This may come as a surprise to some of you but I don't like the Spartans, not saying they weren't great warriors, in fact, they were absolutely the greatest warriors in ancient Greece, but their society was cruel. Fascinating, but unimaginably cruel. 

Every waking moment of their lives was dedicated to the state and perfecting the art of war, and that's pretty much about it. When a spartan was born, the first thing to happen was that an elder would take the newborn and examine it for defects, abnormalities, or any signs of weakness. If there was even a slight hint that this baby wouldn't be perfect, then that child would be exposed to the elements and left to die on a sacred hillside. 

And then at the age of seven, a spartan boy was taken away from his family to be placed in a military training program called the agogi, and it was brutal. For the next 12 years of their lives, these poor kids would be stripped of their humanity in order for them to be molded to become perfect warriors. They were forbidden to cry and taught how to conceal terrible pain. One such exercise was that these boys would be flogged in groups until they passed out, the last one left standing would be honored since he was the toughest.