Leonidas The Spartans: The World of the Warrior Heroes of Ancient Greece

Paul Cartledge's book known as The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece is by far one of the most intriguing books about one of the most looked at civilizations of ancient Greece. It brings to light new thoughts on the civilization that was known as a pure warrior society (Cartledge, 2004). Cartledge asks the question known as "Who were the Spartans and why should we care?" This book is the answer to that. Cartledge, one of the most leading experts on Sparta, looks at the rise and fall of the Spartan society and he even looks on how the Spartans had a significant influence on their world and even our world as we see it today (Cartledge, 2004). He examines famous figures of Sparta such as the founder Lycurgus and King Leonidas (Cartledge, 2004).

According to Cartledge the reason why we should care about the civilization known as Sparta is that they played a key role in defending Greece. As a result this preserved a form of culture or civilization that was rich in history and unique from being seized by an alien or foreign civilization (Cartledge, 2004). As a result we had our roots of our own Western civilization. Think about it. Without the Spartans there would be no "West." There would only be "East" and Persia. Civilization would then be extremely different today.

The main period of time the work focuses on is set between 480 and 360 BC which is known as the Classical era of Greek. Therefore Cartledge covers an impressive and incredible era of Sparta from when the Spartans led the Greeks in a defense against the massive invasion of Persia to the time when Sparta collapse as a Greek power (Cartledge, 2004). Cartledge also looks at what is known as the Spartan myths among the three part division of the book. In the first known as "Go, tell the Spartans" Cartledge examines the evolution of Sparta itself (Cartledge, 2004).

It is the evolution that encompasses the ideals of duty, discipline, the nobility of arms for a cause that it worth death, and the triumph of will over obstacles that seem impossible (Cartledge, 2004). It is kind of clever to tie in those ideas and compare them to Athens which was known as a society that had the achievements of architecture, theater, philosophy, and democratic politics (Cartledge, 2004). It leads one to think which was the better of the two cultures? Is Athens better than Sparta due to its impressive cultural and intellectual accomplishments? Is Sparta the better one due to the idea of it being considered the cornerstone of our Western civilization (Cartledge, 2004)? Does the idea of duty, being noble in arms, and dying for a cause triumph that of intellect? It leaves one to question.

The second part of the work is known as "The Spartan Myth" and to me it is the most intriguing part of this work. This part of the book focuses on the confrontation between Athena and Sparta that leads to what is known as the Peloponnesian War (Cartledge, 2004). One the one side Athens is sea-based, radical, commercial, and democratic. Sparta on the other hand was land-based, hierarchical, and mainly conservative. The Peloponnesian War is the height of that conflict and Cartledge himself identifies it as the Athenian War (431-404 BC) since he looks at it from the Spartan viewpoint (Cartledge, 2004). This is one critique I have of the work. There are two sides of every tale and in this case war. Why not give the Athenian version of events?

This to me indicates bias towards Sparta when there was another city state involved that was somewhat equal to the status seen in Sparta in regards to fame and influence. So again why not give equal representation for both sides in order for readers to get both views of the event and form their own thoughts on the matter? In the end the Spartan victory of the war, according to Cartledge, was won with difficulty and at a great cost. It was a war that took the war savagery to new heights and it even led Thudcydides to question the humanity of the Greeks. It consisted of many sieges, massacres of women and children, destruction of communities, and outbreaks of civil war (Cartledge, 2004). Thucydides account of Corcyra is one of the most renowned and chilling classics of civil war during this time.

Another key concept looked upon in this part...

Cartledge notes that Spartan women are the one exception to the rule of women not getting the true representation of their function in the society than they really deserve (Cartledge, 2004). Spartan women have quotes attributed to their name in ancient texts which has not been seen in other ancient Greece civilizations. Cartledge quotes the famous quote of Queen Gorgo of Sparta as she answers to non-Spartan women who marveled at the control of Spartan women over men. She states "Because we are the only women who give birth to real men!" (Cartledge, 2004) This was the quote that allowed to observers to see for themselves the domination that women of Sparta had. Aristotle was a critique of this idea and claimed that non-Spartan feared subconsciously and consciously the idea of feminine power (Cartledge, 2004). This and other ideas often distort the image of who Spartan women were and what their function was in Sparta. Cartledge attempts to tell what a Spartan woman was by giving a life cycle from death to the grave or tomb.
Spartan women were the only known women of Greece to be allowed to own property and land and they found ways to make their voices heard in the Spartan Warrior Assemble according to Cartledge (Cartledge, 2004). They did not have to do the house duties that were typical of an Athenian woman and sexual independence seemed to be something among them too. That is the fascinating thing about them (Cartledge, 2004). Women from different cultures but of the same land. Why is one "independent" and the other a housewife in a sense?

In Part 3 Cartledge examines the "fall" of Sparta. After the Athenian War Sparta enters into a period of military defeat along with invasion of its home territory (Cartledge, 2004). The most shocking part of the period is the revolt and the liberation of the Helot serfs on which the Spartan way of life was dependent on (Cartledge, 2004). Ultimately it was due to one man known as Agesilaus. Spartan citizen numbers began to fall and it was accelerated as a result of greed for accumulations of land and other forms of wealth. Cartledge notes that by 371 there were only 1,500 adult male Spartan warrior citizens compared to 25,000 Athenians (Cartledge, 2004). Foreign policy too started falling apart in a way. Sparta found itself fighting not only Persia but also a coalition of Greek city-states including Corinth and the Boeotian federation a decade after the end of the Athenian war (Cartledge, 2004). Sparta's claim to an empire was not backed up by a fancy manifesto worthy of Athenian view. Cartledge admits it was sheer brute force that was deployed in support of the minority of wealthy citizens against the common people as a whole (Cartledge, 2004). In a way he admits the Spartans fashioned their own enemy which as mentioned above was the helots. After enslavement over a period of three centuries the Messenian helots were liberated at last thanks to Epaminondas (Cartledge, 2004). They reacquired their own city of Messene and its massive fortifications still inspire amazement today. Cartledge further goes on to conclude in a way that Sparta never fully recovered to what is was once the Messenian helots were liberated despite clinging on to helots of Laconia (Cartledge, 2004). This led to Agesilaus appointing himself as mercenary commander in order to raise funds for the city. However it really do not turn out that well. Sparta therefore fell from the power it once was.

The last section of the book aims to give the idea of a legacy that lives on through connections to Leonidas. It is in this section of the book where one sees Cartledge connecting to how Sparta shaped and infleuced what is known today as the Western civilization (Cartledge, 2004). For example in the third century AD Origen, a Christian apologist, applied to what is known as pagan precedent in the war of words he had with the pagan Celsus (Cartledge, 2004). It is brought up that he may have suggested that the Christian story of Christ's passion and death can be illuminated by a comparison to the self-chosen death of Leonidas. Synesisu of Cyrene himself was proud to claim his "Spartan" lineage a century later during the struggle between pagan and Christian beliefs (Cartledge, 2004).

The Renaissance is described to be more of a Western than an Eastern movement as well as more of a Roman than Hellenic…