Xenophon and Sparta

ISBN-13: 9781905125371 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 270 str.

Anton Powell

Opis

The writing of Spartan history for long involved gliding, sometimes seamlessly, between the evidence of very different ancient sources. Now, a short series conceived by the Classical Press of Wales will examine closely and individually each of the principal sources and its relationship with classical Sparta. The first volume deals with Xenophon, to whom we owe a very large part of our image of the Lacedaemonians. Uniquely of surviving writers, Xenophon campaigned with Spartan commanders in the field. His >Agesilaos is a eulogy of a Spartan king whom he knew personally. His Constitution of the Lacedaemonians is an intimate document of a different sort, moving from sustained assertion of Sparta's uniqueness as a ruling power to unexpected rant against alleged Spartan failings late in the author's life. Here a team of internationally-recognised authorities on Sparta examine Xenophon's close-arguably too close-relation with the most powerful Greek state of his day.