Myke Cole

The Bronze Lie (eBook, PDF)

Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

The last stand at Thermopylae made the Spartans legends in their own time, famous for their toughness, stoicism and martial prowess - but was this reputation earned?

Covering Sparta's full classical history, The Bronze Lie examines the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy.

This book paints a very different picture of Spartan warfare - punctuated by frequent and heavy losses. We also discover a society dedicated to militarism not in service to Greek unity or to the Spartan state itself, but as a desperate measure intended to keep its massive population of helots (a near-slave underclass) in line. What successes there were, such as in the Peloponnesian Wars, gave Sparta only a brief period of hegemony over Greece. Today, there is no greater testament to this than the relative position of modern Sparta and its famous rival Athens.

The Bronze Lie explores the Spartans' arms and armor, tactics and strategy, the personalities of commanders and the common soldiery alike. It looks at the major battles, with a special focus on previously under-publicized Spartan reverses that have been left largely unexamined. The result is a refreshingly honest and accurate account of Spartan warfare.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 464
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. September 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781472843739
• Artikelnr.: 62284309

Autorenporträt

Following a long career in the military, intelligence, and law enforcement, Myke Cole is a fire/rescue responder in NY's Hudson Valley. He is a freelance historian and writer, and has published ten novels with publishers including Penguin Random House and Macmillan in addition to his history books for Osprey. Myke's short work has appeared in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, McSweeney's, and Slate. He's starred on TV shows on CBS and Discovery, and has featured on NPR.