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I think it was Will Durant who described Sparta best. I can't find the quote, but to paraphrase, Durant stated that Sparta ceased to be a civilization in that
by beloch 6y ago
I think it was Will Durant who described Sparta best.
I can't find the quote, but to paraphrase, Durant stated that Sparta ceased to be a civilization in that it produced no art, literature, or culture of any kind. The Spartan citizen class shrank until every hour of every citizen's life was occupied just trying to control their own populace and territory with murder and fear. We remember and honour their tenacity, but forget that it was made necessary by the extreme dysfunction of their society.
- pegasus 6y agoIt produced a warrior culture which made a lasting impression on the Western psyche, witness the interest it's still raising two and a half thousand years later.
- azernik 6y agoIt produced external myths about a warrior culture. Thank Athenian and Roman authors, not Sparta itself, whose reality was only tangentially related to those myths.
- Gibbon1 6y agoMy thought is without the other Greeks and their art, literature, and architecture we would know nothing and care nothing about the Spartans. Eventually some empire would have rolled over them, found the Spartan ruling class annoying and sent them to oblivion.
- genghizkhan 6y agoI think this is what the Macedonians and the Romans did end up doing. By the time of the Romans, Sparta was a glorified "theme park", for lack of a better word.
- mcosta 6y agoFrom 650 to 550 BCE, Spartan arts were at their height, producing some of the most intricate and beautiful works of bronze, stone, wood, and ivory in the known world. The sculptors of Sparta were particularly well known for their works in bronze, capturing the essence of the form they chose to represent. They not only sculpted in Sparta, but branched out to Delphi and Olympia, bringing with them their skilled craftsmanship. In fact, Spartan bronzes were so highly regarded that they were given to other national leaders as gifts, thereby spreading over the known world. Cultures have ups and downs .