According to myth the Spartans were sown from the teeth of a dragon. Their fearsome reputations revolved around a brutal warrior training which began from birth. The stand of the 300 Spartans against the Persian hordes at Thermopylae in 480BC is a byword for courage against the odds. They were said to have engaged in child sacrifice, ritual murder and strange rites of passage. The reality of life in ancient Sparta far outstrips the myth. Set in a Peloponnesian homeland of extraordinary mystery and beauty, this course will look at Spartan society, religion, trade and art.
- Bayliss, A., 2020, The Spartans, Oxford
- Cartledge, P., 2002, The Spartans: An Epic History, London
- Hodkinson, S., Ed., 2009, Sparta: Comparative approaches, Oxford
- Hornblower, S., 2002, 3rd Ed., The Greek World: 479-323BC, Routledge, NY (companion volume to the work by Osborne – these are really good introductory histories of Greece and include sections on Sparta)
- Osborne, R., 1996, Greece in the Making: 1200-479BC, Routledge, NY
- Pomeroy, S., 2002, Spartan Women, Oxford
- Whitby, M., Ed., 2002, Sparta, Edinburgh
- The geography of Sparta, Spartan origins in the Mycenaean Age and Sparta in Homeric myth
- The development of Spartan society, Spartan upbringing, social institutions and relationships with neighbouring territories
- Spartan women and Spartan religion
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Gain appreciation of the back ground and complexities of Spartan society and religion beautifully illustrated with many examples of Spartan archaeological sites and art
- Understand how and when the city state of Lacedaemonia (Sparta) was formed
- Understand and plan their travel to some of the most beautiful sites in south eastern Greece
