Review of Spartans : A New History
As an enthusiast and a lover of Classical History, Nigel Kennell's book Spartans A New History , had been on my radar for quite some time. Although published nearly seven years ago, it is still the most recent work to shake the foundations of Spartan Studies, throwing away the shade that was the Spartan Mirage and showing that what we think of ancient Sparta is part state propaganda and part philhellenic delusion, with a strain of truth mixed in. What Kennel does better than anyone else I've seen, is to really look at the evidence anew and challenging long held beliefs about the second most famous city state in Greece.