The Spartan Army, by J F Lazenby
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The Spartan Army, by J F Lazenby
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For at least two centuries the Spartan army was the most formidable war machine in Greece; the purpose of this book is to show the reasons for this. Professor Lazenby looks first at the composition, training and organization of the army, tracing its roots back to the eighth century BC. The second part analyses some of the main campaigns - Thermopylae, Plataea, Sphakteria, Mantineia, The Nemea, Koroneia, Lechaion and Leuktra. The final part continues the story to the end of Greek independence. Since this book was first written over 25 years ago, novels, computer games and films such as 300 have raised interest in the Spartan military to new heights. The return to print of this excellent study is sure to interest academics and more general readers alike.
The Spartan Army, by J F Lazenby - Amazon Sales Rank: #546820 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-03-19
- Released on: 2014-10-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
The Spartan Army, by J F Lazenby About the Author J. F. Lazenby is professor of ancient history emeritus at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He also wrote Hannibal's War (978-0-8061-3004-0). He lives in Newcastle, England.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful. A controversial reference (4.5 stars) By JPS This book, which was first published in 1985 and is now being reprinted by Pen & Sword, has become something of a reference on the Spartan army, although it is a controversial one, and this is why I have meant to read for years.First, the praise, and there are a lot of elements to mention. The author clearly has in-depth knowledge of the written sources, and of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon in particular (plus a number of other latter sources, such as Diodorus and Plutarch, among others). He also analyses them comprehensively, and in great detail in his (largely successful) attempt to reconstruct how Sparta's army was created, how it evolved. His discussions about how the army was organized and equipped, how it performed, and what was its "warrior ethos" that earned Sparta its undying fame, is thorough; it is also complex, especially for someone with little prior knowledge on the subject.In other words, this is a good, and at times excellent, piece of scholarship but it may not be easily accessible.Second, the book's structure is at first a bit surprising. Although it is interesting and original, it can also become a bit problematic at times. Most readers (including myself) might expect a history book to follow a chronological order. This is not entirely the case here. The first part of the book, titled "Preparation" because it prepares the reader to the presentations of the Spartan army's best known battles and therefore provides the general history and context, does NOT follow a chronological order. It does quite the opposite, starting with the Spartan army at the time of Xenophon (early fourth century BC). Then it goes "back in time" to analyse the Spartan army during the fifth century (with Thucydides to cover the Peloponnesian War, and Herodotus to cover the Greco-Persian wars) before moving to the "Origins". This does have a drawback, however, because there are quite a few repetitions as a result, and some readers might find this a bit annoying at times.However puzzling this construction may initially seem, it is perfectly deliberate and one of its effects, if not one of the main objectives, is to reinforce one of the author's strong views about the "conservatism" of the army's basic organization, which he sees as mostly unchanged from the 8th down to the 4th century. While the technique (or should I have written "the ploy"?) is a rather powerful one, it does lead to inferring quite a lot, together with speculating and assuming a great deal. All historians of Sparta have done this to some extent (and generally to a large extent) because the written sources tend to contradict each other at times, because some of them are no longer extant and perhaps also because, among our sources, none of them come from the Spartans themselves, with the exception of the poet Tyrtaios (7th century), of which only a few fragments of poetry remain. So the author's thesis about the "conservatism" of the Spartan army's organization, while very plausible, is more difficult to "prove" and more controversial than the author may care to admit.Just as controversial, but nonetheless very interesting, are two of the other points that he has to make. One is that the army's numbers at the times of Thucydides and Xenophon may have been twice as large as most other scholars think. The other is that while they may not have been entirely made up of full Spartiates anymore, they were still mostly made up of Spartans. Again, both assertions are somewhat controversial, but nevertheless plausible and interesting in the sense that they offer an alternative to the more commonly held views.Some excellent points made by the author are also worth singling out. One very valuable set are all the elements and discussions about Sparta's warrior ethos and how its institutions (the agoge, the military messes, in particular, but also its women) played a key role in educating the young Spartan and transmitting Sparta's cultural values. Another key element is to show that the strength of the Spartan army was in its discipline, training and somewhat fanatical fighting spirit and warrior code, especially when compared to the non-professional "militias" of hoplites of the other cities. This was reinforced by the extraordinary (and often excessive) reputation (and fear) that they inspired in all of the Greek world and beyond, a reputation that they tended to play upon at times.Also shown in the book is the army's (and its Kings and polemarchs) capacity to innovate tactically, as shown at Nemea, where the innovation succeeded, and at Leuctra, where it failed for a number of reasons, starting with Theban massed tactics (which the Spartans had already been confronted with before) and because the Spartan army was caught while redeploying. Even in the latter case, a disaster for Sparta which destroyed for ever their reputation of invincibility, the Theban victory, however remarkable, was not an easy one.I won't mention either Thermopylae or Platea, except to note that the author's reconstructions are fascinating, whether you agree with them or not, and should be compared with those of Peter Green in his Greco-Persian Wars (among other authors), if only to allow you to make up your mind as to the most plausible scenario and, more generally, the most convincing cases, in each case. You might end up preferring one or the other, depending on the topic, as I tend to do. You could also make a similar point about Lazenby's book when comparing it to Paul Cartledge's "Sparta and Lakonia". These two also complement each other, even if I must admit that I prefer the latter.To conclude, this is a book which is rich in substance but difficult to read at times. It is scholarly, as already mentioned, but it is also, at times, repetitive and you do get the impression that the author tends to "flog to death" each and every point that he makes. Patience, and perhaps even forbearance at times, may be required in order to get through a "rough patch" although I found that the contents were well worth the effort.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Spartan Army is not written as a narrative, but rather as a type of investigation. By Kevin A very informative book that expanded on my existing knowledge of Sparta and Ancient Greece. There is a lot in this book that I haven't found anywhere else, and I highly recommend it for those who want to further their understanding of Sparta's warrior culture. If you are unfamiliar with Sparta, I would recommend reading some introductory articles before reading this book, so as to make this book more manageable and enjoyable.The Spartan Army is not written as a narrative, but rather as a type of investigation. The author looks at many facets of Sparta's culture (mostly their army and military practices), and discusses the differing opinions of the time. I have the feeling this book was written as a scholarly essay at one point, and then was put into book form.In The Spartan Army you will learn how the Spartan military spent their day, fought, marches, their attitudes toward one another and their enemies, their philosophy, military structure, the size of their forces, their training and equipment, and how they were looked at by the other Greek city states.There are many embedded citatations (at least in the version I have), which I was worried about at first, but I found them easy enough to skip over, and the reading flow was not interrupted as I thought it would be.I cannot recommend this book enough. It's a great read for anyone interested in Sparta or ancient warfare, or even Ancient Greece. It's written in a very scholarly tone, but remained interesting throughout.Chapters:-The Age of Xenophon-The Fifth Century-Origins-Thermopylai-Plataea-Sphakteria-Mantineia-The Nemea, Koroneia and Lechaion-Leuktra-After LeuktraAlso includes:-basic Greek glossary-9 region maps-4 battle maps-15 images
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five Stars By D. Kennedy Excellent reading will definitely read again.
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