First posted on Amazon.co.uk on 31 December 2011
This book was first published in 1979, with a second edition in 2002 (when I bought it and first read it). It was, and remains, THE best book on Sparta and Lakonia. It stops just after the battle of Mantinea (362 BC) but a second book by Cartledge and Spanwforth was published in 1989 (with a second edition in 2002) on Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, with Paul Cartledge doing the Hellenistic piece (the most interesting of the two, in my view).
Anyway, I was very much surprised to discover that there was no review of this book on Amazon.co.uk, and decided that there needed to be one. As Paul Cartledge acknowleged some 30 years ago (perhaps with a bit of exageration), two books on Sparta are published on average every year. This one, however, is apart from almost all others, and is probably among the best of all (together with Cartledge's book on Agesilaus, which is perhaps even better).
Readers should be aware that this IS VERY MUCH a scholarly book, but of the highest quality. It is a very well structured book which starts with a clear presentation of the geographical context (together with climate and boundaries). There are masses of well-drawn maps and very useful annexes.
However, and above everything else, the main strongpoint of this book is the explanations it provides on Sparta's strengths and weaknesses which were the two sides of the same coin
- Sparta had the largest territory of ANY Greek city, including the very rich Syracuse. This was because it add annexed Messenia and enslaved its population - the helots - virtually doubling the size of its territory in the process, and giving it the means to sustain a large number of hoplites who could spend their whole life (or at least had the means to do so) training and fighting
- the associated weakness was that the helots, who were Dorians just like the Lacedemonians, retained their identity and never fully accepted their status as slaves, so Sparta always had to be on the look out and ready to put down as quickly as possible any revolt whereas the Helots would take advantage of any Spartan weakness.
Several additional features for which Sparta is known in Ancient Greece are direct consequences of this:
- Sparta had little need to trade, or only for specific items, and used no currency (coins of bronze, silver or gold) for a long time, simply because the size of its territory meant that it was largely self-sufficient. Unlike Athens, for instance, it did not need to import most of its food
- The conquest of Messenia made Sparta self-sufficient but it alsol lead to a major reversal in its foreign policy. While Sparta had been expansionist before this conquest, simply because, with an expanding population, it needed to be, it became the most isolationist of all Greek cities once it was self-sufficient. It was always afraid of a Helot uprising as soon as its army left on campaign. A related point was that part of the army almost always had to be left at home, just in case...
As Cartledge shows so clearly, drawing on Aristotle, the crisis of Sparta came because of oliganthropia: the number of full Spartans - full-time professional warriors - that the city was able to field declined almost constantly from 480 to 362. However, this was not strictly because of demographic reasons. Indeed Spartan families continued to have children, but inherintances were partible and social and financial unequalities grew so that fewer and fewer had the means to qualify as full Spartiates and casualties could not be entirely replaced. Spartans were aware of this, and tried to limit its effects as much as possible, but then they were beaten at Leuctra, lost Messenia and were never able to reconquer it...
A fantastic book and a MUST READ for anyone interested in Sparta...
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