EPISODE 29 CASTES OF SPARTA

This time around I take a look at the various castes and sub-castes within Spartan society.  What we see in popular culture is but the tip of the iceberg, those mighty red cloaked warriors bestriding battlefields like giants from myth. 

Banned from any art other than that of war, the Spartiate ruler class was supported in their endeavours by a silent multitude of people, divided into several different classes and all denied the full rights of equal political enfranchisement.

The Helot's, or slave class, were a massive chunk of the population within Sparta's empire of whom we here scant about. Stories of their poor treatment and the horror of their particular servitude circulate but as we'll see do not necessarily tell the full story.

The Perioikoi, or dwellers around, also form an extremely important element of society. They were the Spartans blacksmiths, artisans but when the drums of war sounded lined up as Hoplites as well.

We'll take a look at the dynamics between the different strata and finish with a look at some of the other, less well known sub-castes.

Hope you all enjoy and take good care.

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EPISODE 28 THE BRONZE LIE WITH MYKE COLE

I had the honour, pride and privilege of sitting down with author Myke Cole for this instalment of the Spartan History Podcast.

His recently released book, the Bronze Lie: Shattering the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy, tackles the often ill conceived appropriation of the Lacedaemonian story in it's most mythical and fantastical form.  Often being used to promote ultra nationalist movements, fallacies surrounding the Spartan legend can be particularly pernicious in the current polarised political climate. 

Myke crystallises the Spartan mirage into an easy to understand concept and then proceeds to dismantle it piece by piece, leaving his readers with a fair and unbiased representation of the real Spartan story.

We discuss his premise in detail and go through the work in relatively broad strokes to outline his propositions. It was an invigorating and vibrant discussion that I thoroughly enjoyed and I trust you all do to. Links for Myke and his work are all listed below and I can't recommend the Bronze Lie enough for anyone looking to peer behind the glare of Sparta's mystique.

The below handles and links are where you can find Myke and his work.

Website   - https://mykecole.com/

Book           - https://www.amazon.com.au/Bronze-Lie-Myke-Cole/dp/1472843754/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Twitter      - https://twitter.com/MykeCole
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mykecole

Below is the link for Prof. Livingstone who was mentioned during the show and assisted Myke with his work in the role of friend and mentor.

https://www.michaellivingston.com/

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EPISODE 27 HEAVY METAL SPARTANS WITH DR JEREMY SWIST

We're shifting gears a little with this episode as I'm joined by Dr Jeremy Swist, lecturer and classicist at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Dr Swist is an expert in the field of classical reception within the genre of Heavy Metal Music. This style exhibits a very particular type of Laconophilia or, affection for Sparta. In our discussion we go back to the beginnings of Laconophilia and trace its transcendence through time to the current era.

Classical reception itself is a fascinating field and we take a look at its traditions and various facets along with the burgeoning study of it within fields a little more eclectic.

The concepts of duty, defiance and dedication are ones easily associated with Sparta and in turn, lend themselves to Heavy Metal which was born out of governmental tyrannies, real and perceived of the early 1970s. 

This episode was the most fun I've ever had on the show since its inception and I wholeheartedly thank Dr Swist for his time and expertise. So, put your index and pinky finger up proudly and enjoy the latest from Spartan History Podcast.


The below link is for Dr Swists playlist of Spartan inspired Metal, aptly named the Spartan Metal Mirage.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/40hV5kdSEkhXYIA9EKnYoz?si=63f86a30c5f2425d   

Dr Swist can be found on twitter @metalclassicist and his blog link is the following https://heavymetalclassicist.home.blog/

Anyone interested in the 2021 Symposium being hosted by Classical Wisdom can find tickets here, https://classicalwisdom-symposium-2021.eventbrite.ie
The event runs on August the 21st and the 22nd with an amazing line up of speakers including, Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and many, many more.

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EPISODE 26: THE SPARTAN REGIME WITH PROFESSOR PAUL RAHE

Author, classicist and historian Professor Paul Rahe was kind enough to sit down with your host for this instalment of Spartan History Podcast.

Paul has authored several books on the Lacedaemonians and his work, the Spartan Regime, is incredibly poignant to our current narrative. Focusing on the archaic formation of the Spartan institutions and character, it has been a great help to me as I've tried to reconstruct the various elements of what would constitute the classical Sparta so heavily romanticised.

The Professor takes us back to the bronze age briefly, and we work through the consequent dark age and into the early period of the Dorian migration into Laconia. It is, I hope, a great summarisation of our journey so far and hope you all enjoy the conversation  as much as I did.

I'm very grateful for Paul's time and if anyone is interested in his work links will be listed below for the E titles of his books.

Take good care.

https://www.amazon.com/Paul-A.-Rahe/e/B002FPL25U%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

The Spartan Regime

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EPISODE 25: SPARTIATES

Welcome back folks to the Spartan History Podcast. Stepping back into the solo format to once again put another facet of pre-classical Sparta under the microscope. This time it is the ruling class, the Homoioi or Spartiates as they referred to themselves. 

This section of society, dedicated entirely to the pursuit of warfare, were propped up by the helot class who managed their vast land holdings. There was a complex system of land tenure within Sparta which was designed to provide for each the cost of his citizenship, that is the monthly contribution of produce to the dining halls every Spartiate was obliged to dine at.

We'll break down the system of land ownership and how it relates to the mess halls. Along with this I'll describe in brief the marital practices within the upper echelons of the Spartan world.

Famed for their equality, we'll finish this episode by looking at the massive differences between the individual Homoioi and see why that word is better translated as 'similars,' rather than 'equals.' 

I hope you all enjoy and take good care.

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EPISODE 24: PART 2 OF A COLABRORATION WITH CASTING THROUGH ANCIENT GREECE PODCAST.

For something a little different this month's release is part 2 of a collaboration podcast I was fortunate enough to record with Mark from Casting Through Ancient Greece.  For those who haven't listened to part 1, you can find it at the following link, or at any of the various hosting services out there. 

https://castingthroughancientgreece.com/collaboration-episode-part1-featuring-spartan-history-podcast/

Mark's show is an exceedingly well researched program, taking a broad overview of ancient Greek history coupled with high resolution looks at all of the popular and pivotal moments therein. 

For part 1 of our collaboration we discuss our entries and influences into the ancient world in a conversational format. Mark rounds out that section with a discussion about the Athenian democracy's formation.

In this, part 2, I start off discussing the possible veracity of the Lycurgus myth and we finish with an analysis of Spartan and Athenian contributions to the Greeks ultimate victory in the Persian wars. 

I hope you all enjoy, and take good care.

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EPISODE 23 : HOPLITES AND THE SPARTAN WAR MACHINE

This time around folks it is my great honour to have Professor Paul Bardunias as my guest on the show. Paul is a co-author of the book 'Hoplites at War: A comprehensive analysis of heavy infantry combat in the Greek world - 750 to 100 BCE.

Fittingly we discuss just that, developing the concept of Hoplite warfare in Greece from its advent in the mid-8th century through to the eve of the Persian wars. 

Paul takes us through his 3 fundamentals of war during this time period: the men, the tools and the group. Painting a detailed picture of hoplite traditions, arms, armour and tactics for both the non-Spartan and Spartan warriors during the period.

We finish with a mock battle between Spartans and Argive troops to get a feel for two armies at war on the plains of the Peloponnese. 

I hope you all enjoy, and take good care.

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Hello again dear listeners, this month we're back with episode 22, Raising Spartans.

The treatment of Spartan children by their society has often been sensationalised by modern depiction, but these conceptions started in the ancient world where the Sparta of peoples imaginations, the mirage, was the predominant view point.

This episode takes an in depth look at how children of both sexes were raised in Sparta's state sponsored and compulsory education system. From the cradle these children were set apart from those of other city-states, raised to become the most fierce warriors and the most capable mother's of warriors the ancient Greek world knew.

I'll set their upbringing not only against that of their Athenian rivals but also take a look at the prevailing external views of the time to see what other Greeks made of this unique civilisation that took root along the banks of the Eurotas river.

A warning of sorts, this episode deals with topics that may be unsavoury to people, pederasty, misogyny and child abuse are all covered with little regard for sensibilities. History must be viewed warts and all lest we commit the same mistakes as the ancients.

I hope you all enjoy what is one of my favourite episodes to date. Take good care.

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*No article this week but I have updated some photos on the website.

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EPISODE 21 GOVERNING SPARTANS

Welcome back folks and to the first of what will be a series of episodes designed to explain the different facets of the Spartan world in the lead up to the Greco-Persian wars.

This time its the governmental structures of Sparta that we'll be focusing on to see the various bodies responsible for Spartan law-making in action.

It's popularly believed that Sparta was an oligarchic state, and to be fair by the time Xenophon and Aristotle penned their constitutions of the Lacedaemonians the city had indeed become one. However, the secret to its stability and success in the 6th and 7th centuries was the result of a stable government that embraced elements of Monarchic, Aristocratic and Democratic rule.

They had their kings, descended from Heracles whom were bound by Apollo's word to a council of elders. This council forwarded proposals to a sovereign citizen assembly for ratification. Fulfilling the executive function of government was an annually elected board of 5 Ephors whose members came from the Demos. This system was designed to give everyone their fair share of rule, to check any one element from growing to preponderant.

I'll break down the cities god given constitution and various organs of state to hopefully build a picture how they operated together, and sometimes against one another.

I hope you all enjoy, and take good care.

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EPISODE 20 THE SPARTAN YOKE

Happy new year folks, welcome back to the Spartan History Podcast, the only podcast called the Spartan History Podcast. We're turning 20 with the release of this episode and I couldn't be more pleased to be back behind the microphone. I hope you all had a safe holiday season.

This time we're taking the Spartan story into the 7th century as the city consolidates her hold on the recently acquired Messenian territories.  First though, we look at the post war settlement within city and see if the aggressive land grab, that was the first Messenian war, satisfied the citizenries desire for land and enfranchisement.

Successful wars brought great wealth to the victors, the Spartan's tithed some of that wealth in honour of the gods with the construction of two important temples. These sacred places were to be a fixture within the city for centuries to come.

The freshly indentured Messenian Helot's, of proud and mighty stock in their own right, weren't sitting idle beneath the yoke of their masters. Quietly biding their time for insurrection, a crushing defeat of the Spartans by the men of Argives provides just enough impetus for the push to freedom. The subsequent uprising, known as the 2nd Messenian war, would be a fight to the death with the winner taking all.

The famous archaic Spartan poet, Tyrtaeus was contemporary with the conflict and his works are largely believed to have helped turn the tide in Sparta's favour. We finish with a look at what remains of his corpus.

I hope you all enjoy, and take good care.

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