内容简介
The Spartans is a compelling narrative that explores theculture and civilization of the most famous "warrior people": theSpartans of ancient Greece, by the world's leading expert in thefield. Sparta has often been described as the original Utopia--aremarkably evolved society whose warrior heroes were forbidden anyother trade, profession, or business. As a people, the Spartanswere the living exemplars of such core values as duty, discipline,the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for, sacrificing theindividual for the greater good of the community (illustrated bytheir role in the battle of Thermopylae), and the triumph of willover seemingly insuperable obstacles--qualities that today arefrequently believed to signify the ultimate heroism. Paul Cartledgeis the distinguished scholar and historian who has long been seenas the leading international authority on ancient Sparta. He tracesthe evolution of Spartan society--the culture and the people, aswell as the tremendous influence they had on their world and evenours. He details throughout the narrative the lives of suchillustrious and myth-making figures as Lycurgus, King Leonidas,Helen of Troy (and Sparta), and Lysander, and explains how theSpartans, although they placed a high value on masculine ideals,nevertheless allowed women an unusually dominant and powerfulrole--unlike Athenian culture with which the Spartans are so oftencompared. In resurrecting the ancient culture and society of theSpartans, Cartledge delves deep into ancient texts andarcheological sources and complements his text with illustrationsthat depict original Spartan artifacts and drawings, as well asexamples of representational paintings from the Renaissanceonwards--including J.L. David's famously brooding "Leonidas." Thisilluminating volume that ties in with the PBS television series ofthe same name, airing in the summer of 2003. Booklist calledCartledge's The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization, a companion tothe PBS series, "superb," while The International History Reviewcalled Cartledge's The Cambridge Illustrated History of AncientGreece "an original and insightful work."