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Herodotus, Sparta and Austerity
Edited by Anton Powell† and Stephen Hodkinson
ISBN: 9781914535444 Hardback, xviii+ 348 pp, 2025
 
Herodotus' 'History’, is our earliest historical source for Sparta. His work focuses on the later sixth and early fifth centuries BC, the period before and during the Persian Wars. His account is often thought to be relatively unsullied by the distorting effects of the ‘Spartan mirage’, which reached its apogee after his death. Yet his mythologised narrative of the Spartans’ defeat at the battle of Thermopylai in 480 BC continues to influence idealised accounts in modern popular media and politics. Since he wrote about a period when Sparta’s classical institutions were still being formed, his work is often interrogated by historians investigating the origins and nature of its famous ‘austerity’. In this volume eleven international scholars examine Herodotus’ presentation of Sparta, the implications for our understanding of its internal and external politics, and the development and character of its engagement with material culture. This book is the fourth in a Classical Press of Wales series focused on major sources for Sparta, following earlier volumes on Xenophon and Sparta (2020), Thucydides and Sparta (2021) and Sparta in Plutarch’s Lives (2023).
 

CONTENTS

PART I
A GENERAL PERSPECTIVE

1. Herodotus, the Spartan revolution and the logic of extremes - Anton Powell†

PART II
HERODOTUS AND SPARTA

2. Herodotus and Spartan obedience - Andrew J. Bayliss
3. Spartan individuals in Herodotus: patterns of anecdotes -Nancy Bouidghaghen
4. Was military success essential to the political influence of Spartan kings? The evidence of Herodotus - Stephen Hodkinson
5. The sociopolitical status of the three hundred heroes of Thermopylai - Thomas J. Figueira
6. Herodotus and the Peloponnesians - Maria Pretzler
7. In the picture, out of the spotlight: Herodotus, Plutarch and Sparta - Philip Davies

PART III
SPARTAN AUSTERITY (AND HERODOTUS)

8. Kleomenes and the golden cups: Spartan austerity in modern scholarship - Nigel Kennell
9. Herodotus, Spartan ‘austerity’ and the material record: ‘Spartan’ and Lakonian sanctuaries between the post-palatial and Archaic periods - Florentia Fragkopoulou
10. Herodotus and Spartan material culture - James Lloyd
11. The spectacular nature of Spartan austerity: an oxymoron? - Ellen Millender

Index of passages discussed

General Index