Professor Stephen Hodkinson

Ancient Sparta. The Spartan ruling elite - their society, economy and politics. Sparta and war - does ancient Sparta deserve its reputation as a militarised society? Sparta in modern thought and politics - comparisons between Sparta and Nazi Germany in 20th-century British thought; comparisons between Sparta and the Soviet Union in Cold War American foreign policy and intelligence thinking. Slavery in ancient Greece - Spartans' slave underclass, the helots, their lifestyle and treatment by Spartan ruling elite; comparisons between Spartan helotage and modern slavery in debates about abolition in the 1790s.

Professor Hodkinson is Director of the University's Institute for the Study of Slavery and Director of the University's Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies.

In September 2010 he was awarded Honorary Citizenship of the city of Sparta, Greece, in recognition of his contribution to raising the profile of the history of Sparta worldwide.

A video podcast interview about Professor Hodkinson's current research on Sparta is available on the Classics Confidential website.

More information about Professor Hodkinson can be found on his webpage.