- Offers a lucid, comprehensive introduction to all aspects of Sparta, a community recognised by contemporary cities as the greatest power in classical Greece
- Features in-depth coverage of Sparta history and culture contributed by an international cast including almost every noted specialist and scholar in the field
- Provides over a dozen images of Spartan art that reveal the evolution of everyday life in Sparta
- Sheds new light on a modern controversy relating to changes in Spartan society from the Archaic to Classical periods