Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower

A major new history of ancient Greece’s most iconic city-state.

For thousands of years, the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta has been famed as the ultimate warrior society. The flowing crimson capes and bronze shields of Spartan warriors remain the enduring image of masculine bravery, austerity, and toughness; King Leonidas’s 300 soldiers at Thermopylae the quintessential example of courageous self-sacrifice in battle. But who were the Spartans, really—and how did they rise from a humble v...