Was Sparta different from other poleis? This question connects the papers in this book, which is the first of two edited volumes stemming from a 2007 conference held at the University of Nottingham. To answer it Sparta is compared with other poleis or the Greek world as a whole. Resembling the seven volumes from the International Sparta Seminar series, this volume is aimed at Spartan specialists and is at the forefront of Laconian scholarship.

H. introduces the volume with a historiographical essay on Spartan exceptionalism spanning the last 50 years. H. limits his discussion to British scholarship; however, he makes an appropriate exception by including J. Ducat's advances in the field.

The book is divided into five sections. The first focusses on political and hegemonic structures. E. Millender examines the Spartan dyarchy during the fifth, fourth and third centuries. Within each century she compares: (1) the literary representation of Spartan kings; (2) the power Spartan dyarchs possessed in relation to that of other kings, mostly Persian and Ptolemaic; (3) the influence of Spartan royal women as compared with their Persian and Ptolemaic counterparts. M. offers a strong argument that charismatic Spartan kings could gain extra constitutional influence but never obtained autocratic power. This chapter will interest not only Laconophiles, but also those who study Herodotus, Euripides, the Persians and the Ptolemies. J. Roy argues that Elis's hegemonic structures differed from Sparta's. Contrary to Sparta, Elis had no dual citizenship, no helots, limited ambitions, less involvement in inter-state Greek politics and a smaller sphere of influence. Despite devoting little ink to Sparta, R. provides a valuable contribution because he presents a case study supporting Spartan exceptionalism. Those disappointed with the lack of attention R. gives to Sparta can skip to the final two pages for a direct comparison between the two poleis.

The second section focusses on social institutions. S. Link makes a strong case against the primitive survival hypothesis – the idea that Cretan and Spartan social institutions were connected – by highlighting educational differences between the two societies. Contrary to Sparta, Crete had greater paternal involvement, institutionalised pederasty and group formation based on elite youths actively recruiting instead of being recruited. A. Rabinowitz examines Spartan and Sicilian commensality in the archaic age. During the sixth-century drinking revolution Symposia became more private, aristocratic and based on individual self-promotion in many poleis. Sparta rejected this trend by choosing drinking and dining practices that stressed community and political equilibrium. R. sees Spartan exceptionalism not because they rejected the changing commensal practices but because of ‘its deliberate and idealizing reaction’ (p. 167) against the drinking revolution. Unfortunately, R.'s verbosity dilutes his argument's potency. The chapter would have benefited from images of Laconian pottery since iconography forms part of his argument.

The third section focusses on religion. M. Flower sees Spartan religious singularity in several areas: (1) images of Gods holding weapons; (2) the meaning of priest (hiereus); (3) festivals devoid of drunkenness, no all-female festivals and choral competitions between old men and boys; (4) hero-shrines to historical figures. F. also attributes Sparta's unparalleled 400 years of internal stability to its religion. Juxtaposing F.'s chapter with R. Parker's 1989 chapter on Spartan religion would make excellent reading for those teaching a seminar on Sparta or Greek religion. A. Bayliss argues that the Spartans adhered more scrupulously to their oaths than the average polis. He tries to reconcile the Spartans' reputation for duplicity with their scruples over oaths. B. adduces a linguistic concept called the ‘co-operative principle’, which states that when people communicate there is the expectation that the information exchanged is true, relevant, unambiguous and the appropriate amount. Because of Spartan brevity, Spartans regularly violated all the principles except the truth maxim, therefore remaining within the letter of the agreement but not in spirit. The co-operative principle illuminates Spartan oaths and makes this the volume's most interesting chapter.

The fourth section has three chapters on helots and one out of place, though good, chapter on visuality. N. Luraghi explores ancient and modern writers' propensity for comparing Spartan helotage. Both look at it ethnographically. But it is only the moderns who look at helotage economically. L. contends that ancient writers tended to use Spartan helotage as a case study to explain a larger system, while moderns use outside phenomena to illuminate Sparta. L. advocates greater cross-cultural comparisons in studying helotage. T. Barnes provides an appendix to this chapter on the etymology of Εἵλωτες, arguing that the word derives from seilōt. D. and T. Figueira attempt to see how a postcolonial theorist would view the Spartan subjugation of the helots. They conclude that postcolonialism would not bring new insights regarding helot subjugation. However, they briefly remark that the concept of ‘emplotment’ may help historians reformulate the Spartan mirage. L. Langerwerf attempts to separate Pausanias from his Hellenistic sources, arguing that the revolt of Aristomenes reflects the second-century c.e. travel writer more than the Hellenistic influences on his sources. By comparing Pausanias' depiction of the Messenian rebel Aristomenes to Athenaeus' depiction of Drimakos the leader of the Chian slave revolt, L. contends that Pausanias does not depict Aristomenes as a praiseworthy leader with aponoia and tolmē characterisations. This negative depiction must reflect Pausanias' own thoughts. R. Harmon uses the Cyropedia, Anabasis and Lakedaimoniōn Politeia as ethnographies. Comparing Xenophon's depictions of Persians and Spartans, she examines the reoccurring theme of viewing and displaying, and argues that the Lakedaimoniōn Politeia reveals more about what outsiders thought of Sparta than how Spartan society operated. H. shows how visuals affect identity and display power. This interesting chapter would have benefited from J. Bremmer's ‘Walking, Standing, and Sitting in Ancient Greek Culture’ in A Cultural History of Gesture (1992). H. oddly fails to mention Ollier's Spartan mirage even though her insightful chapter contributes to that discussion. Sensory history is a burgeoning field, and one hopes that H.'s chapter is the opening salvo for historians of Sparta.

The best part of the book is the final section. M.H. Hansen and H. engage in a Lincoln–Douglas debate on Spartan exceptionalism. Hansen supports exceptionalism, adducing Sparta's relationship with its hinterland, oliganthropy, the state's heavy control over the lives of its citizens, iron currency and dual kingship. H. concedes the peculiarity of Sparta's currency and kingship but counters the rest of Hansen's claims. One can make a flow chart of the premises and rebuttals. The direct dialogue between and within these three chapters separates this book from the typical edited volume. H. has shown editors how to avoid the banal criticism of disunity and inconsistency that plague reviews of edited volumes.

The volume has a few shortcomings. Although all the chapters use a comparative approach, it is not clear how the Figueiras' and Langerwerf's essays contribute to the question of Spartan exceptionalism. It is unfortunate that three chapters were devoted to helots and none to women, economics or warfare. A couple of chapters – Rabinowitz's and Roy's – sometimes lose focus on Sparta, devoting substantial attention to Sicily and Elis.

Despite these flaws, this book is worthy of being placed alongside earlier publications from the International Sparta Seminar series, which remains at the forefront of Sparta scholarship. The chapters are first-rate scholarship shedding new light on Sparta and are required reading for Spartan specialists. Moreover, the comparative focus gives readers two poleis for the price of one; Greek historians as well as Spartan specialists will benefit from this book. I eagerly await the next volume – Sparta in Modern Thought.