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You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week covering everything from the ancient world to World War II.

Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's 404 BC, and the Spartans celebrate one of their greatest triumphs.

After decades of on and off fighting with Athens, they had finally defeated their great rival.

The polarised Greek world that had existed shattered, with Sparta now clearly ruling the roost over Greece,

entering its golden age, its military zenith.

And yet, within a few decades, this legendary city's dominance

would come tumbling down, never to rise to such heights again. So why did this happen? What caused

Sparta to fall from power so quickly in the early 4th century BC.

It's a fascinating story that features battles, city revivals, overseas expeditions,

formidable the Spartan kings, and so much more.

This is The Ancients.

I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and this is the Fall of Sparta.

Joining me today, we have two returning guests, Dr. Rool Caninidike,

Darby Fellow in Ancient History at Lincoln College, Oxford,

and Dr. Owen Reese, lecturer in Applied Sciences at Birmingham Newman University.

Ruhl and Owen, it is a pleasure to have you both on the podcast at the same time, in the

same room. We never thought it could happen, but it has happened. Thanks for having me, Tristan.

It's such a pleasure. We've had you both on in the past for individual episodes, but you are both experts in ancient Greece, and it felt about time we covered the story of Sparta in the 4th century BC. It's often called the time when Sparta falls from prominence. Is that a fair statement to say at the beginning? Rolda will start with you? I mean, absolutely. It's a century that Sparta starts as the undisputed hegemon of the Greek world and ends as a minor state in the Peloponnese. All of its power is stripped away. All of its allies fall away. It is completely unable to re-assert itself. I think that's very much the story for Sparta in the century Yeah, absolutely. It's one of those sort of ironies of Spartan history, where at the moment

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