In today's world culture, filicide and infanticide are considered horrific and shocking crimes. In Greek culture, filicide was viewed very differently. When reading texts such as The Sayings of the Spartan Women, Medea, The Life of Lycurgus, and Spartan Society, the difference becomes evident. Each text alludes to the view of infanticide and filicide of the time, and together they show us a general view under which filicide fell – that is, if it were to benefit the community as a whole, filicide was an appropriate action. Spartan society had a more extreme perception of community than any other Greek city-state. It remains to be seen whether what they claimed to do was fact or rhetoric; nevertheless, the writings of ancient Sparta give us an idea of ​​what the Spartans at least aspired to. This so-called Spartan mirage was the Spartan communal means of convincing their citizens, and the rest of the Greek city-states, that Sparta was sui generis. Sparta did not want its citizens to simply believe this; they wanted them to carry out actions based on propaganda. In The Sayings of the Spartan Women, many quotes can be directly attributed to the Spartan Mirage. Regardless, the quotes still show us how the Spartans wanted to be perceived and remembered. Looking at Proverbs in this light, the Spartans believed that filicide was to be expected from mothers whose sons were unfit to belong to Spartan society. In The Sayings, an anonymous woman is quoted as saying: “[A] Spartan woman killed her son, who had deserted, considering him unworthy of his country (Unnamed Spartan Woman 1). » This quote is so extreme that it is generally dismissed as rhetoric. Yet it shows us that filicide was encouraged in ancient Greece, a...... middle of paper...... even. If Xenophon was ashamed, we can consider this his personal feelings; or perhaps it was the general view underlying filicide. If this was the general view underlying filicide, it contradicts what has been said about Spartan propaganda and shows us that the Spartan Mirage was just that: a mere mirage. It is also possible that filicide was a part of daily life in all Greek city-states. It was therefore not considered unusual enough to be documented as special. Views on infanticide and filicide in ancient Greece were poles apart from those of today. Because of their general view of the community before the individual, the ancient Greeks did not hold filicide to the same standards as we do. Essentially, this resulted in a communal society, where everyone respected laws and traditions in order to ensure the survival of the entire community..