I think a lot of the confusion stems from the fact that the Spartans were at their peak before written history came about. So what we have codified clearly is their laborious downfall, with none of the ascendancy.

How the hell do you read this article on mobile? It does the fade away thing that paywalled articles do but as far as I can tell there’s no way to get past it.

Instead of a society of freedom-defending super-warriors, Sparta is better understood as a place where the wealthiest class of landholder, the Spartans themselves, had succeeded in reducing the great majority of their poor compatriots to slavery and excluded the rest, called the perioikoi, from political participation or citizenship.

Seems like the GOP ultimate wet dream to me. To realise that one needs an army. Is the reverence of Sparta not by design?

Would make for a nice history project to research how the Spartan idea was introduced in the military.

Interesting, thanks for sharing