Heracles and the Foundings of Sparta and Rome
The Greeks and Romans were as defined by their religion as they were by their language. Naturally, the objects of Greco-Roman theology, the gods, heroes, and stories that were told of them, were seminal for the political structure of the ancient world that they permeated.
Play and childhood in ancient Greece
Play, childhood and physical education have formed an inseparable union throughout history, and Greece is no exception. Classical authors provided ample documentation on how children played, making it possible to identify analogies in play over the centuries.
Xenophon's view of Sparta: A study of the "Anabasis," "Hellenica" and "Respublica Lacedaemoniorum"
Xenophon’s view of Sparta: A study of the “Anabasis,” “Hellenica” and “Respublica Lacedaemoniorum” By Noreen M. Humble PhD Dissertation, McMaster University, 1997 Abstract:…
Mightier Than the Sword: Propaganda in Case Studies of the Battles of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great lived up to his name and is still doing so some two thousand years after his death. Nothing he did was small or unambitious.
Destructive state interest and panhellenism in Thucydides
Thucydides in his text about the war between Athens and Sparta derides individuals, either members of a community or states in an international system, acting to increase their own power at the expense of others and promotes the same individuals to act in ways that support the community.
Was Pythagoras Ever Really in Sparta?
Did he really go to all of these places in person or did the Pythagorean movement make such claims in order to bolster their own credibility? Did others make similar claims for political and/or propagandistic reasons? Let us consider the sources as we have them.
Spartacus Before Marx: Liberty and Servitude
The story of the pre-Marxian ideology of Spartacus is not without its own peculiar interests. It is a strange narrative prompted both by the birth of a modern analytical, and political, interest in slavery, and in parallel debates over the meaning of liberty and servitude.
Military and political participation in archaic-classical Greece
In this paper I examine the “bargaining hypothesis” about democracy by calculating military and political participation ratios in Greece (MPR and PPR). I find that high (>10%) MPR coincided with high PPR, but was only one path toward state formation.
The trust fund of Phaenia Aromation (IG V.1 1208) and imperial Gytheion
In the small town of Gytheion in southern Laconia two marble blocks were found, containing the regulations for a trust fund from the year 42 AD (IG V,1 1208; SEG 13,258). The text will be presented with new emendations and an English translation.
The origins, development and reliability of the ancient tradition about the formation of Spartan constitution
In addition to this what may be called contemporary and documentary data, there is the almost over-abundant tradition (most would say pseudo-tradition) about the beginnings of the Spartan state, especially about the great Spartan lawgiver Lykourgos