Myth, Text, and History at Sparta

Three studies that offer close readings concerning the interaction of the source material on Spartan history with the unfolding of actual historical events. These contributions take the position that not only political, but also social, policies at Sparta, as well as the historical actors giving them shape, were intensely─and to an unusual degree─influenced by myth, tradition, and popular memory about the Laconian past.

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC

Availability: In stock

SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-0595-9

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Publication Status: In Print

Series: Gorgias Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity 18

Publication Date: Jun 14,2016

Interior Color: Black

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Page Count: 353

Language: English

ISBN: 978-1-4632-0595-9

$170.00

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Myth, Text, and History at Sparta unites three studies that offer close readings concerning the interaction of the source material on Spartan history with the unfolding of actual historical events. These contributions take the position that not only political, but also social policies at Sparta, as well as the historical actors giving them shape, were intensely─and to an unusual degree─influenced by myth, tradition, and popular memory about the Laconian past. Sparta drew strength from its professed adherence to the legacy of the Dorian conquest and to the legislative program of Lykourgos. And, objectively, Sparta represented the most tightly articulated instance of an archaic Greek sociopolitical order. However, past and present at Sparta co-evolved. The reader will find in the studies brought together in this volume that ideology, recollection, and wish-fulfillment stood in dynamic tension not only with practical decision-making, but also with the enthralling, centuries-long quest by individual Spartans for authority, legitimacy, and authenticity.

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"Clearly, brilliant intellects produced it: nearly each sentence in each essay brims with insight… there is little to criticize in these fine contributions to Spartan mythology and history."

- Timothy Doran, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2017

"The present work might seem somewhat unusual as a juxtaposition of three extremely erudite and insightful articles that ultimately stand on their own. The first two are related to the subject of Spartan myth, ideology and self-representation, and the third stands, more or less, in their periphery, that is to say, Attica. In fact, the title does not reflect the overarching consistency of these essays. Developed within the field of studies on Sparta led by Figueira, the common denominator for this book is methodology, wherein rests the virtues and usefulness of the efforts: the intricate and thoughtful analysis of historiography and mythography based on the criticism of documented testimonies, reconstruction of the transmission processes of information in between lost and extant authors, the reassessment of fragments and their inferences within historical context, and the subsequent heuristic valuation of source material."

- Martim Aires Horta, Cadmo, 2019, Vol. 27

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	Contributor	Biography
	Thomas Figueira	Thomas Figueira is Distinguished Professor of Classics and of Ancient History
	Aaron Hershkowitz
	Aaron Beck-Schachter

Table of Contents (page 7)
Acknowledgments (page 9)
Introduction (Thomas Figueira) (page 11)
Politeia and Lakonika in Spartan Historiography (Thomas Figueira) (page 17)
The Lysandreia (Aaron J. Beck-Schachter) (page 115)
Getting Carried Away With Theseus: The Evolution and Partisan Use of the Athenian Abduction of Spartan Helen (Aaron Hershkowitz) (page 179)
General Index (Aaron Hershkowitz) (page 335)
Index Locorum (Aaron J. Beck-Schachter) (page 347)

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