Sparta & War

Ten new essays from a distinguished international cast treat Sparta's most famous area of activity. The results are challenging. Among the contributors, Thomas Figueira explores the paradox that Sparta's cavalry was an undistinguished institution. Jean Ducat conducts the most thorough study to date of Sparta's official cowards, the 'tremblers'. Anton Powell asks why Sparta chose not to destroy Athens after the Peloponnesian War. And Stephen Hodkinson argues that the image of Spartan society as militaristic may after all be a?mirage. This is the sixth volume from the International Sparta Seminar, founded by Powell and Hodkinson in 1988. The series has established itself as the main forum for the study of Spartan history.

Stephen Hodkinson and Anton Powell have jointly edited The Shadow of Sparta (CPW and Routledge, 1994), Sparta: New perspectives (CPW and Duckworth, 1999), and Sparta: Beyond the mirage (CPW and Duckworth 2002). They also collaborated on Powell (ed.) Sparta: Techniques behind her success (1989). Individually each has produced a series of influential studies of Sparta. Hodkinson is the author of Property and Wealth in Classical Sparta (CPW and Duckworth, 2000) and Powell has written Athens and Sparta (2nd edition, 2001). Stephen Hodkinson is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nottingham, where he co-directs the Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies. Anton Powell has been founder and Director of the University of Wales Institute of Classics and Ancient History. In 2006 and again in 2008 he was professeur invite at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris.