Spartan Education: Youth and Society in the Classical Period

by Jean Ducat

Overview

Jean Ducat is the leading French authority on classical Sparta. Here is what is likely to be seen as his magnum opus. Ducat systematically collects, translates and evaluates the sources - famous and obscure alike - for Spartan education. He deploys his familiar combination of good judgement and uncompromising recognition of the limits to our knowledge, while drawing at times on aspects of French structuralism. This book is likely to become the definitive reference on its subject, while also informing and provoking the future work of others. Sparta was admitted by Greeks generally, even by its Athenian enemies, to be the School of Hellas. Ducat's work is thus a major contribution to our understanding of Greek ideas, and indeed to the history of education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781905125074
Publisher:	Classical Press of Wales, The
Publication date:	12/01/2006
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.17(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jean Ducat was born in Morocco in 1933. He followed the usual French cursus in classical studies, as a pupil of the Ecole Normale Superieure (1953-7), then as a member of the French School of Archaeology in Athens (1960-3). He spent the major part of his professional life as a Professor of Greek History in the University of Nice. First known as a specialist in Greek archaic sculpture, since 1974 ('Le mepris des Hilotes') he has been increasingly interested in Spartan matters: first in the Spartan way of slavery (Les Hilotes, 1990; Les Penestes, 1994), then more generally in Spartan life and society, on which he has written and is still writing many articles. He now lives in Metz.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: Spartan education has a history 1. Documentary sources 2. The image of Spartan education in the fifth and fourth centuries BC 3. Structure and organization 4. The hidden face of Spartan education 5. The social function of education 6. Education and initiation 7. The education of girls 8. Education and religion 9. The Crypteia 10. Conclusion Bibliography Index locorum Index nominum et rerum

Editorial Reviews

...a significant addition to the literature on Spartan citizen training by a leading scholar of Spartan social institutions.'

Journal of Hellenic Studies, 128 (2008) - Nigel Kennell

This is quite an extraordinary piece of work, one of the most impressive and important in all ancient history to have appeared in recent years. It is a simply monumental study of a fundamental aspect of not just ancient Spartan but all ancient Greek history.'

New England Classical Journal - Paul Cartledge