- Title: The Spartans
- Date: 24th November 2002
- Summary: Classical Historian BETTANY HUGHES continues her examination of the Spartan way of life. In this film the focus is on the bitter rivalry with Athens and their startlingly different view of women. They were two cities with totally opposed views of the 'good life'. For Athens, Sparta was a frightening place that turned its children into fighting machines. But worse still were Sparta's women: liberated, independent and opinionated. Spartan women celebrated nudity and had a level of sexual freedom unheard of in the ancient world. They were an affront to Athenian notions of femininity and they wielded power in the absence of their men. When war between Sparta and Athens finally comes, it rages for decades and splits the Greek world. Until, on the island of Sphacteria the reputation of Sparta's famed warriors for fearlessness is shockingly undermined.
- Description:Three part history,presented by Bettany Hughes,on the Spartans,the ancient world's strangest civilisation
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:LION TELEVISION LIMITED
- Programme Episode:Episode 2
- Transmission Date:24/11/2002
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 2000s