What made Spartan society so different from the rest of Greece?

The answer

Sparta was a militaristic society where boys were taken from their families at age seven to enter the agoge, a brutal training program involving constant physical hardship, minimal food, and encouraged fighting. However, Spartans were unusual for ancient Greece in other ways: women had far more rights than elsewhere, including property ownership and physical training, because strong mothers were believed to produce strong warriors. Spartans also disdained wealth, using heavy iron bars instead of coins to discourage commerce.