The Krypteia - the Spartan Secret Police or ...?

[Ghostmojo]

Historians are still perplexed as to the exact nature of the Krypteia. Was it just a rite of passage within the Agoge? Were they just young thugs who enjoyed nocturnal Helot assassinations? Did they actually appear as a fighting unit in any manner (as suggested at Sellasia) or possibly just used as scouts on military forays? They remain perhaps the most enigmatic aspect of the Spartan military establishment...

[Polinik]

Historians are still perplexed as to the exact nature of the Krypteia. Was it just a rite of passage within the Agoge? Were they just young thugs who enjoyed nocturnal Helot assassinations? Did they actually appear as a fighting unit in any manner (as suggested at Sellasia) or possibly just used as scouts on military forays? They remain perhaps the most enigmatic aspect of the Spartan military establishment...

Members of Krypteia were certainly rated in some way for what they did in this black ops, it must have also served as a lesson, and maybe there were some blood thirsty young Spartiates eager to prove themselves, but I can not believe that killing random slave was the sole purpose.It just don't seem serious enough. And knowing how some questionably informed historians today tend to oversimplify everything, I can be sure that "facts" they present should be taken with grain of salt...Historians that are not sure are the one who know the most..
Krypteia had a logical purpose,to act as a preventive measure and eliminate trouble making,potential rebel leading helots and their followers. That is not the same as random massacre. But nothing is black and white so I don't think one sentence could define Krypteia,same as one sentence could not define work of CIA for example...I don't think we can ever know the exact nature of Krypteia.

[Ghostmojo]

Plutarch (via Phylarchos) tells us Kleomenes III requested the Krypteia leader at Sellasia - one Demoteles - to check the flanks of the Lakedaimonian forces. The suggestion is that by that time the Krypteia may have evolved into some sort of internal security force (or even military police), although prior to that period, the general belief is that any internal intelligence gathering was probably done by the Hippeis. Had the Krypteia become a formalised military unit of some sort by 222[size=85:3il6lfbu]BC[/size]? Probably not, but individuals of such an institution might have had a role to play in strategy and tactics - as a military intelligence officer - especially regarding the comings and goings of unreliable allies, or even one's own troops. By this time perhaps the Krypteia had taken over some of the scouting duties formerly undertaken by the Skiritai.