Photograph by BPK/Scala, Florence From age seven, a Spartan boy was sent to the military academy known as the agoge, where he would be put under In a time-honored Spartan tradition, other markers ...

The Spartans were renowned for having boys as young as seven begin military training in a program known as the Agoge.

At around the age of 7, most Spartan boys would leave home for the agoge, the state-sponsored education program that would train them for battle in the name of Sparta. Orphanages aren’t a useful ...

Bane's origin story saw him rise as a newborn from the infamous prison of Peña Duro. He learned earlier than a Spartan at the agoge that survival depends on more than strength — intelligence is key.

It may not have been “Lord of the Flies,” nor yet the Spartan agoge, but it was a long way from Hogworts. “A Very Private School” confronts the institutional importance of boarding schools ...