Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Eiren

or Iren (εἴρην, ἴρην). The third class of Spartan youth with regard to age, the series being: παῖδες (aged 7-18), μελλίρανες (18-20), ἴρανες (20-30). The last were distinguished again as πρωτίρανες or σφαιρεῖς, according as they were near the lower or upper limit (Plut. Lyc. 17). The boys and youths forming a βούα or ἴλα chose as their leader (βουαγός) the wisest and bravest of the ἴρανες ( Plut. ib.; Rep. Lac. ii. 11). These leaders excepted, the ἴρανες partook with their elders of the common meal (ἀνδρεῖα). See Müller, Dorians, ii. 315; Gilbert, Staatsalterth. i. pp. 68, 71; and the article Education; on the form of the word, see Kuhn's Zeitschr. viii. 53; Philol. x. 431; and Stud. iv. 1, 116.