SOURCE3 From Evan Andrews, ‘8 reasons it wasn’t easy being spartan’, History Channel website, 2018
All Spartan infants were brought before a council of inspectors and examined for physical defects, and those who weren’t up to standard were left to die . . . If a Spartan baby was judged to be unýt for its future duty as a soldier, it was most likely abandoned on a nearby hillside. Left alone, the child would either die of exposure or be rescued and adopted by strangers.
SOURCE4 From Trikkaliotis, D and others, ‘The fate of sickly and disabled new-born babies in ancient Greece (Sparta and Athens)’, PANR Journal , 2020 Our ancient and only testimony [about the practice of killing weak babies] is the biographer Plutarch who lived seven centuries later from the period that the alleged cruel custom [of killing weak babies] took place . . . Plutarch does not mention his sources, even though he very often does it in other cases . . . Ancient Greek authors who wrote on Sparta, its constitution and education of young boys and girls seem to ignore this brutal and merciless practice . . . No bones have been found related to babies. It is evident that Plutarch’s statement regarding the exposure of sickly infants is difýcult and hard to accept. For each of these sources, does the writer accept or challenge the claim that Spartans killed their weak or sickly children? Before you begin Access the Inquiry rubric in the digital documents section of the Resources panel to guide you in completing this task at your level. At the end of the inquiry task you can use this rubric to self-assess. Inquiry steps Step 1: Questioning and researching 1. Write your inquiry question. It could be based on the following issues: a. Can we trust a source that was written centuries after the practices it describes and does not cite any earlier sources to support its claims? b. What is the difference between these three sources in relation to the way the children were killed and whether they were killed? c. Would such killings be consistent or inconsistent with everything you have learned about Sparta? d. What other views on this issue have been expressed by historians and archaeologists? 2. Investigate to ýnd other sources besides the three provided in this lesson that can help you to answer your inquiry question. Step 2: Using historical sources 3. Analyse the three sources and any others you ýnd. Take notes on what helps answer your question. Step 3: Historical perspectives and interpretations 4. Evaluate the arguments in the sources. Do they accept or challenge the claim that Spartans killed their weak or sickly children? Step 4: Communicating 5. What is your answer to your inquiry question? Present your ýndings in any format you like. Use examples from your research to support your answer.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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