Sparta: Rise of a Warrior Nation by Philip Matyszak (PDF)

Description

This cultural history of Ancient Sparta chronicles the rise of its legendary military power and offers revealing insight into the people behind the myths. The Spartans of ancient Greece are typically portrayed as macho heroes: noble, laconic, totally fearless, and impervious to pain. And indeed, they often lived up to this image. But life was not as simple as this image suggests. In truth, ancient Sparta was a city of contrasts. We might admire their physical toughness, but Spartans also systematically abused their children. They gave rights to female citizens that were unmatched in Europe until the modern era, meanwhile subjecting their conquered subject peoples to a murderous reign of terror. Though idealized by the Athenian contemporaries of Socrates, Sparta was almost devoid of intellectual achievement. In this revealing history of Spartan society, Philip Matyszak chronicles the rise of the city from a Peloponnesian village to the military superpower of Greece. Above all, Matyszak investigates the role of the Spartan hoplite, the archetypal Greek warrior who was feared throughout Greece in his own day and has since become a legend. The reader is shown the man behind the myth; who he was, who he thought he was, and the environment which produced him.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I do not believe that 178 pages makes a book. This is an extended article that delivers a brief history of a contentious and stiff-necked people that reaped what they sowed over centuries. Still, it is a poignant history observing how the city states of Greece squandered their considerable wealth and resources fighting each other over centuries while nation states developed around them and over them. If just Athens, Thebes and Sparta could have gotten along with each other, celebrating their differences in a common Union, they could have formed the core of a lasting nation. Some good lessons here for us today about how needless wars squander the wealth of a country. Also, how schooling your people in constant adversity and conflict prepares them for nothing else. And diversity can strengthen a union. But even enlightened Athens in this period did not do much better as they also missed by a considerable degree the ability to get along and even thrive with their neighbors, never accomplishing things they could not as a single, particularly gifted but isolated people. War and conquest were not the answer but the problem. The city states of Greece had hundreds of years to figure this out but tragically never did. So, a good historical review of this period to make that so apparent and relevant to our time. There is little in ancient Sparta to emulate but much to learn from. Thank you.

⭐Good, short and factual history narrative of spartan nation. Make the readers have clearer picture of early spartan formation. Worth reading

⭐A flowing narrative, scrupulous references and notes and deep historical sense of broad Mediterranean history. This is as good as it gets.

⭐I am one of those. All the battle detail was not of interest to me. For scholars, it might be. I’ll be reading the follow-up book about Sparta’s fall next.

⭐I’ve always enjoyed Greek history but this is the first book I’ve read on Sparta. This is a well written layperson’s level overview of Spartan history that doesn’t take the subject to seriously or assume, as some history books do, that the reader already knows the subject. Looking for other books by this author.

⭐Well written and informative. Prompt delivery

⭐Very well-written. I’m not a military afficionado, but I read the battle details because the author made them interesting.Much more than just the battles – culture, causes of the battles, etc.Highly recommended

⭐He explains the real reasons behind the actions of the Spartans, why they acted as they did. I have read so many books about the Spartans without really understanding these things. His books are so interesting and readable that I have started to read them all.

⭐I’ve got a few books from the author, he has a really entertaining writing style, the book is dabbled with humour as well as historical narrative. I read both this and the follow up book in the space of 4 days so managed to keep my attention. There are certainly more detailed and academic books on Sparta around but as an introduction it’s great.

⭐I’ve got a few books from the author, he has a really entertaining writing style, the book is dabbled with humour as well as historical narrative. I read both this and the first book in the space of 4 days so managed to keep my attention. There are certainly more detailed and academic books on Sparta around but as an introduction it’s great.

⭐I understood this book much more than Thucydides own masterwork, penmanship I think they call it, I got to understand a lot better the character of the main players in this sorry saga and why things panned out the way they did.Highly Recommended.

⭐Very enjoyable and easy to read. A good buy for the layman like me who wants to be entertained as well as informed.

⭐Written with insight, wit and verve. Highly recommended as a brief introduction to the rise of Sparta and defeat of Persia with some foreshadowing of the later war with Athens (not covered here)

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