This is the seven (and last!) Part of our seven part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) look at Sparta in popular memory and historical truth. Last time we talked about Sparta’s battlefield record and came away noting that it was profoundly, disappointing average. Longer term readers will know, of course, that we can’t…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VII: Spartan Ends→
This week, the part you have all been waiting for – we’re going to look at how the Spartans fought. This is part six of our series (previous parts I, II, III, IV, V, VII) looking at Sparta and its place in cultural memory. As we discussed briefly before, there are two core myths in…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VI: Spartan Battle→
This week, we’re going to look at how the Spartan state governs itself. We’re going to lay out a broad picture of how the parts of the Spartan government function, but we are remaining focused on one main question, the one we raised last time: We know that the demographic decline in the number of…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta, Part V: Spartan Government→
This week, we’re looking more at what life was actually like in Sparta, this time focusing on wealth and property. Last time (here), we looked at the question of daily life for women in Sparta and concluded that the oppression faced by the vast majority of women in Sparta – the female helots – far…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part IV: Spartan Wealth→
Today, in part III of our seven part look at Sparta (I, II, IV, V, VI, VII) we’re going to take a close look at the role of women in Spartan society , keeping in mind the Spartan social hierarchy we established last time. Sparta has a reputation – often aided and abetted by textbooks -…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part III: Spartan Women→
This is Part II of our seven part look at Sparta (I, III, IV, V, VI, VII). Last week we took a look at our sources for Sparta and then examined the Spartan child-training system, the agoge. We found that our sources look nothing like the grizzled veterans who narrate films like 300, being instead…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part II: Spartan Equality→
This is Part I of a seven part series (II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) comparing the popular legacy of Sparta (embodied in films like 300) with the historical ancient state. Today, we’re going to start by looking at the sources of our information on Sparta, and then begin at the beginning: the Spartan rearing…Continue readingCollections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School→
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