A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
This week I want to do something we haven't really done before and look back at one of the older series, This. Isn't. Sparta. (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective), as I write this now reaching its three-year-anniversary, which seems a good time to make that sort of a retrospective. In particular … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Retrospective
This is the seven (and last!) part of our seven part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective) 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, … Continue reading Collections: 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 (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective) looking at Sparta and its place in cultural memory. As we discussed briefly before, there are two core myths … Continue reading Collections: 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 reading Collections: 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 reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part IV: Spartan Wealth
Today, in part III of our seven part look at Sparta (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective) 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 … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part III: Spartan Women
This is Part II of our seven part look at Sparta (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective). 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 … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part II: Spartan Equality
This is Part I of a seven part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective) 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: … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part I: Spartan School