, later leaving her for dead. However, she not only survived but also later found herself pregnant.

Nemos’ mother could not tell whether the child she was carrying was that of her husband or of one of her rapists, and the idea of giving birth to a Boeotian bastard appalled her. However, given the chance that the baby might be legitimate, she would not coutenance abortion.

Consequently, Nemos’ mother allowed her pregnancy to proceed to the natural denouement, although she subsequently became convinced, mainly through paranoia rather than any evidence, that the boy born of her womb was indeed a Boaotian bastard. As a result, she subsequently gave her son away to an elderly childless family of her acquaintance, who were leaving Athens permanently for the island of Naxos in the Cyclades. Her condition was that they never told her offspring about the circumstances of his birth or returned to Attica with him.

Nemos’ adoptive father, who was a merchant, and mother were relative loners, with no real friends on Naxos, but were also very happy to gain a son and heir late in life. They additionally proved worthy parents until both suddenly died, just after the man had suffered major losses as the result of a ship, laden with his cargo, sinking in a storm. The now 9 year-old boy therefore inherited only net debts, owed to ruthless creditors.

These creditors liquidated all of Nemos’ inherited assets and, as the money so gained proved insufficient by their crooked calculations to pay off the due debts, and no-one else was prepared to do so, they obtained a legal order to acquire the shortfall by enslaving the young heir. The boy therefore soon found himself standing humiliatingly naked on an auction block in the increasingly prosperous open-air slave market on the nearby island of Delos, being intimately examined by many prospective buyers.

As Nemos stood naked on the auction block and shamefully allowed his very pretty body to be inspected, he prayed to the gods, especially Apollo, whose huge temple was visible nearby. The desperate boy, who sported neatly trimmed straight dark hair and sensuous eyes of a similar hue, as well as a little erection because of the intimate manhandling, begged the deities not to allow him to be purchased by Persians.

Despite Nemos’ tender years, he knew about eunuchs, and what had been perpetrated on them for them to gain their designation. He also realised that most Greek slaveboys who ended up in Persia eventually earned the title through the loss of their balls.

The men checking and fondling Nemos were of many nationalities. There were indeed several Persians but there were also Greeks, Egyptians, Jews and Phoenicians, none of whom normally practised castration. The boy therefore pleaded with Apollo that he would not end up travelling to distant Persia, where King Artaxerxes I still ruled, having already spent almost three decades on the throne.

Unfortunately for Nemos, what any self-respecting Greek would consider to be an effeminately exotically attired and bejewelled clean-shaven young man, who had earlier spent a lot of time examining the boy’s small but cute genitalia, was subsequently successful in buying the 9 year-old. The clever child could tell, from both his new owner’s colourfully trousered dress and smooth chin, that he had been worryingly purchased by a Persian eunuch.