For centuries, ancient Sparta has been glorified in art, fiction and popular art. However, the true nature of this civilisation, described as a combination of democracy and oligarchy by Aristotle, considered an ideal of freedom in the times of Machiavelli and Rousseau, and seen as a precursor of the modern totalitarian state by many twentieth-century scholars, has long remained a mystery. A documented and refreshingly original book on the government and culture of ancient Sparta and its place in Greek history. In a bold new approach to historical study, leading historian Paul Rahe attempts to unravel the Spartan enigma using the regime-oriented political science of the ancient Greeks, pioneered by Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon and Polybius, in order to provide a more coherent picture of government, art, culture and daily life in Lacedemonia.