An elite fighting unit like no other.
The Spartans of ancient Greece were among the most famous and fearsome warriors of all time. Never have there been a people more single-mindedly devoted to the military arts. Spartan boys were taken from home to attend military school at age seven, and every male between twenty and sixty had to serve in the armed forces. The result was that Sparta fielded the most powerful military force in Greece.
Nevertheless, the vaunted Spartan army was defeated by Thebes at the battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C. The turning point in the battle came when an elite Theban military unit known as the Sacred Band led a breakthrough against the Spartan right wing. Famed for both its fighting ability and its unusual makeup, the Sacred Band consisted of 300 soldiers who all had something in common.
They were gay.
This one-of-a-kind unit consisted of 150 homosexual couples. The idea was that every man would be motivated to fight to his maximum ability both to protect his lover and to avoid shaming himself in front of his lover. In modern military jargon, it was thought that this Theban “band of lovers” would enjoy a high degree of unit cohesion.
And it worked. The Sacred Band stood undefeated for more than thirty years. When it was finally overcome in battle against Macedonians, it is said that the unit was so unwilling to yield that every single man fought to the death.
“PERISH ANY MAN WHO SUSPECTS THAT THESE MEN EITHER DID OR SUFFERED ANYTHING THAT WAS BASE.”
— PHILIP II OF MACEDON, VIEWING THE BODIES OF THE SACRED BAND SLAIN IN BATTLE BY HIS ARMY
The Spartans were the original men of few words. Sparta was part of a larger area known as Laconia, which is where the word “laconic” comes from. The story is told that Philip II sent a threatening message to the Spartans, warning, “If I enter Laconia, I will level it to the ground.” The Spartans’ one-word reply: “If . . .”
The Spartans’ daily regimen was so demanding that Plutarch claimed they were the only men in the world for whom war was a welcome rest from training.