Is the image of Spartan society being entirely based on warfare an exaggeration? I know most pre-industrial societies have had a warrior class of some sort; Samurai, Eagle and Jaguar Warriors, medieval knights, who spent their lives around combat, but it seems the entirety of Spartan civilization revolved around it, taking all the boys off at 7 years old for training, the men all living in barracks, if I understand correctly, except to sneak off and impregnate their wife. I know there was a middle class of Perioeci, but they weren't part of the citizen body, and not really Spartans. And even the slave system of the helots was totally based around working the plots of land assigned to feed each Spartan citizen-soldier, rather than individual profit. Was there any particular war or event that triggered this militarization of the entire society? And is it as hardcore as the modern layperson is led to believe? Or does it just apply to a particular era of Spartan history?

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Thanks.