Famous throughout history for their doomed stand at Thermopylae, and immortalised by contemporary Athenian writers who viewed them as the exotic other, the Spartans, and their brutality and bravery, both fascinate and appal us. Andrew Bayliss reveals the best and the worst of this harsh society, separating myth from reality. Throughout the book, Bayliss never shouts. Yet, in his quiet, succinct way, he has produced a book that can with some justice claim, 'This is Sparta.'