Patron of the podcast James poses this question for Murray, 'The number of Spartan soldiers declined from its high of 10,000 to less than 2,000 around its defeat by Thebes due, in part, to increasing economic concentration and the resulting decline in the number of soldiers able to pay their mess contributions. Did Spartan society recognise this decline as a problem, and were there efforts to reverse this trend? If there were, why did they fail?'

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