Was just wondering why there are little in the way of writings from Spartans! Was there as far as we know a literary culture in Sparta? Or were such things looked down upon? If so, were those ideas related to general anti-writing sentiments in Ancient Greece (like Plato)? Or do we only have external historians to rely on for cultural information from the era?
If anyone could clue me in, I'd really appreciate it!
(someone recommended I repost this here from /r/history (: )
Apparently at least the aristocracy was literate, as evidenced by the story related by Plutarch(?) about Gorgo telling the courtiers to scrape away the wax from the tablet to find the writing carved into the wood beneath. Also their iconic Lambda on the Lakedaimonian shields bears witness to at least some familiarity with letters. This paper makes the case that literacy among Spartiates was far more widespread than what centuries of Athenian propaganda have made many believe.