Sparta was a small city which consistently punched above its weight in
the affairs of classical Greece, happily meddling in the affairs of the
other cities. For two centuries her warriors were acknowledged as second
to none. Yet at only one period in its long history, in the late fourth
and early third century BC, did the home of these grim warriors seem set
to entrench itself as the dominant power in the Greek world. This period
includes the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War from 412 BC to the
Spartan victory in 402, and then down to the Spartan defeat by the
Thebans at Leuctra in 371 BC, where it all began to unravel for the
Spartan Empire Surprisingly few previous books have covered the
tumultuous first decades of the fourth century BC, particularly when
compared to the ample coverage of the Peloponnesian War. As the authors
explain, although the earlier period has the benefit of Thucydides'
magisterial history, the period covered here is actually well served by
sources and well worthy of study. There are many interesting characters
here, including Alcibiades, Lysander, Agesilaus, Pelopidas and
Epaminondas, to name but a few. In addition there are several campaigns
and battles that are reported in enough detail to make them interesting
and comprehensible to the reader. Bob Bennett and Mike Roberts untangle
the complexities of this important but unduly neglected period for the
modern reader.
