Hello and welcome to 2020! This year I’m going to use my site a bit more to collate bits and pieces I have done on various subjects. Who better then than to start with the Spartans.
Podcasts.
In 2019 I recorded two podcasts on Spartan women. The first deals with what it might be like to grow up as a Spartan girl. As you’ll hear the options available were unique in the Greek world. Spartan girls weren’t hidden away. They regulated Spartan values and extolled them.
Part two picks up with the Spartan in her late teens. Here she was expected to marry. Trust me when I say the marriage ceremony was quite something. Though motherhood was an objective I also talk about how a Spartan woman would interact with her society.
In both episodes I discuss the wider Spartan culture. How imbalanced it might have seemed to even an outsider of the time. Also the myth of Sparta crops up once or twice.
Vlog.
A few years ago I managed to obtain a hoplite shield and recorded something for my Youtube channel on it. Here I chat about how it feels to hold, the history and other aspects of it (including the always controversial name of it!).
I hope you enjoy the above and have a great 2020!