Regrix

Mandalorians = Spartans... There are some other influences there, Samuari for one... but the Spartans were the main influence. The Spartans were a military society, as are the Mandalorians. The Spartans would NOT surrender or retreat (in earnest) and would fight to the death without fear, Mandalorians have yet (aside of a corrupt Jedi) met a force that could stand against them in combat. 98% Spartan 2% Other Mandalorians are family centric... so no, they would not be doing things like tossing deforemed, or underweight, or anything else...off a cliff to die.. to better understand the Mando'ade... read their information on Wookieepedia.com (or .org)

Being something of a historian myself... I am confident in saying that the Mandalorians were definately based in part if not in whole on the Spartans. Mandalorians do not rape and pillage as was posted above.. that is not what they are about. They assualt worlds to find glory and honor in combat, testing themselves win or lose against worlds which produce other outstanding warrior races. Mandalorians are family oriented in the extreme, going so far as to adopt war orphans and marry war widows/widowers. They have a strong tradition of adoption. There were factions with in the clans that wanted to conquer for the sake of doing so, but they were in the vast minority.