Crypteia

The Crypteia, also referred to as Krypteia or Krupteia (<a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Greek</a>: κρυπτεία krupteía from κρυπτός kruptós, "hidden, secret"; members were κρύπται kryptai), was an ancient <a href="/facts/Sparta/6V9o1DSz">Spartan</a> state institution. The kryptai either principally sought out and killed <a href="/facts/Helots/QmRgUbwn">helots</a> across <a href="/facts/Laconia/2A8Lals6">Laconia</a> and <a href="/facts/Messenia/UrNT9eEh">Messenia</a> as part of a policy of terrorising and intimidating the enslaved population, or they principally did a form of military training, or they principally endured hardships as an initiation ordeal, or the Crypteia served a combination of all these purposes, possibly varying over time. The Krypteia was an element of the Spartan state's child-rearing system for upper-class males. 
Modern historians often translate "Krypteia" as "<a href="/facts/Secret_police/1ea5u7R8">secret police</a>" or "<a href="/facts/Secret_service/WhjrJDeq">secret service</a>", but its precise structure is debated.

Crypteia open-in-new

Crypteia