Sparta and Totalitarianism

Thursday October 17th, 2024
7pm EDT
Susan Downie
Instructor in Greek and Roman Studies, Carleton University

Via Zoom

The ancient Greek city-state of Sparta has never really left the imagination of western civilization. From political philosophers like Plato and Aristotle to modern political parties such as Greece’s Χρυσή Αυγή “Golden Dawn”, the Spartan state and its citizens have represented an “ideal” for which to strive.  What elements of the ancient Spartan state and society have made it the poster-child for modern Totalitarianism?  Given the significant problems with our sources about ancient Sparta, can we ever understand exactly how the state and its citizens functioned, or must we forever deal with the “Spartan mirage”?

Susan Downie received a B.A. in Classical Studies and History from the University of Waterloo and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Her graduate studies included work in Greek and Latin as well as training in art history and archaeology (she has excavated at the Minoan harbour site of Kommos, Crete, and led several study tours of Greece and Turkey). Downie’s doctoral thesis (2004) examined the uses of a hero cult for political propaganda at the Panhellenic sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia, and her current research continues to focus on the interaction of politics and religion in the Archaic and Classical Greek world.