Spartan Education : Youth and Society in the Classical Period

Jean Ducat is the leading French authority on Classical Sparta.

Here is what is likely to be seen as his magnum opus.

Ducat systematically collects, translates and evaluates the sources - famous and obscure alike - for Spartan education.

He deploys his familiar combination of good judgment and uncompromising recognition of the limits to our knowledge, while drawing at times on aspects of French structuralism.

This book is likely to become the definitive reference on its subject, while also informing and provoking the future work of others.

Sparta was admitted by Greeks generally, even by its Athenian enemies, to be the School of Hellas.

Ducat's work is thus a major contribution to our understanding of Greek ideas, and indeed to the history of education.

Contents of this title include: Introduction - Spartan Education has a History; Literary Sources; The Image of Spartan Education in the 5th and 4th Centuries BC; Structure and Organisation; The Hidden Face of Spartan Education; The Social Function of Spartan Education; Education and Initiation; The Education of Girls; Education and Religion; the Krypteia; and, Conclusion.