A Companion To Sparta

Features in-depth coverage of Spartan history and culture

The two-volume A Companion to Sparta presents the first comprehensive, multi-authored series of essays to address all aspects of Spartan history and society from its origins in the Greek Dark Ages to the late Roman Empire. Offers a lucid, comprehensive introduction to all aspects of Sparta, a community recognised by contemporary cities as the greatest power in classical Greece Features in-depth coverage of Sparta history and culture contributed by an international cast including almost every noted specialist and scholar in the field Provides over a dozen images of Spartan art that reveal the evolution of everyday life in Sparta Sheds new light on a modern controversy relating to changes in Spartan society from the Archaic to Classical periods

The two-volume A Companion to Sparta presents the first comprehensive, multi-authored series of essays to address all aspects of Spartan history and society from its origins in the Greek Dark Ages to the late Roman Empire. Offers a lucid, comprehensive introduction to all aspects of Sparta, a community recognised by contemporary cities as the greatest power in classical Greece Features in-depth coverage of Sparta history and culture contributed by an international cast including almost every noted specialist and scholar in the field Provides over a dozen images of Spartan art that reveal the evolution of everyday life in Sparta Sheds new light on a modern controversy relating to changes in Spartan society from the Archaic to Classical periods

A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity presents a series of essays that apply a socio-historical perspective to myriad aspects of ancient sport and spectacle. Covers the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Empire Includes contributions from a range of international scholars with various Classical antiquity specialties Goes beyond the usual concentrations on Olympia and Rome to examine sport in cities and territories throughout the Mediterranean basin Features a variety of illustrations, maps, end-of-chapter references, internal cross-referencing, and a detailed index to increase accessibility and assist researchers

Mid-fifth-century Athens saw the development of the Athenian empire, the radicalization of Athenian democracy through the empowerment of poorer citizens, the adornment of the city through a massive and expensive building program, the classical age of Athenian tragedy, the assembly of intellectuals offering novel approaches to philosophical and scientific issues, and the end of the Spartan-Athenian alliance against Persia and the beginning of open hostilities between the two greatest powers of ancient Greece. The Athenian statesman Pericles both fostered and supported many of these developments. Although it is no longer fashionable to view Periclean Athens as a social or cultural paradigm, study of the history, society, art, and literature of mid-fifth-century Athens remains central to any understanding of Greek history. This collection of essays reveal the political, religious, economic, social, artistic, literary, intellectual, and military infrastructure that made the Age of Pericles possible.

Xenophon has for long, and understandably, enjoyed a privileged position as a reliable source on Sparta. Commander of a grand military expedition of Sparta's devising, and a dependent of Sparta's influential king Agesilaos, Xenophon knew Sparta from the inside, and - as himself an Athenian in exile - was well placed to comment on Sparta's difference. The simplicity of his Greek style has a perfume of honesty. And yet... Recent research has with increasing force called into doubt Xenophon's motives and truthfulness - especially as regards Sparta. Analysis of his Hellenica reveals much evasion and euphemism about Sparta's failings - complicated by occasional outbursts against the iniquity of Spartan imperialism. His euphemistic Constitution of the Lakedaimonians (itself containing such an outburst), and his near-hagiography of the dead Agesilaos, have variously evoked trust and suspicion in historians. This book, by a distinguished team of specialists in Spartan history, is the first of a short series from CPW, approaching Spartan reality by way of close analysis of our main contemporary Greek sources: their access, their biases, the literary structure and the genre of their works.