Schrader's historical novels about Sparta are based on extensive research including, but not limited
to, the sources listed below.
number of works by ancient historians are readily available to us today
in translation. For anyone with a serious interest in ancient history,
these works are a "must." However, keep in mind that all
these works were written during or after the Peloponnesian War, and all
by outside observers of Sparta. Not a single ancient account
of Spartan society from the Spartan perspective survives.
Histories, mid 5th
Society, late 5th
Plutarch, On Sparta,
2nd century AD.
Thucydides, History of
War, late 5th
All of the above historical
sources are available from Penguin Books.
Modern understanding of Sparta has been altered and enriched by careful
analysis of archaeological evidence and by trends, such as women's
studies, that cast new light on this intriguing ancient society. Below
are the sources I found most enlightening and helpful in understanding
Stibbe, Conrad M.,
Andere Sparta, Philipp v. Zabern Verlag, Mainz am Rhein,
Forrest, W.G., A
History of Sparta: 950-192 BC, W.W. Norton &
Co., New York, 1968.
Powell (ed.), Sparta:
New Perspectives, The Classical Press of Wales, 2000.
Jones, A.H.M., Sparta,
Barnes and Noble, New York, 1993.
Baltrusch, Ernst, Sparta:
Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur, C.H. Beck Verlag,
Chrimes, K.M.T., Ancient
Sparta: A Re-Examination of the Evidence, Manchester
University Press, Manchester, 1949.
Kennell, Nigel M., The
Gymnasium of Virtue: Education and Culture in Ancient Sparta,
Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1995.
Murray, Powyn, Early
Greece, William Collins and Sons, London, 1980.
Link, Stephan, Der
Kosmos Sparta, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
Blundell, Sue, Women
in Ancient Greece, British Museum Press, London, 1995.
Männersache? Frauen in Männerdomänen der
antiken Welt, Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994.
Sealey, Raphael, Women
and Law in Classical Greece, University of North Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1990.
and Wealth in Classical Sparta, Duckworth and the
Classical Press of Wales, 2000.
Pomeroy, Sarah, Spartan
Women, Oxford University Press, 2002.
and Lakonia, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 2nd ed.
Powell, Anton, Athens
and Sparta, Routledge, London, 1988.
Kennell, Nigel M., Spartans:
A New History, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, 2010.
Krentz, Peter, The
Battle of Marathon, Yale University Press,
Pomeroy, Sarah B., Goddesses,
Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Antiquity, Schocken
Books, New York, 1975.
Bradford, Alfred, Leonidas
and the Kings of Sparta: Mightiest Warriors, Fairest Kingdom,
Praeger, Santa Barbara, 2011.
Hughes, Bettany, Helen
of Troy: The Story Behind the Most Beautiful Woman in the World,
Vintage Books, New York, 2005.
Fields, Nic, Thermopylae
480 BC: Last Stand of the 300, Osprey, Oxford, 2007.
Historians are by
profession compelled to keep “strictly to the
facts,” but when facts are few, imprecise, contradictory, and
all coming from outsiders, then the picture they deliver is incomplete at
best and misleading at worst. Trying to understand Sparta
based on the historical record only is like trying to understand Africa
based on the colonial records. Furthermore, historians are
often so focused on the fragments of evidence they do have, that they
forget they are writing about human beings remarkably similar to
ourselves. This is the reason a novel, based on solid
research and a sound understanding of human nature, can often deliver
better insight into strange or distant societies than a strict account of
known but fragmentary facts. The following novels are based on solid research and provide a credible interpretatoin of what Spartan society might have been like in the periods described.