The Agoge was the rigorous education and training regimen mandated for all male Spartan citizens, except for the firstborn son in the ruling houses of Sparta, the Eurypontid and Agiad families. The training involved learning stealth, cultivating loyalty to one's group, military training (e.g., pain tolerance), hunting, dancing, singing, and social preparation. The aim of the system was to produce physically and morally strong males to serve in the Spartan army. It encouraged conformity and the importance of the Spartan state over one's personal interest and generated the future elites of Sparta. The Spartan military was the "walls of Sparta" because Sparta was the only Greek city with no defensive walls after they had been demolished with the establishment of the Agoge system. Discipline was strict and the males were encouraged to fight amongst themselves to determine the strongest member of the group. Boys were inducted in the Agoge at the age of 7 and those who survived the brutal conditions of the Spartan military until the age of 30 were accepted as Spartan citizens, failure at any time in the Agoge meant that the person became an inferior subject within Spartan society.
