Episode #225- What is the Spartan Mirage? (Part I)

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

Education, Talk Radio, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

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Summary

The ancient Spartans are one of the most idealized cultures from classical Greece. They have been remembered as unbeatable super-soldiers whose entire society was geared towards war. Groups from across the modern political spectrum have looked to the Peloponnesian city-state as an inspiration and historical example. However, starting in the 1930's historians started to question much of the received wisdom about the Spartans. Some even argued that the popular understanding of the city was deeply influenced by a so-called "Spartan Mirage." Is everything we know about the Spartans little more than a collection of historical myths? Tune-in and find out how the French Revolution, invented traditions, and twins from eggs all play a role in the story.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you ever find yourself in the Louvre, there's a painting I think you should see.
0:11.8	And no, it's not that painting, although the painting I'm thinking of is hung rather close to that famous smiling lady that we've spoken about here before.
0:24.5	No, I'm talking about Jacques Louis David's gigantic neoclassical masterpiece, Leonidas at Thermopyly.
0:35.8	When you enter Les Sal Darue in the Louvre's
0:39.3	Denon wing, you cannot
0:41.4	miss this painting.
0:43.9	The canvas is roughly
0:45.6	four meters high and over
0:48.2	five meters in length.
0:50.8	That's roughly 13 feet by
0:53.0	17 feet for the metric intolerant among you.
0:57.8	It depicts the legendary last stand of the 300 Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae,
1:05.9	one of the best remembered and most heavily mythologized battles in history.
1:12.3	You know the one I'm talking about.
1:15.2	This is Sparta!
1:20.6	Yeah, that battle with those 300 Spartans.
1:26.9	Now, I find it interesting that when you visit the Louvre, Leonidas at Thermopyly
1:32.9	is one of the first paintings you can encounter after you leave the room that holds the Mona Lisa.
1:40.3	Because in many respects, the giant neoclassical painting has the opposite effect of the much-hyped
1:48.5	Leonardo portrait, where the Mona Lisa is small, subtle, and enigmatic.
1:56.0	Leonidas is big, bold, and brimming with allegorical meaning.
2:02.7	But this is typical of the neoclassical style, of which this painting is one of the most
	...

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