2/5 for intellectual helots only
  by P. I. Marder
If your idea of a good documentary is having some fairly good-looking chick (for academic standards--let's be real)with a british accent self-consciouly jump around a few ruins wearing colorful blouses and tight jeans, well then, you've found what you're looking for. Otherwise stay away. Apart from a short scene that dealt with Cinadon's conspiracy in 398 BC, there was virtually nothing of interest here. It's pablum.

2/5 A Disappointment
  by Helena P. Schrader (Oslo, Norway)
Although drawing on the advice of expert Paul Cartelege and producing an excellent visual experience with beautiful on location sequences, the entire documentary is disappointing rehash of the usual clichés about Sparta. The image of Sparta is uni-dimensional, some quotes from Herodotus taken out of context, and the picture of Sparta undifferentiated. For example, there is no evidence whatever that, as suggested in the film, the boys of the agoge lived outside of society for more than a few months, much less that they learned no skills other than survival and fighting. Spartan men were literate, admired for their wit, their terse rhetoric and were skilled in music and dance. The insistance on "compulsory homosexuality" and the image of a society in which men and women led completely separate lives is controversial at best and ridiculous at worst. The focus on Sparta's hoplites alone, while traditional, nevertheless distorts the fact that even Spartan men were only on active service for 10 years and men over the age of 30 no longer had to live in barracks. In fact, they lived on their farms with their wives and children like gentlemen farmers everywhere in the world. Likewise the recurring theme of the oppressed Messenians overlooks the fact that Sparta apparently had very loyal Laconian helots. It is a pity that such a good opportunity for a more balanced view of Sparta was missed in favour of the usual unidimensional treatment. For an alternative interpretation of Sparta based on ancient sources rather than modern myth read any of Helena Schrader's novels set in Ancient Sparta:Are They Singing in Sparta?, Spartan Slave, Spartan Queen: A Tale of Four Women in Sparta, or The Olympic Charioteer

1/5 Unsatisfying In Every Way
  by P. M. Bradshaw (Columbus, OH, USA)

This is NOT good. Three hour-long episodes of this remind one why PBS still has a fundraiser every year. Because shows like this, that could be fascinating, are just boring.

If you've seen or read about the city/state system of Greece, there are many conclusions drawn here that either just don't add up, or seem outright wrong.

The narrator appears on screen constantly, and I'm not sure why. Her tone and facial expression seem to indicate a distaste for the material, prompting one to ask why she did this in the first place. Or felt the need to be onscreen non-stop. It ends up being distracting, to the point that it takes away from the scholarly enterprise that's supposed to be going on. Certainly footage of the Greek countryside could have been used.

Also odd, why they show footage of modern day people in modern pubs while talking about Sparta and Athens of 480 B.C. No money from the sale of totebags to afford a reenactment here or there?

All in all, it makes you trealize how much better the History Channel and Discovery Channel now do the same material.

You'd do better to either watch Zack Snyder's movie, The 300, or read its source material, the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. Both play it more than a little loose history-wise, but the battle scenes are spectacular.

Your best bet? See the History Channel's documentary, now on DVD, The Last Stand of the 300. Historically accurate, fantastic reenactments, costumes, and drama. Drama befitting the true tale of the 300.

5/5 Engaging and informative, a cut above standard documentaries
  by R.L. Holly (Austin, TX USA)
An engaging documentary artfully assembled, this 2003 British production has been a hit for PBS in the United States, with the videos and tie-in book (the US edition of Paul Cartledge's The Spartans) often on backorder status. It is a rarity in that it gives Sparta its due for helping Greece resist the Persian threat and credits Sparta for its more enlightened attitude toward women. Although at times it may project a faint pro-Athens bias, host Bettany Hughes is a sympathetic and knowledgeable narrator. THE SPARTANS boasts terrific location photography by Douglas Hartington, with some impressive aerial shots of the Taygetus gorges. For the first time in a television documentary, we are treated to detailed examination of many artifacts in the Sparta Museum as well as shown many photos of archaeological excavations at Sparta. The atmospheric soundtrack is composed by Anthony Burke. Evocative reenactor footage is used - not as much as in the A&E production "Rise & fall of the Spartans," maybe, but effectively presented, even if the footage tends to be come repetitive by Part 3.

Part 1
THE SPARTANS opens at Thermopylae and with the epitaph of the Three Hundred -- and very stirring it is to hear this spoken in the original Greek -- before introducing some of the topics that will be addressed in the program. (Hmm. The claim that "male homosexuality was compulsory" is extremely dubious; the first boldfaced assertion as fact of a subject hotly debated among ancient and modern experts.) After the introduction, we journey to the Dark Ages of Greece, the end of the Achaean Age and the coming of the Dorian Greeks to the Peloponnesus and Laconia. An effective look at the development of hoplite warfare is presented. Next comes the Messenian conquest, then the establishment of the Spartan constitution. The upbringing of Spartan youths, warts and all, is then addressed at length. A good point is made that the sublimation of the individual as practiced by the Spartans can be very liberating - "the possibility of transcending your limitations as an individual and becoming part of something bigger and better." Spartan institutions are credited for initiating a system of political rights and responsibilities among its citizens centuries before other Greek states conceived of such things.

The finding of the so-called statue of Leonidas in 1925 is used to introduce the Persian Wars, which are then examined in detail. There is much footage of Thermopylae, including the eponymous hot springs, and the commentary casts the Spartans' self-sacrifice in terms that hearken to the Japanese samurai's bushido code.

Part 2
This segment begins by exploring at how Sparta and Athens fell out after the Persian Wars, with a look at Athenian politics and society and how these contrasted to Sparta's. This is a refreshingly non-partisan treatment, not hesitating to be equally critical of Athens. Women's life in Sparta is given much attention. Sparta comes off as considerably more enlightened, by modern Western standards, than Athens. (Interesting sidebar - in her remarks during a November 24, 2003, online chat with Channel 4 (UK) viewers, narrator Bettany Hughes, when asked where she'd have rather lived, Sparta or Athens, replied "Sparta. No doubt.") Hughes wryly notes how Spartan women were "objects of fear and fascination" to non-Spartan men. The legacy of these "radical" Spartan customs on later societies is discussed. Amusingly, whether by design or not, Hughes wears a scarlet dress for much of this sequence - fit garb for a Spartanette - and conducts her narration while striding purposefully about the Laconian countryside or riding on horseback in full exhibition of energetic Spartan vitality.

Lastly, the Laconian earthquake of 465 or 464 BC and subsequent helot revolt is noted and seen as the event that lit the sparks of conflict between Greece's two leading cities. The opening clashes of the Peloponnesian War and the Spartan disaster at Sphacteria ends Part 2.

Part 3
The last section of the film opens at Delphi and takes a look at Greek religion and Spartan attitudes toward the gods and oracles before resuming the history of the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades, the Syracuse expedition, and Lysander are all examined, taking up half of Part 3. Then the period of the Spartan Hegemony is briefly described, shaped by the "crippled kingship" of Agesilaus and marked by power struggles among Sparta's ruling factions. Hughes notes the critical decline of Spartan citizen manpower and the rise of Thebes as a rival. She takes us to the battlefield of Leuctra, where Spartan military superiority was broken in 371 BC. The remaining sequences very quickly sketch how classical Sparta became a second-class power and finally a tourist attraction for wealthy Romans. The show concludes with a summation of Sparta's influence on Western philosophy.

THE SPARTANS is a standout documentary, wonderfully photographed and directed, and is highly recommended as a visual overview of Spartan history.

Those interested in further information about this production can read an online interview about "The Spartans" with classicist Bettany Hughes and historical consultant Paul Cartledge answering questions from viewers (November 2003)

4/5 Stranger, go tell the Spartans that we lie here in obedience to their laws
  by L Gontzes (Athens, Greece)
The Spartans is actually three separate documentaries, which attempt to bring to life the legendary heroes of Lacedaemon.
On the positive side: 1) Shot on location, Bettany Hughes does a good job of presenting the actual setting for the events that unfolded.
2) She presents the Battle at Sphacteria of 425 BC, the Syracuse expedition of 415 BC, and the involvement of Alcibiades very well and very accurately.
3) The re-enactment of the hoplite phalanx throughout the documentaries added a nice touch.
4) The theme is Sparta after all; that in itself is a positive aspect!
On the negative side:
1) She does not mention half as much as she should about THE most heroic battle in world history; the Battle at Thermopylae; a three day battle (August 18th, 480 BC through August 20th, 480 BC) for the pass at Thermopylae (the Hot Gates) between an immense Persian host under King Xerxes and a small Greek force led by King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. Unlike the Alamo, Custers Last Stand, and many other glorious battles where the parties involved did not expect to be wiped out, the
Spartans and Thespians willingly held their positions knowing that they could not possibly win against overwhelming odds. When told that the Persian arrows would block out the sun, they replied Good, we will fight in the shade!
2) Bettany Hughes mentions homosexual relationships between men, when the existing evidence surrounding the issue of whether homosexuality in ancient Greece, and especially in Sparta, was more or less accepted than today is inconclusive and the issue itself is highly controversial; therefore, calling for EXTREME CAUTION when dealing with such matters. She even goes as far as to proclaim that it was compulsory! What people do in their own bedrooms is their own business, but to involve Greeces great men and legends in alleged homosexual acts, shows complete lack of respect as well as lack of basic/elementary knowledge of the era in question, with most frequent the misinterpretation of love between friends which did not include anything sexual or homosexual whatsoever! The warrior-heroes themselves would be turning in their graves if they knew what is being written and said about them by people who are either misinformed or are purposely out to distort the truth in following their own personal agendas.
3) Moreover, there are so many stories relating to the honor and glory of the Spartan hoplites, which are left unsaid; instead only a few and mediocre at that were mentioned. What ever happened to:
i) The reason why they wore red cloaks.
ii) The reason why they had two kings and the names of the Royal Houses i.e. The Agiads and the Eurypontids.
iii) The story with the boy and the fox that ate its way through his stomach, but he did not cringe.
iv) The story of the stranger who asked the Spartans what happened to adulterers in Sparta, only to be told that they would have to pay as compensation a bull big enough to stand on Mount Taygetus and drink from the river Eurotas, meaning that there are no adulterers in Sparta.
v) The story of the mother who killed her son for having been hit with an arrow in the back (i.e. having turned his back to the enemy).
vi) The story of the mother who upon seeing her sons friend asked how the battle had gone and when her sons friend replied that her child had died, she told him that was not what she had asked; her question was whether Sparta had been victorious.
vii) The Queen of Sparta Gorgo, (and wife to King Leonidas) who when asked by a foreign woman how is it that Spartan women are the only ones who rule men? she answered: Yes, for we are the only ones who give birth to men.
viii) How in Sparta only men who died on the battlefield and women who died during, or shortly after, giving birth were entitled to having a tombstone erected in their honor.
ix) Pausanias words following the Battle of Platae of 479 BC as to why his Spartans were eating Melas Zomos (the broth) instead of feasting like the rest of the Greeks, We are Spartans.
x) Pausanias fate after setting up a monument in the Hellespont commemorating the victory over the Persians.
4) In addition she does tend to go off and talk about the other city-states more than she should when the theme is Sparta and not Greece as whole.
Nevertheless, The Spartans will bring out interest in the famed inhabitants of Lacedaemon, and hopefully more books, movies, and documentaries will present these heroes (both men and women) with the reverence and respect they truly deserve.
Strongly recommended is the 1962 film The 300 Spartans; a movie about honor, real men, and real heroes who fought and died in the name of Greece and Freedom.