The Spartan legend has inspired and captivated subsequent generations with evidence of its legacy found in both the Roman and British Empires.
Interspersed with the personal biographies of leading figures, and based on thirty years' research, Paul Cartledge's The Spartans tracks the people from 480 to 360 BC charting Sparta's progression from the Great Power of the Aegean Greek world to its ultimate demise..
While slave masters to the Helots for over three centuries, Spartan women, such as Helen of Troy, were free to indulge in education, dance and sport.
As ruthless as they were self-sacrificing, their devastatingly successful war rituals made the Spartans the ultimate fighting force, epitomized by Thermopylae.
But while Athens promoted democracy, individualism, culture and society, their great rivals Sparta embodied militarism, totalitarianism, segregation and brutal repression.
The Spartans are our ancestors, every bit as much as the Athenians.
The Spartan legend has inspired and captivated subsequent generations with evidence of its legacy found in both the Roman and British Empires
