Stephen Hodkinson – författare

In 1993 the world celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the birth of democracy in ancient Athens, whose polis - or citizen state - is often viewed as the model ancient Greek state. In an age when democracy has apparently triumphed following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, we tend to forget that the democratic citizen-state was only one of many forms of political community in Greek antiquity. This volume, originally a seminar series at the universities of Leeds and Manchester, aims to redress the balance. Eighteen essays by established and younger historians examine alternative political systems and ideologies oligarchies, monarchies, mixed constitutions along with diverse forms of communal and regional associations such as ethnoi, amphiktyonies, and confederacies. The papers, which span the length and breadth of the Hellenic world from the Balkans and Anatolia to Magna Graecia and north Africa, highlight the immense political flexibility and diversity of ancient Greek civilization.

In 1993 the world celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the birth of democracy in ancient Athens, whose polis - or citizen state - is often viewed as the model ancient Greek state. In an age when democracy has apparently triumphed following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, we tend to forget that the democratic citizen-state was only one of many forms of political community in Greek antiquity. This volume aims to redress the balance. Eighteen essays by established and younger historians examine alternative political systems and ideologies: oligarchies, monarchies, and mixed constitutions along with diverse forms of communal and regional associations such as ethnoi, amphiktyonies, and confederacies. The papers, which span the length and breadth of the Hellenic world from the Balkans and Anatolia to Magna Graecia and north Africa, highlight the immense political flexibility and diversity of ancient Greek civilization.

In the past twenty years the study of Sparta has come of age. Images prevalent earlier in the 20th century, of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superseded by more complex scholarly reactions. As interest has grown in the self-images projected by this most secretive of Greek cities, increasing attention has focused on how individual Greek writers from other states reacted to information, or disinformation about Sparta.The studies in this volume provide new insights into the traditional historians' question, "What actually happened at Sparta?". But the implications of the work go far beyond Laconia. They concern preoccupations of some of the most studied of Greek writers, and help towards an understanding of how Athenians defined the achievment, or the failure, of their own city.

In the past twenty years the study of Sparta has come of age. Images prevalent earlier in the 20th century, of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superseded by more complex scholarly reactions. As interest has grown in the self-images projected by this most secretive of Greek cities, increasing attention has focused on how individual Greek writers from other states reacted to information, or disinformation about Sparta.The studies in this volume provide new insights into the traditional historians' question, "What actually happened at Sparta?". But the implications of the work go far beyond Laconia. They concern preoccupations of some of the most studied of Greek writers, and help towards an understanding of how Athenians defined the achievment, or the failure, of their own city.

In the past twenty years the study of Sparta has come of age. Images prevalent earlier in the 20th century, of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superseded by more complex scholarly reactions. As interest has grown in the self-images projected by this most secretive of Greek cities, increasing attention has focused on how individual Greek writers from other states reacted to information, or disinformation about Sparta.The studies in this volume provide new insights into the traditional historians'' question, "What actually happened at Sparta?". But the implications of the work go far beyond Laconia. They concern preoccupations of some of the most studied of Greek writers, and help towards an understanding of how Athenians defined the achievment, or the failure, of their own city.

In the past twenty years the study of Sparta has come of age. Images prevalent earlier in the 20th century, of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superseded by more complex scholarly reactions. As interest has grown in the self-images projected by this most secretive of Greek cities, increasing attention has focused on how individual Greek writers from other states reacted to information, or disinformation about Sparta.The studies in this volume provide new insights into the traditional historians'' question, "What actually happened at Sparta?". But the implications of the work go far beyond Laconia. They concern preoccupations of some of the most studied of Greek writers, and help towards an understanding of how Athenians defined the achievment, or the failure, of their own city.

Ten new essays from a distinguished international cast treat Sparta's most famous area of activity. The results are challenging. Among the contributors, Thomas Figueira explores the paradox that Sparta's cavalry was an undistinguished institution. Jean Ducat conducts the most thorough study to date of Sparta's official cowards, the 'tremblers'. Anton Powell asks why Sparta chose not to destroy Athens after the Peloponnesian War. And Stephen Hodkinson argues that the image of Spartan society as militaristic may after all be a mirage. This is the sixth volume from the International Sparta Seminar, founded by Powell and Hodkinson in 1988. The series has established itself as the main forum for the study of Spartan history.

This is the 7th volume from the International Sparta Seminar, in the series begun in 1989 by Anton Powell with Stephen Hodkinson. The volume is both thematic and eclectic. Ephraim David and Yoann Le Tallec treat respectively the politics of nudity at Sparta and the role of athletes in forming the Spartan state. Nicolas Richer examines the significance of animals depicted in Lakonian art; Andrew Scott asks what Lakonian figured pottery reveals of local consumerism. Nino Luraghi and Paul Christesen deal respectively with the way in which Sparta was viewed by Messenians and by Ephorus. Jean Ducat treats 'the ghost of the Lakedaimonian state', a major study of formal relations between Spartiate and perioikic communities. Thomas Figueira considers how Spartan women policed masculine behaviour. Anton Powell traces the development of Spartan reactions to political divination in the classical period.

The standard image of Sparta is of an egalitarian, military society which disdained material possessions. Yet property and wealth played a critical role in her history. Classical Sparta's success rested upon a compromise between rich and poor citizens. Economic differences were masked by a uniform lifestyle and a communal sharing of resources. Over time, however, increasing inequalities led to a plutocratic society and to the decline of Spartan power. Using an innovative combination of historical, archaeological and sociological methods, Stephen Hodkinson challenges traditional views of Sparta's isolation from general Greek culture. This volume is the first major monograph-length discussion of a subject on which the author is recognised as the leading international authority.

The history of Sparta is increasingly seen as important, not only for its own sake but also for understanding Athenian literature and the political history of numerous Greek states. Traditional approaches to Sparta are now being supplemented by contributions from archaeology and the social sciences. The renewed interest in Sparta is international. The volume includes, for the first time, original contributions from most of the world's leading authorities on Spartan history.

Images of ancient Sparta have had a major impact on Western thought. From the Renaissance to the French Revolution she was invoked by radical thinkers as a model for the creation of a republican political and social order. Since the 19th century she has typically been viewed as the opposite of advanced liberal and industrial democracies: a forerunner of 20th-century totalitarian and militaristic regimes such as the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. Yet positive images of Sparta remain embedded in contemporary popular media and culture. This is the first book in over 40 years to examine this important subject. Eleven ancient historians and experts in the history of ideas discuss Sparta's changing role in Western thought from medieval Europe to the 21st century, with a special focus on Enlightenment France, Nazi Germany and the USA.

A Spartan lifestyle proverbially describes austerity; ancient Greek luxury was associated with Ionia and the oriental world. The contributions to this book, first presented at a conference held by the University of Nottingham's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, reverse the stereotype and explore the role of luxury and wealth at Sparta and among its Peloponnesian neighbors from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Using literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, an international team of specialists investigates the definition and changing meanings of the term luxury and its nearest ancient Greek equivalents, providing new insights into Sparta's supposed abstention from luxury, and the way that this was portrayed by ancient writers. They analyse wealth production and private and public spending, emphasising features that were distinctive to Sparta and the Peloponnese compared with other parts of ancient Greece. Other chapters investigate issues still familiar in the contemporary world: economic crisis and debt, austerity measures, and relief provisions for the poor.

The study of the Spartans is now pursued more widely and intensively than ever. Indeed, no longer is Sparta the 'second city' of ancient Greece. This volume, the fourth in the established series on which Powell and Hodkinson have collaborated, breaks fresh ground, not least in the range of its contributors. The authors of the fourteen new papers represent nine different countries and demonstrate many of the fertile modern approaches to the history, the archaeology - and the still-influential image - of the city on the Eurotas.

Herodotus' 'History’, is our earliest historical source for Sparta. His work focuses on the later sixth and early fifth centuries BC, the period before and during the Persian Wars. His account is often thought to be relatively unsullied by the distorting effects of the ‘Spartan mirage’, which reached its apogee after his death. Yet his mythologised narrative of the Spartans’ defeat at the battle of Thermopylai in 480 BC continues to influence idealised accounts in modern popular media and politics. Since he wrote about a period when Sparta’s classical institutions were still being formed, his work is often interrogated by historians investigating the origins and nature of its famous ‘austerity’. In this volume eleven international scholars examine Herodotus’ presentation of Sparta, the implications for our understanding of its internal and external politics, and the development and character of its engagement with material culture. This book is the fourth in a Classical Press of Wales series focused on major sources for Sparta, following earlier volumes on Xenophon and Sparta (2020), Thucydides and Sparta (2021) and Sparta in Plutarch’s Lives (2023).