10-21-2011, 04:12 PM
10-29-2011, 12:12 AM
I always approach Hanson's factual stuff with a little trepidation - therefore I'm really not sure what I would make of his attempts at fiction ...
In any event - the events under consideration were not The End of Sparta per se. The end of Imperial Sparta and of Classical Sparta - perhaps. The end of dominating Greece and instant reliance upon allies doing her bidding - certainly. But not the actual 'end' of that peculiar city-state, which actually survived throughout the Hellenistic and successive period better than Thebes or many of her contemporaries like Corinth, Athens etc.; and periodically made attempts at a comeback (most successfully in the 220s).
In any event - the events under consideration were not The End of Sparta per se. The end of Imperial Sparta and of Classical Sparta - perhaps. The end of dominating Greece and instant reliance upon allies doing her bidding - certainly. But not the actual 'end' of that peculiar city-state, which actually survived throughout the Hellenistic and successive period better than Thebes or many of her contemporaries like Corinth, Athens etc.; and periodically made attempts at a comeback (most successfully in the 220s).