Myke Cole, The Bronze Lie (Osprey, 2021)
They were the Spartans, an elite and fanatical society renowned for their dedication to developing and maintaining military superiority over the Greeks and those who came against them, most notably the Persians. The Spartans sacrificed every aspect of their culture to that cause, earning them admiration and wonder ever since, especially among military thinkers envious of Sparta’s reputation. But was it real? Was Sparta too good to be true? Myke Cole thinks so, and he is here to burst the Spartan bubble.
Cole begins with a passionate explanation on why the myth of Spartan military supremacy, beloved by the modern Far Right in particular, is toxic and needs to be exposed. He sets about his task with gusto. He describes Spartan society and culture, knocking down each myth as it arises and revealing an idealised apartheid system that doesn’t stand up to historical scrutiny. Cole highlights the contradictions at all points of the myth, from the curious upbringing of eugenically selected boys to become warriors to the notion that Spartans were super-soldiers. He then takes us into Sparta’s wars and battles, beginning in the Archaic period (800-490 BC) and the First Messenian War, which lasted a suspiciously long time for proper myth creation. Cole moves from battle to battle in this and subsequent wars, highlighting Sparta’s failures as much as their successes. He notes that they were particularly inept at conducting sieges.
The Greco-Persian wars loom large in Sparta’s reputation, particularly the famous last stand at Thermopylae. Cole is having none of it, and to that he adds Plataea as a battle where you need to take the much vaunted Spartan achievements with more than a pinch of salt, though he acknowledges the Spartans as excellent heavy infantry in combat. For the Peloponnesian War, Cole argues that Athens lost it more than Sparta won it. He essays this argument through another series of battles in which the legend of Spartan superiority was finally and fatally punctured despite some subsequent victories that led to victory in the war. Nevertheless, Spartan supremacy lasted only one year followed by a three decade long decline, punctuated by victories and defeats in accordance with the rest of their military history. What remained of Spartan power was broken by Thebes at Leuctra in 371. Cole continues his relentless assault on the Spartans, labelling them as ‘irreformable’ and ‘irrelevant’ as their state dissolved into the Hellenistic world. He concludes with an unusual and fascinating overview of why destroying the Spartan myth matters today in the continuing fetishisation of them, particularly by the Far Right. A note on historiography and a solid bibliography complete Cole’s excursion into the Spartan world.
The myth of Spartan military supremacy has been exploded in academic circles for over a century as Cole acknowledges in his introduction. However, Cole brings that into the public sphere with a refreshing enthusiasm. There will be those who bemoan the lack of footnotes and referencing, but Cole makes it clear those aren’t difficult to find if you follow the original sources. A second quibble is Cole’s win/lose summaries of Spartan battles that might be a bit too simplistic, though his detailed analyses of many of the actions provides enough cover here. Overall, Cole makes a compelling case for burying the Spartan myth and the timeliness of the book is evident in a world where too many see the Spartans as exemplars rather than the flawed people they actually were. Anyone interested in Sparta and ancient warfare will enjoy this and appreciate Cole’s military insight.
