Context for the last line: Instant loss 2-koma is a genre of (usually NSFW) anime art divided into two panels, with a character proudly proclaiming something on the first panel and then being proven incredibly wrong on the second.

  • Lushed_Lungfish
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    3 days ago

    Yeah, the Spartans were not the badass, invincible, freedom loving people pop culture makes them out to be. They regularly got their asses handed to them and the reason they had such a massive army was to ensure that their slaves (the helots) didn’t get uppity.

        • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 days ago

          Goddamnit. This really kills any idea that we as a species might be redeemable. It’s just rinse and fucking repeat over many millennia. Sigh.

          • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            3 days ago

            In my view, taking the Spartan myth down a few pegs is redemptive - for those of us who have not benefited from the fraud. It’s nothing but false machismo and literal rape culture that have only served to give comfort to societies built on cruelty and inequality.

            You’re not wrong to feel that humans can be tiresome in their follies, but charitably, some of that must be caused by familiarity. We’re the species whose entire evolutionary niche is cooperation and friendliness. Most of the animal kingdom are jerks by any fair comparison. If we had lived as ants, our grievances about our peers would be all the more bleak.

    • khannie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      3 days ago

      In addition, the first time the deep phalanx was successful was against Sparta. The Macedonians immediately yoinked the idea.