Their contemporaries were fascinated by the Spartans and we still are. They are portrayed as the stereotypical macho heroes: noble, laconic, totally fearless and impervious to discomfort and pain. What makes the study of Sparta so interesting is that to a large extent the Spartans lived up to this image. Ancient Sparta, however, was a city of contrasts. We might admire their physical toughness and heroism in adversity but Spartans also systematically...

"In ancient Greece an army of slaves gathers on the plains of Marathon ... Under Darius the Great, King of Kings, the mighty Persian army--swollen by 10,000 warriors known as The Immortals--have come to subjugate the Greeks. In their path, vastly outnumbered, stands an army of freeborn Athenians. Among them is a clever, fearsome, and cunning soldier-statesman, Xanthippus. Against all odds, the Athenians emerge victorious. Yet people soon forget that...

In the 5th-century B.C., King Leonidas of Sparta has only his 300 bodyguards to stand with him against an invasion by the 60,000 men of the Persian army. Their heroic stand against the invasion gives the other Greek city-states time to organize a large fighting force and ultimately defeat the Persians.

This title focuses on the history of Spartans! It breaks down their origin, tactics, and place in modern culture.

In the 5th-century B.C., King Leonidas of Sparta has only his 300 bodyguards to stand with him against an invasion by the 60,000 men of the Persian army. Their heroic stand against the invasion gives the other Greek city-states time to organize a large fighting force and ultimately defeat the Persians.

A companion volume to The Spartan Regime and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta that explores the collapse of the Spartan-Athenian alliance. During the Persian Wars, Sparta and Athens worked in tandem to defeat what was, in terms of relative resources and power, the greatest empire in human history. For the decade and a half that followed, they continued their collaboration until a rift opened and an intense, strategic rivalry began. In a continuation...

"Tracing the conflict among the city-states of Greece over several generations, this book argues that the Peloponnesian War did not entirely end in 404 with the capture of the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 404 B.C. but rather continued in one form or another well into the fourth century"--Provided by publisher.