The Spartans: Ancient Greece’s fighting machine
Ancient Greek Spartans were known for their military might, discipline and fearless self-sacrifice, but also their terrible cruelty. Bridget Kendall examines their unique society.
For over two and a half thousand years the Ancient Greek Spartans have been known for their military might, discipline and self-sacrifice. Recent popular culture has portrayed them as the ultimate fearless warriors, especially ‘the 300’ Spartans who fought to the death at Thermopylae. But where does this image come from, and what do we really know about Spartan society and the peculiar utopia it tried to create? The city-state of Sparta has been admired for its stability, frugality, and the unusual social and sexual freedom of its women. But Sparta was also famous for its brutality towards its huge slave population, its authoritarian rule, and its policy of racial purity and eugenics that would eventually prove its undoing.
Bridget Kendall talks to Christy Constantakopoulou, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London; Paul Rahe, Professor of History at Hillsdale College in the US; and Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.
Photo: Statue of King Leonidas in Sparta, Greece (TPopova/Getty Images)
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How to live like a Spartan woman
Duration: 01:33
Broadcasts
- Thu 25 Jul 2019 08:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service
- Thu 25 Jul 2019 23:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service
- Sat 27 Jul 2019 13:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service News Internet
- Sun 28 Jul 2019 14:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia & South Asia
- Mon 29 Jul 2019 02:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service UK DAB/Freeview
- Mon 29 Jul 2019 03:06GMTÂ鶹Éç World Service Online, Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
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