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Most, if not all, of the reasons for Spartan dominance on the battlefield can be attributed to their incredibly strenuous and brutal training regiment, the agoge. Even before beginning the agoge, newborn Spartan boys underwent a highly in-depth physical scrutiny to make sure the newborn was without flaws. Any that did not pass the examination were left out in the country to die. Then, between ages five to seven, the boy was taken to begin traini...

The Political System of Sparta The Spartan political mindset was war. Law forbade all Spartan males from any occupation other than that of being a soldier. Because of this, Sparta had the only full time army in all of Greece. Other Greek city states had an almost all militia army. They conducted war in a narrow season that was constructed around the planting and harvesting of crops as most men were farmers. Because of this, Sparta was abl...

Taking place during the Persian-Greek Wars around 480 BC, there is probably no better known battle from the era. Thanks to fanciful re-tellings, especially lately from many sources including books like Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire and Frank Miller's 300 it seems any student of militaria knows Leonidas and Xerxes very well indeed. As usual, the gruesome reality was not romantic at all. That said, it was just as heroic. Thermopylae was...