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Lysander: Too Powerful for Sparta
Lysander won the longest war in Greek history by doing everything Sparta's system told him he should not do. He befriended a Persian prince, built a navy on foreign gold,...
Lysander: Too Powerful for Sparta
Lysander won the longest war in Greek history by doing everything Sparta's system told him he should not do. He befriended a Persian prince, built a navy on foreign gold,...
Black Broth — Why Spartans Didn't Fear Death
Every Spartan citizen ate the same meal at the same table every night. Black broth: pork cooked in its own blood with vinegar and salt. Each man contributed a fixed...
Black Broth — Why Spartans Didn't Fear Death
Every Spartan citizen ate the same meal at the same table every night. Black broth: pork cooked in its own blood with vinegar and salt. Each man contributed a fixed...
The Spartan Shield — Come Home With It, Or On It
The Spartan aspis (shield) weighed between 7 and 8 kilograms. It was constructed from wood, faced with hammered bronze, and marked with a lambda for Lacedaemon. Every other Greek hoplite...
The Spartan Shield — Come Home With It, Or On It
The Spartan aspis (shield) weighed between 7 and 8 kilograms. It was constructed from wood, faced with hammered bronze, and marked with a lambda for Lacedaemon. Every other Greek hoplite...
The Battle of Leuctra: Sparta's First Defeat
In 371 BC, the Theban general Epaminondas did what nobody in Greece thought possible. He broke a Spartan army in open battle. He killed their king. He destroyed roughly 400...
The Battle of Leuctra: Sparta's First Defeat
In 371 BC, the Theban general Epaminondas did what nobody in Greece thought possible. He broke a Spartan army in open battle. He killed their king. He destroyed roughly 400...
Gorgo of Sparta — The Queen Of Secret Messages
Gorgo was the daughter of one Spartan king and the wife of another. She warned her father about a foreign bribe when she was eight years old. She scraped wax...
Gorgo of Sparta — The Queen Of Secret Messages
Gorgo was the daughter of one Spartan king and the wife of another. She warned her father about a foreign bribe when she was eight years old. She scraped wax...
The Crypteia: Sparta's Secret War on Its Own Pe...
Every year, the Spartan ephors formally declared war on the helots. Then they sent teenagers into the Messenian countryside with daggers and no armour. Plutarch says they killed any helot...
The Crypteia: Sparta's Secret War on Its Own Pe...
Every year, the Spartan ephors formally declared war on the helots. Then they sent teenagers into the Messenian countryside with daggers and no armour. Plutarch says they killed any helot...