Rating: 
Summary: Intellectually fascinating
Review: Cartledge is renown for his in-depth knowledge of this "nitch" antiquity. The broad strokes of the Spartan legacy are touched upon nicely, while at the same time, a reader may want to delve even more deeply into subjects that are not touched upon. The intriguing points of the training provided to young Spartan males in the Agoge are not quite detailed enough for this reader. However, for anyone interested in the wider approach to Greek history and how the polis of Sparta played its part in this formula, the book is abundantly sufficient with both facts and speculation. I applaud Cartledge for his keen insight, but wish that he may have included more details that may not seem significant in the overall history, but fascinating to the average reader. 4 stars, but easily deserving of 5 with small reservations.
Rating:
Summary: Just a reader
Review: Cartledge knows more about the Spartans than I do but that is probably because I graduated from the University of California. I bought the book through the history book club, built a fire, made some coffee and read it. Yes the style was annoying and it was a bit hard to follow for the non-historian like myself, but I know more about the subject than I did before I picked the book up. I wished that it had covered some more topics though and I was confused about the fox hunting chapter. I would have loved a better peek into the mess halls, male relationships, dual kingships, the navy that the rivalry with Athens forced on the Spartans, the battle dress, weaponry, black soup, and the relationship with the Thebes and a bit more on the Helots. But hey, look, I'm actually now this knowledgeable about the subject and for that I can thank Mr Cartledge. Whew....I never knew that greek historians got so worked up about this stuff. Maybe I should stick to Roman history ??
Rating: 
Summary: Non-linear structure
Review: I had very little knowledge of Ancient Greece when I began reading this book. Unfortunately, I am still ignorant afterward. I gamely read through the introduction and two chapters of the book before realizing that I was retaining very little new information. The author throws names and dates around without providing a clear structure for understanding them. For example, he may mention three different people in two different centuries within one sentence, but he fails to explain who those people are or why he is writing about them. I finally decided that the book was wasting my time and put it down into the "recycle" pile.What I expected was a succinctly written primer on the history of the Spartan people. What I received was a jumble of names and dates that resembles nothing more than a rambling discourse. A clear story following the boring, but comprehensible, process of cause and effect would have made this much more valuable.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much Gender Studies, not enough raw information
Review: If you're interested in reading a gender study of classical sparta, this may be the book for you. Plenty of information and discussion about Spartan women, various historic female Spartan characters, etc. Similarly, if you want a low-level, general audience overview of greek or spartan history, this book might be worth borrowing from your local library. On the other hand, if you want detailed historical information about Sparta, what we know of Spartans life and culture, etc., then you'd almost certainly get more information from a google search. The author spends far more time rhapsodizing about gender issues than he does communicating detailed information, and readers with any prior familiarity with ancient Greek culture or history will find little here they don't already have a basic handle on. This book is general audience and it shows. I was looking for an informative resource work on the Spartans and I did not find it here. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place, but those of you who might be looking for what I was looking for, look elsewhere. I should mention the bonus appendix, where the author apparently makes the argument that modern english foxhunting is evil because the Spartans "hunted" escaped slaves.
Rating: 
Summary: Brevity may be the source of wit, but not understanding
Review: Interestingly, I had the same general impression of this work as the previous reviewer, but for opposite reasons. Cartledge, a Cambridge professor, explains towards the end of the book that he has set out to enliven ancient history for a new generation of readers. The general structure that he chooses to accomplish this may perhaps be best characterized as "serial mini-biography." He sets out to cover the span of Spartan history, from the time of Helen through the time of Caesar Augustus, in 281 pages (epilogue and appendix included). There are, indeed, a lot of dates and unfamiliar names in this brief survey, and, to keep the reader's interest, Cartledge punctuates the narrative with brief biographies of Spartans who were central to their particular time. The approach has merit, and certainly succeeds in giving "human interest" to the story as a whole. But, to me, the discussion of context seems to be too limited, which leaves these short character sketches hanging in mid-air, and giving a distinct impression of choppiness and superficiality. Cartledge does do a reasonable job of describing the members of the constantly shifting alliances among the city-states of ancient Greece, but the frequent changes in these associations can lead to confusion when merely described in such a short work, with little discussion of the reasons for and mechanics of the evolutions. The "social history" aspect is also a bit underdeveloped, with many tidbits thrown into the biographical narratives, almost as asides. It would perhaps have been much more effective to give a more in depth overview of Spartan culture and life during the different periods, either as a separate section of interwoven with the history of dates and battles. For example, mention is made in several places of the repression of the Helots, and the presence of a sinister band known as the Crypteia, translated as "secret police." But how, exactly, did this work? How did a group of no more than 1,000 to 3,000 fighting age men keep a presumably larger population subjugated, particularly when so many of those men wre away campaigning much of the time? Cartledge does seem to become aware of the relative deficiency of social history by the end of the book, after a breakneck flight through the time from the battle of Leuctra (371 BC) through Augustus over the course of about 30 pages. He seems to try to remedy the lack in a curious appendix in which he compare the role of hunting in Sparta and modern Britain. There there are some interesting insights here, and the kinds of information about Spartan life that I felt were lacking elsewhere. But, the whole appendix veers dangerously close to an anti-fox hunting diatribe at times, and a thinly veiled academic attack upon a defender of that practice. It strikes me, at the end, as the bald exploitation of a history book to advance a modern political agenda, and left me, when I closed this generally enjoyable and informative book, with a lessening of respect for a clearly knowledgable and entertaining author.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghosts of heroes
Review: Paul Cartledge of Cambridge university is the Secretariat of Laconian scholars, and he's more than a couple of links ahead of the rest of the field. By far & away he is the premiere authority in the world on all things Spartan. He is the primary Hellenist that other scholars use to quote in their works. With that in mind, it is natural that Cartledge would be the preferred choice to write a mainstream book about the history of the Spartans. That, in fact, is precisely what he has done with the present study. This is by far the most accessible works in the Cartledge canon; prior knowledge of Greek history is not necessary to engage the text. By the same token, what must be remembered is that this is an overview of Lacedamon history. While most everyone will learn a great deal from this work (whether they possess an understanding of classical history or not), I would nevertheless recommend other works by Cartledge for those who wish to dig deeper into the Spartan archives. SPARTAN REFLECTIONS would be a good place to start. One of the few beefs I have w/the present work is that the author tends to skip around chronologically quite a bit. While not a serious impediment for one to decide against purchasing this book, it nevertheless can get a wee bit annoying. Possibly the very best attribute of this work is that it gives a balanced portrayal of the ancient Lacedamons. It is easy for we moderns to have an enormous admiraton for their military prowess and at the same time be mortified by the reprehensible way in which they treated their slaves (Helots). Both of these reactions are all too human. Some authors have concentrated soley on the one while neglecting the other. Cartledge, on the other hand, strikes a nice Aristotelian Golden Mean. He does not deify the Spartans, nor does he demonize them. Rather, he simply tells us of their history the way it really happened. If you're looking for an introductory book on Spartan history, this just might be an ideal place to start. In addition to the standard text are myriad paintings as well as some photographs of Spartan artifacts. All-in-all, a must-have book for the philhellene.
Rating:
Summary: Ghosts of heroes
Review: Paul Cartledge of Cambridge university is the Secretariat of Laconian scholars, and he's more than a couple of links ahead of the rest of the field. By far & away he is the premiere authority in the world on all things Spartan. He is the primary Hellenist that other scholars use to quote in their works. With that in mind, it is natural that Cartledge would be the preferred choice to write a mainstream book about the history of the Spartans. That, in fact, is precisely what he has done with the present study. This is by far the most accessible works in the Cartledge canon; prior knowledge of Greek history is not necessary to engage the text. By the same token, what must be remembered is that this is an overview of Lacedamon history. While most everyone will learn a great deal from this work (whether they possess an understanding of classical history or not), I would nevertheless recommend other works by Cartledge for those who wish to dig deeper into the Spartan archives. SPARTAN REFLECTIONS would be a good place to start. One of the few beefs I have w/the present work is that the author tends to skip around chronologically quite a bit. While not a serious impediment for one to decide against purchasing this book, it nevertheless can get a wee bit annoying. Possibly the very best attribute of this work is that it gives a balanced portrayal of the ancient Lacedamons. It is easy for we moderns to have an enormous admiraton for their military prowess and at the same time be mortified by the reprehensible way in which they treated their slaves (Helots). Both of these reactions are all too human. Some authors have concentrated soley on the one while neglecting the other. Cartledge, on the other hand, strikes a nice Aristotelian Golden Mean. He does not deify the Spartans, nor does he demonize them. Rather, he simply tells us of their history the way it really happened. If you're looking for an introductory book on Spartan history, this just might be an ideal place to start. In addition to the standard text are myriad paintings as well as some photographs of Spartan artifacts. All-in-all, a must-have book for the philhellene.
Rating:
Summary: A study of the history of ancient Sparta
Review: Reader's of _The Spartans_ will not be surprised to learn that Paul Cartledge is Professor of Greek History at Cambridge University. Mr. Cartledge's detailed knowledge of ancient Greece, obviously painstakingly collected over a lifetime of research, is extraordinary. The organization of this volume leans more to the form of a lecture than a traditional, chronological history. Each section begins with a brief overview, in the same manner as a lead paragraph in a newspaper article, followed by an in depth discussion of the subject which may include information already covered in the opening paragraph(s). This gives the text the sometimes confusing appearance of bouncing to and fro between historical events and dates, but is optimal for detailed note taking or outlining- hence the structure of a lecture. The history of ancient Greece from the point of view of the Spartans is magnificently portrayed by Mr. Cartledge. Even serious scholars may glean new information from these pages, or have previous knowledge broadened and clarified. Ancient, contemporary sources, such as Plutarch, Thucidides and Herodotus, are widely referenced, and the bibliography is extensive. My only complaint about this book regards the appendix, in which Mr. Cartledge engages in a rather lengthy discussion of hunting, detailing it's necessity in the ancient world but definate lack of necessity in the modern world. The discussion of hunting today focuses on fox hunting, although mention is made of "the kind of 'hunting' carried out today with guns-in North America of deer (as in the movie Deer Hunter)..." It just seemed to my mind to be an odd place for a discussion of the morality of hunting.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: Sparta tends to be a jumble of images (a heroic stand at Thermopylae) or words (Molon labe!) for most people so it's nice to see a survey of the Spartan world. Cartledge surveys not only Sparta's impressive martial record but also peers at its unique society. While he's an expert on the subject, Cartledge doesn't communicate his knowledge ponderously, rather The Spartans is written with an impressive clarity and inciveness. Outside of his bizarre little attack on English fox hunting in the appendix (in which he explores Spartan hunting -- animal and human), Cartledge's The Spartans is an absolute winner.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent history of Hellenic Sparta
Review: The author presents the Spartan people as they were recorded by their contemporaries and how their accomplishments were mythologized and demonized throughout western history ever since. He attempts to look at this civilization with it's many aspects and weaves a history of considerable scholarship. I have read many books and manuscripts about hellenic Greece, yet this particular book outshines them all in my opinion. I got to have a ringside seat and watch the Spartans rise, conquer, and dominate before being stripped of their power as first her leaders and then her society as a whole failed to adapt to a rapidly changing world. I was sad to see the Spartans in decline, even though I knew it was inevitable and they weren't what would be considered "civilized" by modern standards since they practiced terrorism and a form of eugenics.
The Spartans weren't out to save Greece per se, just their place in it, and only by helping to save (and dominate) almost every other Greek polis, could they hope to maintain their power and they knew this. The insight into Spartan society, politics, religion, and strategic goals in relation to "Xenoi" or foreigners (anyone not Spartan, not just non-greeks) was simply fascinating. This was a book I was always reluctant to put down and happy to take back up, I'll be looking for more of the author's work in the future. This history more than showed the debt of enormous magnitude the Western world owes the ancient Greeks of Sparta, and how her more noble ideals are recognized and admired today.
|
