This book pursues three overlapping goals. The first is to review the surviving evidence of Spartan commemoration of military leaders and their actions from the early Archaic period to the middle of the fourth century bce: monuments, epigrams and slogans, but also historical narratives illustrating their views on war. The second is to explore how these forms of commemoration ‘reflected and shaped attitudes to war in ancient Greece, especially in Sparta’ (p. xvii). The third is to examine the modern relevance of that question – in particular, how the changing Spartan commemoration of war helped foster a culture of militarism and interventionism, and how our own remembrance practices might be turned to more pacifist ends.
A specific study of Spartan commemoration of war is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Greek remembrance practices and war narratives. Moreover, the book builds usefully on S.'s earlier research – especially on Greek battlefields and the figure of Brasidas –, and it is clear that a very significant amount of work has gone into it. The text and bibliography reflect the latest scholarship on a huge range of topics, and many aspects of the argument are illuminated by S.'s autopsy of monuments and sites.
After a brief prologue, the first chapter sets out the scope of the work and offers a thoughtful discussion of key concepts. This chapter includes a survey of the sources and their problems, an overview of Spartan commemoration of war and an imaginary tour of Sparta in the fourth century bce that describes the monuments that would have been in place at the time. This tour (pp. 16–23) and the brief introduction to Sparta (pp. 3–4) are clearly pitched to a general audience; non-specialists will find these sections helpful, though they sit awkwardly alongside the book's much more involved discussions of ancient literature, epigraphy and scholarship. Regrettably, the chapter reflects some very traditional views on Spartan life, militarism, training, the nature of helotage and the introduction of the hoplite phalanx, despite acknowledgement of the slew of recent work calling these views into question. The suggestion that there is a ‘sensible middle ground’ between the Spartan mirage and the New Sparta described by revisionist scholars (p. 14) would take a great deal of space to substantiate. Since the main argument does not rely on this point, and even the most ardent revisionists allow for some degree of Spartan exceptionalism, it seems gratuitous to insist on a more mirage-like Sparta.
Chapter 2 covers the surviving material of the Archaic period, arguing convincingly that early Spartan attitudes were little different from those found elsewhere in the Greek world. The point that Tyrtaios combines glorification of death in battle with exhortations to fight for the benefit of the whole community is well made, though there is some slippage in the argument between the ideal of the beautiful death and the act of fighting to the death (which are surely not the same thing). Much is also made of the anachronistic view that Tyrtaios’ battle hymns should be read as ‘military recruiting drives’ (p. 49). It is difficult to imagine anything resembling ‘recruitment’ to an army that was not permanently established and did not pay its soldiers. While we do not know how the early Spartan army was constituted, even Tyrtaios suggests service as a civic obligation rather than a career opportunity. More compelling, though highly speculative, are the sections on Spartan ties with Samos (and the glory derived from it) and on the function of poetry and festivals to imbue Spartan citizens with the desired spirit and skills.
The argument of Chapter 3 is central to the work. Through a meticulous and comprehensive comparison between Spartan and non-Spartan commemoration of the Persian Wars, S. shows that the Spartans of the early classical period had begun to deviate from the Greek norm. While their allies (and especially the Athenians) claimed to fight for the lofty ideals of mutual protection and liberation, the Spartans exclusively celebrated the glory of the fight. Seen in this light, the small force they sent to Thermopylae suddenly appears proportional to the task; Leonidas never meant to win the battle, only to behave in a way that would bring fame. This increasingly old-fashioned focus on personal glory is then used to explain the relatively isolationist policy Sparta maintained for most of the fifth century. Other Greeks may have wanted to impose the label of liberators on them, but the Spartans themselves did not care to assist even their friends; their sole purpose was to keep their glorious reputation. Moments from Spartan history, such as the supposed medism of the regent Pausanias and the foundation of Herakleia in Trachis, are deftly woven into the pattern, even if S. is forced to downplay the magnitude of the crisis Sparta faced in the Peloponnese in the 470s (p. 96 n. 90).
Change came only with Brasidas and the sequence of Spartan commanders that fill Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Brasidas, Lysander and king Pausanias probably had personal glory in mind when they profiled themselves as liberators, but the result of their success was that the new ideology was incorporated in Spartan military action and its commemoration. By the time of Agesilaos, this ideology drove Sparta to more and more interventionist and imperialist policies in the cynical name of freedom, even if Agesilaos also tried to embody traditional Spartan values. Sections on Gylippos (strangely uncommemorated) and Kallikratidas (portrayed as a Spartan of the old stamp, but an early proponent of Panhellenic liberation efforts) add depth and nuance to this picture.
The final chapter explores the reception of Sparta's military record in more recent times. A series of brief sections discuss mainly the use and abuse of the legend of Thermopylae from eighteenth-century France to modern Greece and the US. Along with an earlier discussion of Homeric values in light of modern notions of just war (pp. 35–8) and the epilogue on the commemoration of the First World War in Canada, this chapter confirms the enduring relevance of Greek examples, but also reveals the highly personal motivation behind the work. This is not intended to be a dry antiquarian study. It is an exploration of how military narratives may make a society more or less inclined to pursue war. As (supposedly) one of the most militaristic societies in history, Sparta presents an obvious case study of this process, and its constant invocation in later tradition as a (supposed) example of heroic conduct in the name of freedom demonstrates the point.
The argument is ambitious in scope and complexity, and not every part of the book makes an equally effective contribution to it. The focus on leaders and their achievements means the book sometimes devolves into narrative; a large chunk of Chapter 4 (pp. 118–29) consists of a straightforward military biography of Brasidas. The section on Gylippos (pp. 143–53) asks why this commander received so little commemoration, but offers no answer. Chapter 6 on Agesilaos seems uncertain about the point it is making (as S. all but admits on p. 183), and it ends with a long digression on Thespiai (pp. 188–94) that might have worked better as a separate article-length study. The text sometimes suggests confusion of purpose: the introduction to the first chapter (pp. 1–2) essentially paraphrases the prologue (pp. xvii–xix), the sixth chapter has two introductory sections (pp. 171–7), and midway through the seventh chapter a few paragraphs (pp. 207–8) appear to introduce a different discussion before returning to the main argument.
The book, in short, is not perfect; it is difficult at times to see the forest for the trees, and difficult to know how confident we should be of S.'s often speculative interpretations. But it is a book full of useful things. Fresh observations on even the most well-worn stretches of Spartan history abound. The argument that the Spartans alone did not think the battle of Thermopylae was about anything greater than themselves is delightfully provocative. The compilation of the material is useful, especially for anglophone audiences, and the bibliography will contain many a salient lead for any reader. Finally, there can be no sensible objection to S.'s plea to regard war memorials as warnings, rather than celebrations of examples to follow.
