The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece |
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The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece
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by Paul Cartledge
Sales Rank: 22103
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Discount: 32 %
List Price: $14.95
$10.17
At Amazon
on 4-13-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 320 pages
Published by: Vintage August 10, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 1400078857
ISBN 13 Number: 978-1400078851
Book Dimensions:
7.8 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
Weighs: 10.4 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Legendary for their ferocious combat skills, the Spartans built a warrior culture in ancient Greece unsurpassed for its courage and military prowess. Eminent historian Cartledge (Spartan Reflections) provides a remarkable chronicle of Sparta's rise and fall, from its likely origins around 1100 B.C. to the height of its fame and glory in the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. and its fall in the fourth century B.C. The Spartans built their society through conquest and subjugation, ruling over their subject peoples with an iron hand and putting down revolts with devastating might. Between 490 and 479, Sparta joined Athens in fighting the Persians in three key wars-Thermopylae, Plataea and Mycale-that contributed to the demise of Persian power and the rise of Hellenistic power on the Mediterranean. Cartledge punctuates his absorbing tale with brief, engaging biographies of the city-state's kings from Lycurgus, the earliest Spartan leader, who brought constitutional law to the city, to Leonidas, who led the Spartans at Thermopylae. According to Cartledge, the Spartans' legacy to Western culture includes devotion to duty, discipline, the willingness to sacrifice individual life for the greater good of the community and the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for. Cartledge's crystalline prose, his vivacious storytelling and his lucid historical insights combine here to provide a first-rate History of the Spartans, their significance to ancient Greece and their influence on our culture. It ties in to a PBS series to air this summer. 27 b&w illus., 3 maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From AudioFile
In many ways, John Lees cool, crisp delivery matches Paul Cartledges scholarship quite well. Cartledge is meticulous and is always careful to differentiate between knowledge, conjecture, bias, and myth in his discussion of the complicated warriors of ancient Sparta. Whats more, Lee can create nuances in delivery, allowing listeners to distinguish among bits of information that are actually comparatively dull (such as population statistics or facts of coinage). In that the audio version may be superior to the print version. However, Lees delivery is at odds with some of the material. Cartledge does not shrink from mentioning some of the brutal and distasteful acts the Spartans engaged in, and in those sections Lees civilized, melodious voice seems incongruous. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Spartans (Hardcover)
Author Paul Cartledge quite obviously knows his stuff, and shows it in his book "The Spartans." Unfortunately, it appears that he knows his stuff a little too well for his book to be of much interest to non-academic readers. This is surprising, given that the book is being marketed as a companion piece to an upcoming PBS special about Greece's legendary warriors. Though the book is relatively brief at around 300 pages, it is so packed full of dates, names, places and events as to become bewildering to anyone who is not already intimately familiar with the subject matter. I'm a history buff myself, but I had a hard time following the narrative. The author writes as if he's addressing graduate level history students with a speciality in the subject. Overall, "The Spartans" is very well researched, but will be of little interest to general readers.
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The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece
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Updated on 4-13-2008.
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