THE SPARTAN CRUCIBLE
Issued Date
2024-04-06
Resource Type
ISSN
00173835
eISSN
14774550
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85187148619
Journal Title
Greece and Rome
Volume
71
Issue
1
Start Page
41
End Page
60
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Greece and Rome Vol.71 No.1 (2024) , 41-60
Suggested Citation
Pellerin D. THE SPARTAN CRUCIBLE. Greece and Rome Vol.71 No.1 (2024) , 41-60. 60. doi:10.1017/S0017383523000220 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/97644
Title
THE SPARTAN CRUCIBLE
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
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Abstract
As against the abiding popular image of the ever-dauntless Spartans, serious commentators have long recognized what a central part fear played in Lacedaemonian life: fear of the helots, fear of the laws, fear of defeat and dishonour and disgrace, without hope of respite this side of the grave. Yet the full implications of such a life, forever suspended most precariously 'between shame and glory' as Jean-Pierre Vernant put it, have not been drawn out, especially with respect to its supposed beneficiaries, the Spartiates, who were sacrificed to its merciless logic no less than those they were keeping under such brutal subjugation. This essay proposes to close the gap by fitting together the dispersed pieces and presenting a more comprehensive picture of the silent anxieties and hidden miseries of the vaunted masters of Sparta who purchased their dominion at so frightful a price, not only to others, but also to themselves.