You Hunted Slaves 1 : The presentation of the krypteia in Frank - - PDF document

“You Hunted Slaves” 1: The presentation of the krypteia in Frank Miller’s 300 and Kieron Gillen’s Three2

This essay shall discuss the different uses to which Gillen and Miller put the Spartan institution of the krypteia in their comic book works set in the ancient world. It will open with a brief discussion of the comics in question, followed by a point-by-point movement through the scholarship of the krypteia and how faithful Gillen and Miller are to the consensus, before comparing their respective use of academic work on Sparta and finally drawing some conclusions about the use of the krypteia in these comics. 300, written and drawn by Frank Miller and inked by his wife Lynn Varley, was released as five monthly issues in 1998 by Dark Horse, an American independent comics company. It was a self- conciously upmarket graphic novel, the issues being named chapters on their initial release3 and subsequently collected into a deluxe hardback edition in 1999, which has been reprinted multiple times since4. The story is a heavily fictionalised, stylised recounting of the events leading up to and during the Battle of Thermopylae, altering historical details to create a more cinematic story, such as making Ephialtes a crippled Spartan who survived exposure5. Three is similarly a five-issue ongoing monthly series6, with the final issue due out from Image Comics in February 2014. It is written by Kieron Gillen, inked by Ryan Kelly, and coloured by Jordie Bellaire, and tells the story of three Helots who escape a massacre by the bodyguard of an ephor, killing the ephor himself, and of Agesilaos II, sent to find them. Notably, each issue credits Professor Stephen Hodkinson of the University of Nottingham as a historical consultant, and issues 2 onwards include conversations between Gillen and Hodkinson about the historical context of the comic. In the discussion of his inspiration for writing Three, Gillen says that "if Spartans are awkward academically speaking, their slaves are even more so."7 This is perhaps nowhere more true than in

1 Gillen 2013 1: 25 2 Following the conventions of the genre, this essay renders all-capital lettering into grammatically accurate cases, but retains

the emphases of the original comics; similarly, the variant spellings of krypteia have been standardised.

3 Nisbet 2007 72 4 This essay was written using the 14th reprint of the 2006 re-issue of the collected edition. 5 Miller & Varley 2006 30/1ff 6 Personal communication with Gillen, 14/1/2014: https://twitter.com/kierongillen/status/423124276833562624 7 Gillen 2013 1: 25

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discussions of the rite of the krypteia, described by Hodkinson as “very enigmatic institution”8, and by Gillen as characteristic of the difference between what popular culture presents us as knowing and what we truly know9. Indeed, Ducat described the wide "disproportion that exists... between what modern scholars say about the krypteia and what an objective analysis of the sources allows them to say"10, a statement that anyone trying to seek true scholarly consensus on the subject will find is startlingly accurate. The krypteia probably dates to either the mid seventh century BC or the mid fifth century BC, in any case established after unrest in Messene11; however, the lack of attestation of it until Plato, who does not discuss its origins, means that this question must rest unanswered, although Ducat suggests the earlier date is more likely to be accurate12. Further, whilst most scholars interpret it as a routine institution in Spartan life13, Whitby has more recently suggested that it was an intermittent, rather than annual, event14, although he does not go on to discuss this or its implications. The date of the krypteia is the first thing of note; if the mid-fifth century date is correct, Leonidas’ krypteia in around the 520s BC in 30015 is anachronistic whilst the krypteia in Three, set in 364 BC16, is perfectly historically accurate. One the other hand, if the mid-seventh century date is correct, both writers are correct to include the krypteia in their works; this uncertainty will become a notable theme as we continue our discussion. Similarly, whilst Three presents the krypteia as an annual event17, 300 implies that it is an irregular event specially undergone by Leonidas18; this distinction is important as a part of the representation of Spartans as a whole. Miller’s presentation of the Spartans, and especially Leonidas, is superheroic19, and within that context the krypteia can be read as an origin story20, especially the iconic nature of its closing panel: Leonidas in the shadow of a wolf he has killed with his

• spear21. Three, on the other hand, situates the krypteia as simply a stage in a Spartiate’s life,

something he goes through and that has a part in forming him22, thus challenging Miller’s narrative of the krypteia as a uniquely significant event in the life of Leonidas. This also engages with the

8 Gillen & Hodkinson 2013 2: 24 9 Ibid. 2: 23 10 Ducat 2006 281 11 Flower 2002 206 12 Ducat 2006 285ff 13 Cartledge 1975 176 14 Whitby 2002 179 15 Miller & Varley 2006 72/1 16 Gillen et al. 2013/14; 1: 7 17 Ibid. 1: 3/4-4/1 18 Miller & Varley 2006 8/1-2 19 Nisbet 2007 73 20 Comparable to Miller’s Batman: Year One (1987). 21 Miller & Varley 2006 10/1 22 Gillen et al. 2013/14 1: 3/1-2

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scholarship on the number who underwent the krypteia; the common consensus is that only the elite amongst those Spartiates on the verge of adulthood went through it23, meaning only a few each year24 – so while Miller’s focus on the rarity of it for Leonidas appears historically accurate, so too does the expansion of it to a much wider impact on Spartiate life presented by Gillen. Both Gillen and Miller present the krypteia as an initiation ritual; Miller’s narration describes the krypteia as “his initiation. His time in the wild. He would return as a Spartan -- or not at all"25, whilst Gillen presents it as “a rite of passage… …to a life where all vocations are barred. Bar one”26. The scholarship again tends to support this interpretation of the krypteia, as a symbolic rite of passage. Anthropologically, the krypteia brutally reverses the norms of hoplite society – community, wealth in the form of equipment, slaves – before the completion of the rite brings one into the adult world27. However, the krypteia also acts as a bridge between the agoge and the adult world in its movement of values from one to the other28, a fact emphasised in both comics, which also emphasise the role of the krypteia as the crowning moment of the education of a Spartiate youth29. This is used to different effect based on their different interpretation of what the krypteia entailed. Miller’s version of the krypteia is that described by Plato and those who followed in his historiographical tradition: a time in the wilderness, a hardening process to refine the youth before they could become adults30. This hardness included a symbolic nakedness (Plato notes explicitly that those undergoing the krypteia were barefoot), which Miller extends to nearly full nakedness, depicting Leonidas wearing only a loincloth31. Similarly, Miller’s krypteia excludes weapons, and the narration emphasises this heavily: "Defenceless. The scrawny stick he'd sharpened -- it was nothing. A joke. A child's toy masquerading as a proper spear"32, an extension of the tradition of the kryptoi as without heavy arms33. Both these decisions increase the striking visual of the krypteia: a young boy (despite being on the verge of adulthood, the image appears younger) wearing only a loincloth and armed with

23 Cartledge 2002 7, Vidal-Naquet 1986 6 24 Ducat 2006 281, Vidal-Naquet 1986 148 25 Miller & Varley 2006 8/1-2 26 Gillen et al. 2013/14 1: 3/1-3 27 Vidal-Naquet 1986 6 28 Cartledge 2001 88 29 Ducat 2006 281

• 30Plat. Laws 1.633b-c

31 Miller & Varley 2006 8/3-5 32 Ibid. 8/5 33 Vidal-Naquet 1986 147

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• nly a wooden spear is a dramatic image, and Miller’s “distinctively gritty visual style”34 emphasises

this more. Here, we might perhaps see Miller prioritising of a dramatic story and art over historical accuracy35, as well as his drawing on the idea of the Classical nude and Classical vase painting36, as a deliberate construction to emphasise the strength of Leonidas (by showing his muscles) and his vulnerability (by showing him near-naked). The krypteia also inverts the normal diurnal pattern, with the kryptoi roaming at night and hiding by day37, so we see Leonidas active at night, the lightness of his skin contrasting strongly with the dark background. This is further emphasised by the wintry, mountainous landscape Miller sets his krypteia in; here too he is in line with a general scholarly consensus on the basic conditions of the krypteia as occurring in the harshest possible conditions: without footgear38, in the mountainous regions surrounding Sparta during winter39, or as Miller puts it, "far from Sparta. Far from home”40. Furthermore, Miller emphasises the harshness of the rite by placing emphasis on the requirement of kryptoi to feed themselves; twice he states the cold and hunger as threats to Leonidas: “He'd survived on roots and bugs and rodents -- and now he was freezing to death"41, "he was cold, the boy was cold. Hungry"42. This recalls the element of both the agoge and krypteia whereby, unlike the adult life of the syssitia, one had to provide one’s own food and eat it as a solitary, isolated activity43; here again we see the krypteia as initiation rite inverting adult norms44. Three shares some of these elements, depicting its kryptoi naked, though they are wearing red cloaks45, perhaps in an intentional visual recalling of the Spartan army in 30046. Even the cloaks do not remain, however, as they are shed shortly afterwards, leaving the kryptoi apparently completely naked, but armed with weaponry – swords and daggers47. Thus whilst echoing Miller’s naked Leonidas, Kelly manages to subvert the imagery of the majority of 300; this is also done by the savage and bestial depiction of the kryptoi, tattooed and fierce looking, barely human. Indeed, where

34 Turner 2009 129 35 Ito 2006 36 Turner 2009 130 37 Cartledge 1975 176, Ducat 2006 299 38 Ducat 2006 283 39 Vidal-Naquet 1986 6, Ducat 2006 298 40 Miller & Varley 2006 8/3 41 Ibid. 8/3 42 Ibid. 8/1-2 43 Vidal-Naquet 1986 147 44 Ducat 2006 283 45 Gillen et al. 2013/14; 1: 2/5 46 The first image of the kryptoi in Three strongly recalls panel 37/1 of 300 depicting some of the Three Hundred 47 Gillen et al. 2013/14 1: 4/2 shows this most clearly

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Leonidas is depicted heroically at the climax of his krypteia48, the climax of the same rite in Three is rendered bestial, savage, and horrific in a splash-page that emphasises the inhumanity of the kryptoi49. Further subverting the krypteia of 300, Three presents the kryptoi as active in daylight50, and situates the rite as happening throughout the year (though its duration is unknown); the book opens

• n kryptoi active during the harvest season51, a fact later repeated by one of the Helot characters52.

Furthermore, rather than the mountainous terrain of 300, the kryptoi are to be found in hilly, but fertile, terrain in Three, specifically in the Chrysapha Basin53; by no means Sparta, but hardly the isolation and utter barrenness of Leonidas’ situation in 300. The truth likely lies somewhere between these two extremes, as Cartledge and Vidal-Naquet have each concluded: the kryptoi lying low in the country or wooded hills during the day, and roaming at night54. However, the most significant difference between Miller’s krypteia and that of Three is its essential purpose. Whilst it has already been established that the krypteia served a ritual purpose as a coming of age ceremony, it also served a purpose in keeping the Helot population of the Peloponnese under Spartan control. Part of the krypteia involved the killing of Helots, provided for by the ephors’ annual declaration of war against them to avoid blood-guilt attaching to the killers (that is, the kryptoi)55. Quite how this functioned is a matter of significant debate; whilst Cartledge has argued that selected troublemakers were selected, and by their murder the rest were kept terrorised and in check56, Ducat advocates strongly for a less organised system of suppression which he describes as “preventive [sic] repression”57: arbitrary killings which could not be predicted58 decided on when the kryptoi reassembled in order to kill Helots59. Both of these approaches would have had the same end goal: internalising and normalising in the kryptoi, and their colleagues, the subjugation of the Helot population60, and to maintain the control of a regime which held the majority population in a state of

48 Miller & Varley 2006 10/1 49 Gillen et al. 2013/14; 1: 5 50 Ibid. 1: 2/5-5/1 51 Ibid. 1: 1-5 52 Ibid. 2013/14; 3: 7/1-2 53 Ibid. 2013/14; 1: 7 54 Cartledge 1975 176, 55 Vidal-Naquet 1986 147 56 Cartledge 2002 7 57 Ducat 2006 322 58 Ducat 2006 284 59 Ducat 2006 306 60 Cartledge 2001 89

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serfdom by terror and violence61. Three uses this to great effect, its semi-bestial kryptoi forming an “opening overture dramatizing the aforementioned slave-hunting”62 in an "incredibly visual demonstration of the harsh side of the Spartan system"63, as Gillen puts it. This sets up and highlights the distinction between Spartiate and Helot that forms the core narrative of the series, whilst also layin

• ut Gillen’s manifesto in writing Three: the deconstruction of myths that have grown up around

Sparta, especially in relation to 30064. Indeed, the graphic although not gruesome Helot-hunting that opens Three contrasts with the complete absence of Helots from the world of 300; Miller appears to have thought that readers would not sympathise with the Spartans had he included the Helots, although he overcame this objection in

• rder to include infant exposure65. Thus the Spartans become superheroes in the mould of Batman:

disciplined, trained, drilled, and at times all of these things become brutal66, but the Spartans are self- reliant stoic warriors. This is especially notable when Miller brings up the fact that the Spartans were all warriors full-time, without considering the social structures necessary to this system67; thus his krypteia must be devoid of this essential purpose which cannot be separated from the ritual68. Thus, both Three and 300 present a krypteia in line with the basic description that Hodkinson gives as a compromise position: "most modern scholars produce a composite picture […of the krypteia as…] a testing ground for aspiring young Spartans [...] but it could also serve a policing purpose"69. Ducat’s expansion on this is that the krypteia was the Spartan custom of sending out a certain (unknown) number of young men for a certain (unknown) duration at certain (unknown) times under difficult conditions and with orders not to allow themselves to be seen70 - although he also acknowledges that scholars can take it as read that the krypteia of the Classical era, at the least, included Helot-hunting71. The question of why Miller and Gillen choose to produce such different versions of the same ritual is largely answered by the question of the attitude of modern audiences to the system of helotage;

61 Vidal-Naquet 1986 148, Barrow 1975 30 62 Gillen 2013 1: 25 63 Gillen & Hodkinson 2013 2: 24 64 Gillen et al. 2013/14; 1: 2/5-5/1 65 Fotheringham 2012 419 66 Fotheringham 2012 393 67 Miller & Varley 2006 24/2-11 68 Vidal-Naquet 1986 148 69 Gillen & Hodkinson 2013 2: 24 70 Ducat 2006 296 71 Ducat 2006 306

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scholars have repeatedly compared it to the (now also defunct) South African system of apartheid, comparisons which appeared at least as early as 197572 and appear in works referenced explicitly by Miller as sources for 30073. This contradiction between the image of the morally upright, freedom- defending Spartan superhero Miller is presenting – inspired by “square-jawed heroics”74 – and his clear interest in at least appearing concerned with historicity in the writing of 30075 drives Miller’s krypteia to be, in some ways, a more extreme test of endurance than the historical krypteia probably was, whilst taking the brutality of it away. Meanwhile, Gillen’s stated inspiration for Three was reading 300 and thinking “Fuck off! You hunted slaves”76. Gillen states that he likes 300 artistically, and for raising the profile of Sparta, but upon this particular reading could not avoid the contradiction between Miller’s lionisation of Sparta as the defenders of freedom and the historical system of helotage that sustained the warrior culture that Miller so adored77. Thus, while the krypteia of Miller is a heroic venture of his protagonist, the krypteia

• f Gillen is the slave-hunting that he had so visceral a reaction to, depicted graphically and brutally.

We finally need to turn to the attitudes to scholarship on Sparta of the two works. 300, in the back

• f the collected edition, lists the books Miller found useful in writing the comic; those are The Hot

Gates by William Golding (a 1965 essay); The Histories by Herodotus (although no specific translation is named); Thermopylae: The Battle for the West by Ernle Bradford (a 1980 volume); and The Western Way of War by Victor Davis Hanson (a 1989 volume)78. Multiple of these works postdate some of the more critical works about Sparta mentioned earlier in this essay, especially Vidal-Naquet and Cartledge. Furthermore, the pro-Spartan stance taken by Bradford goes so far as to suggest that at the time of Thermopylae “relations between the rulers and the ruled seem to have been basically amicable”79 and that the Helots “could see that Persian victory would not improve their position but would turn them into total slaves under the Persians and their sympathisers”80. This position has the effect of minimising Spartan treatment of the Helots, something Miller takes further in rendering the Helots completely invisible.

72 Barrow 1975 53 73 Hanson 2002 38 74 Nisbet 2007 72 75 Fotheringham 2012 399 76 Gillen 2013 1: 25 77 Gillen 2013 1: 25 78 Miller 2006 83 79 Bradford 2004 60 80 Ibid. 223

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In contrast to this narrow and dated range of scholarship – the newest work Miller mentions was a decade old at the time of publication of 300 – Gillen has actively sought out a wide range of work on Sparta, including much of the bibliography listed here and augmented by Professor Stephen Hodkinson of the University of Nottingham, an academic specialising in Sparta, who is prominently credited as the “Historical Constultant” in each issue of Three. Discussions with Gillen produced a brief, partial bibliography of the work he used that began with Cartledge’s Sparta and Lakonia, a weighty academic text, and Plutarch’s Lives81, demonstrating a concern with serious engagement with the scholarship that exists around Sparta. It is clear, therefore, that the representation of the krypteia in these two works forms a part of their basic purpose; Miller’s work intended to create an archetypical heroic figure in Leonidas, essentially unflawed (he does not critique or treat as problematic the harsh disciplinary measures he portrays82), as part of the stark morality of the world of Anglophone superhero comics and his own work83, and the krypteia formed a part of that archetype: the origin story. Meanwhile, Gillen aims with Three to deconstruct the pro-Spartan sentiments of 30084, and thus presents a version of the krypteia that highlights the characteristics that are, to modern eyes, more distasteful or morally problematic. This use of the krypteia as a lens through which to view Sparta, and the ways presenting it can affect our understanding of Spartan society, indicates the importance of engaging with creators who are working

• n projects such as Three, and ensuring that academic guidance is available to them.

81 Personal communication with Gillen, 6/1/2014: https://twitter.com/Daniel_Libris/status/420200141035823104 82 Fortheringham 2012 406 83 Ibid. 396-7 84 Gillen et al. 2013/14; 1: 2/5-5/1

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Bibliography Primary Material Gillen, K. (w), Kelly, R. (i), Bellaire, J. (c), Cowles, C. (let), Three 1-4 (October 2013-January 2014), Berkeley, CA Gillen, K., "Three" in Gillen et al 2013 1: 25-6 Gillen, K., & Hodkinson, S., "Three: A Conversation (part one)" in Gillen et al 2013 2: 23-4 Gillen, K., & Hodkinson, S., "Three: A Conversation (part three)" in Gillen et al 2013 4: 23-5 Miller, F. (w, a), & Varley, L (i), 300 (2006), Milwaukie, OR Miller, F, "Recommended Reading" in Miller & Varley 2006 p83 Secondary Material Barrow, R., 1975, Sparta, London Bradford, E., 2004, Thermopylae: The Battle For the West, Cambridge, MA Cartledge, P., 1979, Sparta and Lakonia: A regional history, 1300-362BCE, London Cartledge, P., 2001, Spartan Reflections, London Cartledge, P., 2002, The Spartans: An Epic History, London David, E., 1999, 'Sparta's kosmos of silence' in eds. S. Hodkinson & A. Powell, Sparta: New Perspectives, London, pp117-146 Ducat, J., 2006, Spartan Education: Youth & Society in the classical period, trans. E. Stafford, P.-J. Shaw & A. Powell, Swansea Flower, M. A. 2002, 'The invention of tradition in classical and hellenistic Sparta' in eds. A. Powell and

• S. Hodkinson, Sparta: Beyond the Mirage, London, pp191-218

Fotheringham, L. S., 2012, 'The Positive Portrayal of Sparta in Late-Twentieth-Century Fiction', in Sparta in Modern Thought: Politics, History and Culture eds. S. Hodkinson & I. M. Morris, Swansea, pp393-428 Hanson, V. D., 2002, The Western Way of War, London Ito, R., 2006, ‘The Gore of Greece, Torn From A Comic’, in The New York Times 26/11/2006, accessed online at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/movies/26ito.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Nisbet, G., 2007, Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture, Exeter Plato, Laws, trans. R. G. Bury 1989, Cambridge, MA Turner, S., 2009, ‘”Only Spartan Women Give Birth To Real Men”: Zach Snyder’s 300 and the Male Nude’, in Classics for All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture eds. D. Lowe and K. Shahabudin, Newcastle, pp128-149

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Vidal-Naquet, P., 1986, The Black Hunter: Forms of Thought and Forms of Society in the Greek World, trans. A. Szegedy-Maszak, Baltimore, MD Whitby, M., 2002, 'Introduction: Perioeci and Helots' in ed. M. Whitby, Sparta, Edinburgh, pp177-181