Part I. Introduction Preface 1. Boundaries 2. The Physical Setting 3. Climate 4. The Stone and Bronze Ages to c. 1300 Part II. Pre-classical Lakonia c. 1300-500BC 5. Greek Oral Tradition as History 6. The Last Mycenaeans c.1300-1050 7. The First Dorians c. 1050-775 8. The Lakonian Renascence c. 775-650 9. The Consolidation of Lakonia c. 650-490 10. Helots and Perioikoi Part III Classical Lakonia c. 500-362BC 11. The Crisis of Lakonia 490-460 12. The Athenian Wars c.460-404 13. The Reduction of Lakonia 404-362 Part IV Results and Prospects 14. The Decline of Spartiate Manpower 15. Epilogue Appendix 1. Gazetteer of sites in Lakonia and Messenia Appendix 2. The Homeric Poems as History Appendix 3. The Spartan King-lists Appendix 4. The Helots: Some Ancient Sources in Translation Appendix 5. The Sanctuary of (Artemis) Orthia

In this fully revised and updated edition of his groundbreaking study, Paul Cartledge uncovers the realities behind the potent myth of Sparta.
The book explores both the city-state of Sparta and the territory of Lakonia which it unified and exploited. Combining the more traditional written sources with archaeological and environmental perspectives, its coverage extends from the apogee of Mycenaean culture, to Sparta's crucial defeat at the battle of Mantinea in 362 BC.