Also uh hot take, but Sparta bad. Frankly all of ancient greece was a shitshow. Critical Support for the Achemenian Empire in their struggle against greek colonizers.
Also uh hot take, but Sparta bad. Frankly all of ancient greece was a shitshow. Critical Support for the Achemenian Empire in their struggle against greek colonizers.
I really wish I could remember the book, but there was someone who talked about the Athens/Sparta myth and how America has used it.
The idea I think is that immediately after the revolution, the US set itself up as Sparta, a militaristic, energised power struggling against a decadent and degenerate naval power like Athens - the UK. The myth becomes useful again during the Cold war only now the US is a democratic, free naval power just like Athens against a paranoid, militaristic dictatorship of the USSR.
It was kinda interesting to see how myths that where honestly way off when they were first written down are still used as a sorta template and a desire to return to some daft golden age. And of course how easily those myths are twisted to fit the current circumstances.