Separate the wheat from the chaff,
Behold the Sparta and learn how your Motherland to love
From the men faithful and beautiful
Who friendship and honor revered
above the breath of the life itself.
Whose courage and valor
Managed not only their lands to defend,
But and the time itself to defeat,
A merciless time that mixes eternity fathomless
With the golden sand,
Turning the people's deeds
Into ashes, silent and endless...

There are not that many deeds so ungrateful and threatening to beak about pitfalls the boat of the one who writes as an attempt to say something about Sparta... Even one of the most authoritative sources like, for example, huge work "The Ancient Customs of the Spartans", ascribed to Plutarch, couldn't became the strong enough floodlight, breaking through the mountains of speculation, juicy details and historical anecdotes... Especially when the main documents provides a pro-Athenian point of view, which is mean they can't be considered objective or the ones that tried to be...

Let us leave our ships to pasture aside, lock in a wardrobe our own sympathy for the Spartans and look at the facts, which were cleaned at last...
The random order of the storytelling was left for no matter which one we chose, it can't equally satisfy all the persons concerned who prefer to set their own priority...

I. The killing of babies incapable of building strong and harmonious physique...

The source of this popular invention is considered to be Plutarch. In his "The Ancient Customs of the Spartans" no one succeed to find any mention about this scary custom. So, either the Plutarch's text doesn't belong to him, or author decided not to include there the facts in authenticity of which he wasn't sure.

Only the one thing can be claimed: the gorge (filled with moans of the mothers, whose defective children fell victims to this brutal ritual) geographically exists, but the researches in five years find at the bottom nothing but remains of forty-six men aged between eighteen to thirty-eight years... Age dating of the remains is the 5th-6th BC. Probably, the criminals or traitors were thrown off this cliff... But it's a mere guesswork...

II. Non-observance in Sparta of generally accepted standards of hygiene...

Plutarch (let us conditionally accept his authorship), describing the customs of Spartans' everyday life, mentions that they considered unnecessary to wash themselves, rub the aromatic oils into their skin like their neighbors, the Greeks, and change clothes as soon as it gets dirty...

But there are facts that can't be challenged and which, by-turn, are at variance with the statements: "the Spartans were slobs!" "They were wearing tatters!"...

Water... Clothing...

Sparta never experienced a shortage of water. So, it would be strange to suppose that being near to so many sources (such rivers like Eurotas and Aenus, as well as numerous stone wells that were dug up in summer time, when Eurotas became shallow), the Spartans had no desire to wash the dirt and sweat after the physical activities...

Perhaps, the unflattering opinions were expressed to Plutarch by Athenians who preferred their bodies' bliss to trainings in agility, strength and endurance...
These assertions may be valid only if we are talking about the war period. At this time the Spartans left their best clothes at home, considering unpractical and uneconomical to use the best things they have, knowing for sure that they will become worthlessness within a short period of time...

Baths

In Sparta there were also warm baths... The first ones appeared after the war in the Peloponnese, and were widely used despite the fact that the majority of male population considered more befitting to relax the body in hot vapors to those who are sick or infirm...

Legendary himation...

Let us recall once again the tatters, the more it will confirm the existence of the legendary red Spartan cloaks... Indeed, all the sources are unanimously confirming that during the battle each warrior of Sparta was obliged to wear a cloak on his shoulders... but not red... more like a darkened blood... the color composed of the mixture of scarlet and purple...

The balance of the final composition (which imparts the desired color to the fabric) selected carefully, and the secret of discovering the necessary ingredients belonged to the Phoenicians... The Purple snails of the ancients... Murex Brandaris and Murex Trunculus... the two "juices", secreted by their glands, were mixed in the right proportions to get the scarlet-purple dye, making the blood stains on the fabric almost unseen to the eyes of those who fight by your side...

The proper dye was tested by a cheerless way: cutting your own finger and dripping blood on the already painted test piece of wool...

Hair...

In the texts of Herodotus, which are telling about the Greco-Persian Wars, there are such mentions: the hoplites imputed to the duty of carefully polishing the shields, cleaning the swords and spearheads from any dirtying, and the same way carefully to comb their hairs and to braid the long hair... If someone still has certainty about the dirty of Spartans' hair, he/she should to not wash, not comb their own and then try to braid it...

Anyway, the Spartans preferred the cleanness to neglecting of hygiene, though they hardly grumbled about the lack of facilities during the war campaign as they were trained to the limitations and tolerance from their early childhood...

One of the laws of "Lycurgus Lacedaemonian" (a document, that will be mentioned more detailed in the next section):

"Take care of your hair, oh, men!
The one who is beautiful it will make more beautiful,
and the one who is ugly it will make more frightening to the enemy!"