The Shadow of Sparta Author:Anton Powell The past 20 years have witnessed a revival of interest in the study of Sparta. The early 20th-century images of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superceded by more complex scholarly interpretations of this obscure civilization. The mystery surrounding Sparta has been instrumental in shaping scholarship on th... more »e subject. Historians have taken as much interest in the myths and disinformation attached to Sparta as they have in the truth about their city-state.The studies in this volume provide insights into the traditional question of what actually happened at Sparta. Yet the implications of this work go far beyond Laconia to focus on some of the most studied of Greek writers, showing how Athenians defined the achievement, or the failure, of their own city.« less