Sparta ─ Comparative Approaches

The 13 essays here comprise the first of two volumes collecting selected papers from a September 2007 conference at the University of Nottingham. Classicists continue the long tradition of characterizing the ancient Greek city by distinguishing it from or comparing it to other cities or cultures. They cover political and hegemonic structures; social institutions; religious institutions and practice; the historiography and representations of helots, Spartans, and barbarians; and Spartan exceptionalism. Among specific topics are hegemonic structures in late archaic and early classical Elis and Sparta, education and pederasty in Spartan and Cretan society, Spartan and Greek religion, and visualizing Spartans and barbarians in Xenophon's Lakedaimonion Politeia, and whether Sparta was an normal or an exceptional polis. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Stephen Hodkinson is Director of the Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, University of Nottingham, UK.