Sparta

The picture which most people have of Ancient Greece is pretty much the picture painted by the Athenians. If anybody doubts that the pen is mightier than the sword, then next to that adage ought to be carved in stone the one about the victors writing the histories! The Athenians left us a mass of well-written material. Yet Athens was not the only city state of power and prestige, nor was it dominant in the larger scheme of things. Thebes, Argos, Elis, Korinthe, and above all, Sparta, defined the polychrome mosaic that was Hellas; and to have any idea of what that world was like, we must look not only to Athens but to each of those places. This small book does something to fill the void. It is primarily a glance at the political and military history of Sparta, but in rendering its topic it provides some valuable insight into the lives of the Spartans, and some illuminating details about the characters of the people who were the unquestioned military leaders of their times.