Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

The people of the ancient Greek city state of Sparta have left an indelible Markan history,

celebrated for the 300s against the odds of resistance to the Persians at Thermopylae, famed for their austerity and fanatical

devotion to military discipline, and criticized for their treatment of enslaved people.

Spencer Mizan sat down with the ancient historian Paul Cartledge to tackle your questions on the

Spartans.

We're here to talk about the ancient city state of Sparta.

Now, thanks to its wars of Athens, its famously austere way of life, and of course the Hollywood

Blockbuster 300, I think most of our listeners will know a little bit about the Spartans.

I'll probably have a working knowledge of who the Spartans were. But to set the scene, I wonder if you could start

by giving us a quick introduction to the Spartans. Who were they? And what were the chief

milestones in the history of this city-state? Hello, Spencer. Thank you for having me on your

podcast.

The Spartans are a mystery.

I'm reminded of what Churchill said about Russia.

They're a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

And the reason for that is because the evidence for the ancient Spartans is remote and it's indistinct, shall we say.

The main sources, main written sources, are non-Spartan and they come in two forms.

They're either very positive or they're very negative.

So we historians have a slightly difficult task of choosing between extremely positive statements.

And then you wonder, well, are they a bit exaggerated or even made up?

And then on the other side, extremely negative sources from people who, thank goodness, they say to

...