CSPS members organise and participate in a wide range of public outreach events.
These events often aim to challenge popular conceptions about Sparta and idevelop a more nuanced and historical understanding with the audience or participants.
These events range from one-off public talks and events, through to longer term projects that aim to engage with public cultural conceptions of Sparta.
Professor Stephen Hodkinson interviewed by Elton Barker for Classics Confidential at the 2011 Classical Association conference in Durham.
(If you are require Greek subtitles, please click on the "Captions" tab at the bottom of the video box and click "Greek").
Watch the Meet the Spartans video
Professor Emeritus Stephen Hodkinson delivers a talk on ‘New approaches to Classical Sparta’ for the University of Nottingham Museum's 'Archaeology Now!' lecture series. His lecture questions orthodox images on Spartan life and argues that it was more varied and complex than we normally think.
Watch the New approaches to Classical Sparta video
On 15 November 2015 Professor Stephen Hodkinson took part in a radio panel discussion, Sparta: a nation of myths and heroes.
The discussion was hosted by Tommy Graham, the editor of History Ireland, and formed part of Irish Newstalk's ‘Talking History’ series.
Read the introduction to this event on the Newstalk website
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On 9 June 2013 Hodkinson’s research helped a gun control activist to counter Sparta’s misappropriation by the US gun lobby. The activist asked whether the gun lobby’s use of Leonidas’ alleged saying ‘Molon labe’ as a rallying-cry against gun control matched the reality of Sparta’s policy on bearing arms.
Hodkinson supplied a detailed academic opinion for the Ceasefire Oregon, New Trajectory blogsite ( 'Did Sparta exercise arms control in its society?'), showing that the Spartiates were normally unarmed in everyday life and that the alleged ‘Molon labe’ saying was of dubious historical authenticity.
This advice enabled the activist to argue on their blog that historical Spartan practice formed a poor precedent for, and even undermined, gun lobby arguments.
In November 2017 Professor Stephen Hodkinson contributed to discussions on Alt-Right misappropriations of Sparta on Vassar College, New York’s new blogsite, Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics.
He contributed research to several blogs, which can be read via the links below:
Read 'Scholars respond to Spartan helmets'
Read 'This is not Sparta'
University of NottinghamUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
telephone: +44 (0)115 951 4800 fax: +44 (0)115 951 4811 email: csps@nottingham.ac.uk
