The legacy of Sparta in modern politics

Join leading academics for a discussion about the legacy of Sparta in modern politics

Since the Renaissance, Sparta has meant different things to different political systems and ideologies. The classical republican tradition viewed Sparta as possessing an ideal balance of civic and military elements. Liberal democratic thought views it as a militaristic and totalitarian state. Nowadays, Sparta’s martial aspects are commonly misappropriated by the Far Right, drawing on Nazi beliefs that the Spartans embodied the ancient Aryan racial spirit. Finally, throughout the ages, Spartan education has often been presented as the ideal model for educating an officer caste - whether in the cadet-corps of nineteenth-century Prussia, at training-schools for the Third Reich's juvenile elite, or even at the British public schools.

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Discussants:

• Dr Helen Roche (University of Durham)
• Professor Stephen Hodkinson (University of Nottingham; Honorary Citizen of Sparti)
• Dr Philip Davies (University of Nottingham)
• Dr Petros Doukas (Mayor of Sparti)

Join the meeting here (Microsoft Teams)