The Spartans

By: Andrew J. Bayliss

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

The image of Sparta, and the Spartans, is one dyed indelibly into the public consciousness: musclebound soldiers with long hair and red cloaks, bearing shiny bronze shields emblazoned with the Greek letter lambda. "This is Sparta!", bellows Leonidas on the silver screen, as he decides to lead his 300 warriors to their deaths at Thermopylae. But what was Sparta?

The myths surrounding Sparta are as old as the city itself. Even in antiquity, Sparta was a unique society, considered an enigma. The Spartans' often bizarre rules and practices have the capacity to horrify as much they do to fascinate us today. But the truth behind these stories of the exotic other can be hard to discover, lost amongst the legend of Sparta which was even perpetuated by later Spartans, who ran a thriving tourist industry that exaggerated the famed brutality of their ancestors.

As Andrew Bayliss explores in this book, there was also much to admire in ancient Sparta, such as the Spartans' state-run education system which catered even to girls, or the fact that Sparta was almost unparalleled in the pre-modern world in allowing women a clear voice, with no fewer than 40 sayings by Spartan women preserved in our sources. This book reveals the best and the worst of the Spartans, separating myth from reality.

©2020 Andrew J. Bayliss (P)2020 Tantor

Reflective nuances with a variety of references

Very captivating and intriguing storyline. Bayliss provides depth and nuances to the book by providing, comparing and contrasting references. Not taking one for the truth, but reflecting and pondering on how and why Spartans where described or written about in a certain way, depending on the intent of the writer. Great way to summarize everything at the end by providing the the Spartan influence in history and in the modern world, as well as a timeline of main events in Spartan history.

Really dry

This is a pretty boring history of the Spartans. The narrator has a nice voice. It seems to try to stay true to historical records, but it was tough to get through.