Author Description

In the first major work to draw on the archaeological findings from excavation of the temple at Artemis Orthia, Kathleen Chrimes presents a study of Sparta in the Hellenistic and Roman periods based on epigraphical evidence, and uses this as a starting point for a re-examination of the evidence about early Sparta. The first part of the book concentrates on the later period, and in the second part Chrimes traces constitutional and social survivals back to their roots in the remote past. These survivals provide a basis for a new interpretation of the archaic social and political structure and its development, and lead to conclusions about the origins of the Spartan system of physical, intellectual and social training and of the five ephors that challenge previously accepted views.