Introduction
The Spartans involved a society of warriors who exercised a high level of discipline, self-sacrifice, and tolerance. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece is a chef-d’oeuvre story authored by Paul Cartledge. The author, a prominent historian, tracks the outstanding rise and fall of the Spartan society. Paul estimates the Spartans to have emerged around 1100 B.C. to the peak of its glory in the war of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
In this book, Cartledge makes two major arguments regarding the enormous influence that the Spartan culture had on their world and modern Western societies. These major themes spearheaded by the Greek warriors included the commitment to competition and a quest for freedom. However, the quest for freedom seems to be the focus of Cartledge’s thesis. The author’s thesis suggests that the heroic devotion and sacrifice at Thermopylae contributed to the victorious struggle for the Greek liberation. Legendary for their fierce battle techniques, the Spartans developed a self-sacrifice culture unmatched by any other force in the ancient times.
Summary and outline
Chapter 1 opens with an overview of early Sparta through to the battle of Messenia. This chapter outlines the institutions spearheaded by Lycurgus and the social formation of the Spartans. The second chapter prepares the scene for the approaching battles with Persia by evaluating the organization of Sparta warriors. The third chapter discusses Sparta’s contribution to the Persian battle. In this chapter, the author views Thermopylae as the defining period in the Persian War.
The fourth chapter covers the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. During this period, Sparta introduced radical military laws. In the fifth chapter, Paul explores the role of Sparta women and religion. This chapter presents the Spartan mother as selfless since she sacrificed her son for the good of the community. The sixth chapter discusses the Athenian War and it offers the readers a better understanding of ancient Greece regarding the political organization. The seventh chapter deals with the time from the end of the Athenian War to the Leuctra War. The last three chapters explore the period after Leuctra War and the recurring attempts by Sparta to repossess Messenia.
The author uses a simple structure to organize this book. Cartledge succeeds in the way he expounds his theme about devotion and competition. He shows that the Spartans developed their society via annexation and enslavement coupled with commanding their subjects with the consistent mighty.
Cartledge connects his breath-taking narrative with concise and captivating biographies of the city leaders from Lycurgus, the initial Spartan commander, who spearheaded the constitutional law to the city, to Leonidas, the pioneer of the battle at Thermopylae. This highly informative book addresses some of the long-held misconceptions concerning Sparta, and it offers other vital knowledge about the political, religious, and social structure. Paul creates significant interests in the role of men and women in Spartan society.
Cartledge successfully reinforces his thesis by showing that the Spartans’ legacy to the Western society emphasized a commitment to tasks, self-sacrifice for the good of the larger fraternity, and tolerance at times of adversity. The author’s flowing prose, spirited storytelling, and apprehensible historical acumen blend to offer a remarkable history of the Spartan warriors. Besides, the author successfully shows the Spartans’ importance to ancient Greece and their impact on contemporary society. Despite the inadequacy of literature, Cartledge reflects on the social and cultural issues of the Spartan life.
This book is a good reflection of the Spartans and their contribution to modern values of freedom. Modern readers will benefit from the author’s treatment of the ancient Greek values and the growth of the Spartan culture.
Analysis of the author’s thesis
Cartledge’s thesis emphasizes that the Spartan’s devotion to the ideal of freedom reflects the culture of the ancient Greek and contemporary Western culture. The author’s main argument is that the Spartans served as the exemplar of modern values. The book outlines the commitment to competition, the quest for freedom, and self-sacrifice as the main themes to support the thesis. Cartledge emphasizes the quest for freedom in supporting his thesis.
He claims that the most critical rule in Sparta was self-commitment for the good of the larger community. While emphasizing the author’s argument that Spartans exemplify values that are cherished in modern society, this paper suggests that these values are outweighed by unjust practices promoted by the Spartans during the conquest. This paper claims that the potential of the Spartans to perpetrate deeds against the axiom of freedom contradicts the contemporary view about freedom. The author’s view about the Spartans raises the question if the struggle sought to address the political ideal of freedom or it was intended to instigate courage in the battlefront (Economou and Kyriazis 7).
The prolonged and ironhanded training underwent by each Spartan youth was intended to cultivate courage. The critical law in Sparta embraced the spirit to conquer or die. Those who dropped in training or war were viewed as cowards and useless. Many Spartans were compelled to face death than face the disgrace linked to retreats (Kennell 119).
Unlike Cartledge’s argument, this impression concerning retreats shows that the Spartan self-sacrifice in the war was an escape from the social implications of cowardice rather than a selfless commitment to the quest for freedom. Besides, it is noteworthy that the social consequence imposed on retreats was a military idea not in preparation for the harm directed to the Greek liberation by adversaries, but it was meant to conquer and protect new territories. The enslavement of the population of the conquered territories exposes the Spartan devotion to freedom to criticism (Fields and Noon 57).
Furthermore, the Spartans’ struggle for freedom at Thermopylae is contradictory at best. The question raised is if the sort of freedom at Thermopylae was the kind of emancipation advocated in the contemporary world. Undoubtedly, the Spartans were partially inspired by the will to safeguard sovereignty. However, in contemporary society, freedom does not merely entail political independence.
The contemporary view of emancipation entails the freedom to take part in state affairs and the liberty entitled to individuals to live free from compulsion or interference from state machinery or fellow individuals. The author’s themes fail to show to what level the Spartans advanced these two forms of modern freedom. On political participation, the Spartan citizens were not equally allowed to contribute to the policymaking processes. Cartledge identifies that the “Spartan culture did not tolerate public debate” (23).
The Spartan social organization provides some evidence to demonstrate the infringements by the state on the individuals’ liberty. For instance, male children were detached from their families at a tender age and raised in military camps.
Men were encouraged to stay involved in community services rather than focusing on their private lives (Cartledge 17). Similarly, the Spartan political organization placed huge significance on the elders to make policies rather than involving the average Spartan in the policymaking process. Regardless, the author supports his thesis by arguing that the exiled Spartan, King Demaratus, expressed how Spartans observed their constitution.
Such obedience indicates respect to the rule of law, and this aspect is reflected in a well-organized contemporary society. However, based on the prominent contribution of the kings and elders in making the law, it is debatable if the leaders made laws and adhered to them out of choice (Cartledge 97). In this light, this paper suggests that leaders such as Demaratus obeyed out of fear rather than will.
Even more contrasting of the author’s idea that the Spartans were committed to freedom is the failure to desist from the individuals’ private lives. The entire Spartan culture was anchored on the pure subordination of the citizens to the state (Campbell and Noon 23). Contrary to what the contemporary world advocates regarding individual freedom, the Spartans were unable to ensure a balance between the welfare of the larger group and that of the individual. The Spartan‑Athenian rivalry in the ancient world reflects the Soviet‑American rivalry in the modern world. Even though this similarity is widely recognized, Cartledge does not offer much attention to it when examining the significance of the Spartan values to the contemporary world.
One of the highly visible themes in Paul’s thesis is cooperation. This view is consistent with the findings of this paper. Although it is arguably thought cooperation was out of fear, the Spartan reputation for working as a team with discipline, courage, and expertise were unmatched. This spirit of cooperation led to success not only on the battlefield but also in building social and economic structures (Sekunda 60). These developments are reflected in modern Western society.
For instance, the founders of the American constitution were keen on Greek undertakings, culture, and political organization. Architects of towns and technology in Western society have largely copied the Greek designs. In other words, the Greek civilization has been reflected in the way the rest of the world has developed. Ideally, as shown, this paper does not fully agree with the author’s argument that the Spartan culture regarding freedom and its portrayed significance to contemporary society
Conclusion
This review emphasizes that the nature of Sparta’s political organization and subordination of individuals to the state betrays, albeit in part, the author’s view that the Spartans exemplify the ideal of freedom as it is evident in the modern society. Undoubtedly, Sparta was an outstanding community that manifested exemplary coordination and commitment. On the weak side, Sparta exercised imperialistic annexation, the subjection of people to slavery, and unquestioned infringements on individual rights. This authoritative nature of the Spartan system was important during ancient times since many countries were still defining its territories.
However, the freedom sought by the Spartans was not fully reflected either in the political process or at the individual level. Even though modern democracies share some Spartan values, the level of freedom is exemplary. Nonetheless, Cartledge’s thesis succeeds in showing how the Spartan values of self-sacrifice, cooperation, and devotion to the ideal of democracy have shaped contemporary society.
Works Cited
Campbell, Duncan, and Steve Noon. Spartan Warrior, 735-331 BC, Oxford: Osprey Pub., 2012. Print.
Cartledge, Paul. The Spartans, New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.
Economou, Emmanouil, and Nicholas Kyriazis. “Choosing Peace Instead of War. A Lesson from Athenian Democracy”. Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 22.2 (2016): 6-7. Print.
Fields, Nic, and Steve Noon. Thermopylae 480 BC, Oxford: Osprey Publishers, 2007. Print.
Kennell, Nigel. Spartans, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Sekunda, Nick. Marathon 490 BC, Oxford: Osprey, 2002. Print.