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A History of Ancient Sparta
- Valor, Virtue, and Devotion in the Greek Golden Age
- Narrated by: Prof. Timothy B. Shutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's Summary
In this enlightening series of lectures, Professor Shutt delves into Spartan culture, examining its origins, government, religion, and the major events that defined its history.
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What listeners say about A History of Ancient Sparta
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Adam Brown
- 03-16-15
Can't get enough
Masterfully told, a true pleasure to listen to. I found myself listening to these lectures over and over again.
2 people found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 03-06-15
Great overview!
An exciting though relaxed approach to Greek history. Shutt comes across as a teacher you could easily discuss Sparta over a beer at your favorite pub.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Dale
- 11-11-10
OK for a beginner
I'm a pure amateur with an interest in ancient history. I stumbled on this and assumed it would be an introduction to the topic. It was but I can easily imagine how this treatment might be bothersome to anyone not ignorant of the subject or with more than a passing knowledge of the subject. These are a series of lectures that seem to be designed to be spaced out as they would be in a college classroom. There is a lot of repetition and the lectures are about the duration of a college classroom session. Dr. Shutt often gets a bit off topic and uses a number of digressions which are a little odd. Bottom line: If you are totally ignorant of the topic, want a "big picture" treatment, and don't mind the "classroom" lecture structure then check it out. Otherwise you might find something more substantial and tightly organized.
5 people found this helpful
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- Chet
- 11-22-11
Enjoyable and thorough overview of the Spartans
I'm not a professional historian, but have read/listened to many books on this subject. I found Professor Shutt's work enjoyable and thorough. His narration was excellent...makes it seem like you are sitting in and auditing his course.
1 person found this helpful
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- melanie
- 12-16-09
interesting and enjoyable
i really enjoyed this audiobook. Unlike another reviewer, I liked the old professor's delivery style and found it charming in an old professorish sort of way. I have always wanted to know more about Sparta and this book certainly did that for me - and it was so interesting!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- steve
- 05-26-11
Can I get more?
This was a great listen, extremely education and in depth. My only question is where can I find more of other titles just like these.?.
2 people found this helpful
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- Beth
- 11-01-21
Very informative series of lectures
This was an interesting and concise history of Sparta and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely recommend.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-05-21
Good Story, Poor Performance
The series of lectures was provided a good overview of, first, the way of life of ancient Sparta, and then the history of nearly a thousand years. Adequate job for the time allotted.
Shutt may be a brilliant historian, but he should definitely not be narrating books. The frequent looooonnnnnnggggg pauses, not only between phrases, but very often in the middle of a phrase, were extremely distracting. Even listening to this at 1.25x speed did not remedy this. On top of that, it sounded as if Shutt was almost always suppressing a belch or swallowing, usually followed by lip or tongue smacking. That’s fine if done infrequently or if the book was short, but almost 8 hours of it was excruciating to me. I will not be listing to any other books in which he’s the narrator.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-17-20
Someone help this man
Great information about Sparta delivered by professor who is actively fighting being drowned. At one point I accidently paused it and just assumed he had died. Did you know the North American Elm tree is almost extinct? I certainly do. Those trees are not A-leet (elite).
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- Sammy
- 12-07-18
Entertaining and informative
I learned much while listening to this book. Easy to follow and well enjoyed.
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- Paul
- 04-13-13
excellent overview
Found this to be a informative and enjoyable listen..Gives a great insight into all aspects of Spartan life.Definitly would recommend to all with an interest in this history period
2 people found this helpful
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- J. M. Poulain
- 11-11-19
Dry overview of Spartan history.
Well researched and with a good combination of fun anecdotes and historical narrative this book is a good sign posting exercise for ancient Sparta from the legendary descendants of Heracles; their role at troy; the ever famous Thermopylae to the Pellipolesian wars and eventual subject to Rome.
The performance could have done with much more direction and editing as there is a lot of dead air and the lecturer stops in mid sentence or quote making you wonder if the book had stopped.
There isn't a discussion of the controversy about if the Spartans killed any young that were considered unfit but I'm not sure if this was a recent discussion.
As pop history goes there are a number of references to historical fiction Gates of Fire (Pressfield) which whilst enjoyable I understand uses a lot of fictional creations where history is not forthcoming.