## Claims - [[Sparta was a collection of villages not a city]] - [[Spartan egalitarianism was a reaction to economic instability]], but [[stringent Spartan citizenship rules led to culture collapse]]. That said, [[political stability was Spartas main achievement]] - [[Spartan militarism is overblown]] — [[Persia is why Sparta won the Peloponnesian War]] — but [[Spartans valued their shields]] - [[Spartan forts helped Athenian slaves escape]], but [[Spartan Helots revolted often]] - [[Of the Spartan generals Brasidas was wilier than Leonidas]] - [[Roman attitudes toward Sparta and Athens differed]] - [[Spartans men let their peers impregnate their wives sometimes]] ## Relevant Articles - [[Sparta Was Much More Than an Army of Super Warriors by Myke Cole]] - [[Did the Spartans Throw Babies Down Mountains by Bad Ancient]] - [[Sparta wasnt that effective in war; were there any hyper-militarized groups that DID have success (besides Rome) AskHistorians by reddit.com]] - [[Persia is why Sparta won the Peloponnesian War]] - [[Ancient Cybersecurity Deciphering the Spartan Scytale by Antigone]] ## Additional Info - this discussion via [[rAskHistorians|AskHistorians]] centers around [the linguistic history of the words tyrant and despot](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/mm0kcx/tyrant_and_despot_in_modern_english_both_refer_to/). Tyrant initially referred to for-the-people rulers who achieved great power and wealth by overthrowing an oppressive oligarchy. Tryannies typically only lasted a generation or two; heredity tyrannies were regarded pretty terribly in Greece and it was difficult for them to make the transition to monarchy. It isn't until around the 6th century BCE that tyranny starts to get a bad rep in Greece, though. Apparently Sparta went around deposing tyrants, which sort of reminds me of the modern day USA (or at least what it aspires to be haha we definitely prop up tyrannies all the time ugh) #articleseed/essay