Did Sparta's Agoge Create War Criminals? A Nuremberg Lens on Ancient Pedagogy
At the Nuremberg Trials, one defense echoed louder than any other: "I was only following orders."
But where does obedience begin? Not in the barracks — in the classroom.
The Question No One Asked at Nuremberg
The International Military Tribunal judged individuals. But it never formally examined the systems of education that produced those individuals. Sparta did — 2,400 years earlier — and called it the Agoge.
At age 7, Spartan boys were taken from their families. By 12, they slept on rushes they'd torn with bare hands. By 18, they were expected to kill. The state was the parent. Obedience was the curriculum.
Athens chose differently. Paideia — the cultivation of the whole person — produced Socrates, who chose death over intellectual submission.
Two systems. Two kinds of citizens. One eternal question: Does education absolve, or does it indict?
What We Explore in This Course
Inside Justice & Paideia Academy, I teach a 5-chapter course that maps ancient Greek childhood training onto modern frameworks of international justice:
The Athenian model: rhetoric, music, critical thinking
The Spartan model: endurance, obedience, collective identity
The Nuremberg precedent: when "training" becomes a defense
How to teach these frameworks responsibly today
If you're a history educator, homeschool parent, classical education enthusiast, or graduate student looking for a course that doesn't just teach history but interrogates it — this was built for you.
The trial is in session. Take your seat.