The content
of this site is based on extensive research including, but not limited
to, the sources listed below.
Ancient
Historical
Sources:
A
number of works by ancient historians are readily available to us today
in translation. For anyone with a serious interest in ancient history,
these works are a "must." However, keep in mind that all
these works were written during or after the Peloponnesian War, and all
by outsider observers of Sparta. Not a single ancient account
of Spartan society from the Spartan perspective survives.
Herodotus, The
Histories, early 5th
century BC. Xenophon, Spartan
Society, 5th
century
BC. Plutarch, On Sparta,
2nd century AD. Pausanias, Guide
to
Greece, 2nd
century
AD. Thucydides, History of
the Peloponnesian
War, 5th
century BC.
All of the above historical
sources are available from Penguin Books.
Modern
Historical Sources:
Modern understanding of Sparta has been altered and enriched by careful
analysis of archeological evidence and by trends, such as women's
studies, that cast new light on this intriguing ancient society. Below
are the sources I found most enlightening and helpful in understanding
Spartan society.
Stibbe, Conrad M.,
Das
Andere Sparta, Philipp v. Zabern Verlag, Mainz am Rhein,
1996. Forrest, W.G., A
History of Sparta: 950 - 192 BC, W.W. Norton &
Co., New York, 1968. Hodkinson and
Powell (ed.), Sparta:
New Perspectives, The Classical Press of Wales, 2000. Jones, A.H.M., Sparta,
Barnes and Noble, New York, 1993 Baltrusch, Ernst, Sparta:
Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur, C.H. Beck Verlag,
München, 1998. Chrimes, K.M.T., Ancient
Sparta: A Re-Examination of the Evidence, Manchester
University Press, Manchester, 1949. Kennel, Nigel M., The
Gymnasium of Virtue: Education & Culture in Ancient Sparta,
Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1995. Murray, Powyn, Early
Greece, William Colins and Sons, London, 1980. Link, Stephan, Der
Kosmos Sparta, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
Darmstadt, 1994. Blundell, Sue, Women
in Ancient Greece, British Museum Press, London, 1995. Deltenhofer, Maria
(ed.), Reine
Männersache? Frauen in Männerdomänen der
antiken Welt, Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994. Sealey, Raphel, Women
and Law in Classical Greece, University of North Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1990. Hodkinson,
Stephen, Property
and Wealth in Classical Sparta, Duckworth and the
Classical Press of Wales, 2000. Pomeroy, Sarah, Spartan
Women, Oxford University Press, 2002. Cartledge,
Paul, Sparta
and Lakonia, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 2nd ed. 2002 Powell, Anton, Athens
and Sparta, Routledge, London, 1988
Magazine
Sources:
Helena has published two
articles in the prestigious, academic journal (Vol 6 I and II). "Sparta:
Journal of Anciant Spartan and Greek History"
This is an educational based magazine for ancient Greek history,
ancient Sparta and the Peloponnesos. It discusses issues on
history, culture, military tactics, armory and religion.
Historical
Fiction
Historians are by profession compelled to keep "strictly to the facts,"
but when facts are few, imprecise, garbled by translation and all come
from outsiders, then the picture they deliver is incomplete at best,
probably distorted, and possibly deceptive at worst. Trying
to understand Sparta based only on the historical record is like trying
to understand Africa based on Colonial records. Furthermore, historians
are often so focused on the fragments of evidence they do have, that
they forget they are writing about human beings remarkably similar to
ourselves. This is why a novel, if based on solid research
and a sound understanding of human nature, can often deliver better
insight to strange or distant society than a strict record of known
facts. Novels can interpolate and interpret, they can flesh
out and add spirit to the raw bones of historical fact. This is what I
have sought to do in all of my historical novels.
The
smaller of twins, born long after two elder brothers, Leonidas was
considered an afterthought from birth – even by his
mother. Lucky not
to be killed for being undersized, he was not raised as a prince like
his eldest brother, Cleomenes, but instead had to endure the harsh
"upbringing" of ordinary Spartan youth. Barefoot, always a
little
hungry and subject to harsh discipline, Leonidas had to prove himself
worthy of Spartan citizenship. Struggling to survive without
disgrace,
he never expected that one day he would be king or chosen to command of
the combined Greek forces fighting a Persian
invasion. But these were
formative years that would one day make him the most famous Spartan of
them all: the hero of Thermopylae.
This is the first
book in a trilogy of biographical novels about Leonidas of
Sparta.
This first book describes his childhood in the infamous Spartan
agoge.
The second will focus on his years as an ordinary citizen, and the
third will describe his reign and death.
Leonidas of
Sparta: A Peerless Peer: Fiction, published 2011
Leonidas
Lives!
Book
II in the Leonidas Trilogy
Sparta at the start of the 5th Century BC is in crisis. The Argives are
attacking Sparta ’s vulnerable island of Kythera , but King
Cleomenes is more interested in meddling in Athenian affairs.
His co-monarch, King Demaratus, opposes Cleomenes ambitions, and soon
the kings are at each other’s throats. Exploiting this
internal conflict, Corinth launches a challenge to Spartan control of
the Peloponnesian League, while across the Aegean Sea the Greek cities
of Ionia are in rebellion against Persia -- and pleading for Spartan
aid.
King Cleomenes’ youngest half-brother Leonidas has only just
attained citizenship. He has no reason to expect that this revolt will
shape his destiny. At 21, Leonidas is just an
ordinary ranker in the Spartan army, less interested in high politics
than putting his private life in order. He needs to find
reliable tenants to restore his ruined estate, and – most
important – to find the right woman to be his bride.
Meanwhile, his niece Gorgo is growing up. Not particularly pretty, she
is nevertheless precocious and courageous – qualities that
get her into trouble more than once. This is the story of both Leonidas
and Gorgo in the years before Leonidas becomes King of Sparta and
before the first Persian invasion of Greece sets Leonidas on the road
to Thermopylae .
Two
cities at war – Two
men with Olympic ambitions - And
one slave – the finest charioteer in Greece
Set in archaic Greece, and based on incidents recorded in Herodotus,
this is the tale of a young man's journey from tragedy to triumph
– and the story of the founding of the first non-aggression
pact in recorded history: the Peloponnesian League.
Award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader has again created a novel
full of rich and realistic characters while providing readers a
remarkable insight into Archaic Spartan society.
Well-researched and intelligently interpolated from recorded facts,
Schrader's Sparta is a refreshing change from the stereotypes
encountered in much modern literature.
"…an
extremely entertaining novel....Anyone interested in exploring the
years prior to the Persian invasion – the alliances and
intrigues, especially between Sparta and her future ally Tegea
– will enjoy this novel."
Jon
Martin, author of The
Headlong God of War and In
Kithairon's Shadow
"…this
is another gem to polish and keep in my bookcase when I want a look
back to Greece!"
Messenia is in revolt, and the Messenians have been outwitting Sparta's
crack troops. On the advice of Delphi, Sparta requests that Athens
appoint a new Supreme Commander for Sparta's army. Athens,
siding with Messenia, intentionally selects an obscure schoolmaster
unlikely to help Sparta win the war, Tyrtaios. Tyrtaios was
born lame, has no military experience, and everything he has ever heard
about Sparta makes it the last place on earth where he wants to live.
The Spartan officer Agesandros is horrified by the "joke" Athens has
played on Sparta by appointing Tyrtaios Sparta's Supreme
Polemarch. But as the son of a notorious brawler and drunk,
who gained Spartan citizenship only after a radical reform of the
Spartan Constitution, his voice counts for little.
Furthermore, while Agesandros is excessively ambitious, his
sister is married to a helot and his nephew appears to have joined the
rebellion against Sparta.
The widow Alethea, the daughter of a Spartan nobleman, was sent to
Athens for safety during the "Time of Troubles" that led to the Great
Reforms. She alone understands how Tyrtaios is suffering in
Sparta. Yet when her growing sons fall foul of the
authorities, she finds herself under increasing pressure to remarry,
and Agesandros is the most obvious suitor.
This novel is set in the archaic period - two hundred and fifty years
before the Peloponnesian War that would warp Spartan society into a
characature of its former self. It focuses on explaining how
Sparta's unique constitution evolved to make Sparta the first democracy
in recorded history.
Are
They Singing In Sparta? can be ordered from bookstores or
on-line retailers such as amazon.com.
Spartan
Slave, Spartan Queen: A Tale of Four Women in Sparta
In ancient Sparta during the Second Messenian War, two women, one
beautiful and one ugly, are captured and enslaved in the same raid.
This is the story of how each responds to their new
situation and the women they meet in Sparta.
Niobe's beauty is so great that it captures the attention of the
Messenian leader, Aristomenes. He makes her a cherished
concubine-until the Spartan "Scourge of Messenia," Agesandros, captures
Aristomenes' palace. Niobe suddenly finds herself a slave,
and the spoils of the Spartan prince Anaxilas.
Unlike the beautiful and coveted Niobe, Mika is so disfigured by warts
that her own uncles sold her into slavery. She becomes the
spoils not of a prince but of Agesandros' squire, Leon, a slave
himself. He sends her back to serve his master's wife,
Alethea, in Sparta.
While Niobe provokes the hostility of the Spartan Queen; Mika
encounters the kindness of Alethea, and her beautiful but spirited
daughter, Kassia. Soon Anaxilas turns his affections from Niobe to
Kassia, while Mika falls hopelessly in love with Leon, and Leon covets
only the affection of Niobe.
This book picks up where Are
They Singing in Sparta? left off, and although the novel
revolves around unrequited love on all sides, it is really a reflection
on what beauty is and how it affects human interactions-with a surprise
ending.
Spartan
Slave, Spartan Queen can be ordered from bookstores or
on-line retailers such as amazon.com.
Herodotus, The
Histories, early 5th
century BC. 
