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Monday, October 31, 2022


Just Finished Reading: Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (FP: 1998) [328pp] 

Greece, 5th Century BC. Even if it broke their hearts, it was the Law. The child was imperfect and had to be exposed to the elements. As his wife sobbed in the doorway her husband left their home in the dead of night and made his way to the ancient oak tree. There he laid the child down and asked the gods to protect the boy from the wolves that would be attracted to his cries. The gods heard him and directed a Helot shepherd to rescue the child from certain death. Unaware to both the child and his saviour, a prophecy had begun which would play out over the coming years. The boy would grow up under the teachings of his grandfather and with the love of his new mother. He would learn to overcome his disability, he would learn to fight with staff and, secretly, with bow. He would, when old enough and wise enough, learn of the ancient history of the Helots and how they had been subjugated by the hated Spartans. He would learn to admire, fear and hate his oppressors and he would learn how to fight them. When rumours of a great foreign army reached Sparta it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Even the greatest force in the known world could only achieve so much against the numberless hordes ranged against them. Danger for Sparta was an opportunity for the Helots to finally break free. But first Talos must say goodbye to his adopted family and survive his first experience of battle – at Thermopylae. 

This is my third book by this author, and I was yet again impressed both by his storytelling and his attention to detail. Having just read a non-fiction work on the Battle of Thermopylae (which is the only battle of the Greeco-Persian war that briefly appears in the novel) it was obvious that this novel had been based on some serious research. Not only had the time and place been very well drawn, the characters on both sides of the Helot/Spartan divide were very believable. I liked the fact that Talos didn’t even know his background yet was clearly not cut out for his life as a humble shepherd. Living in both worlds and essentially living two lives his character was a great vehicle to view both societies and learn about the cultural history of both without the feeling of being lectured at any point. I thought that the characterisation throughout was very good and warmed both to Talos and his faux family. As a reader it was obvious that we were supposed to sympathise with the plight of the Helots but the Spartans were never portrayed as completely unsympathetic. They had their own laws, their own culture and their own reasons for treating the Helots as very much 2nd Class citizens. However objectionable the outcome was, at least we could see why such a thing existed. As mentioned above, this isn’t a book filled with long descriptions of ancient battles. Apart from a handful of pages related around the encounter at the Hot Gates there’s a few minor skirmishes and a short siege near the end. Most of the novel revolves around Talos (the abandoned child) growing up, finding out about his dual heritage and coming to terms with it. There’re some political goings on in Sparta itself as well as interactions with the Persians post-Platea. All in all, this is a solid and well written adventure/coming of age story based in ancient Greece. Definitely recommended and more from this author to come. 

Translated from the Italian by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi.   

2 comments:

Stephen said...

Learning about the Helots as a kid I was struck by the similarities between the South's martial culture and its own helot class of imported African labor -- the difference being that the South's "spartans" were far, far fewer and that there was a third (considerable in number, but slavelike in power) class of poor white freeholders, sharecroppers and the like.

CyberKitten said...

Interestingly, the author made a point of not referring to the Helots as 'slaves' per se, but as involuntary 'servants' - which to be honest is much of a muchness. Spartan society was weird even at the time. But the essential problem was their birth rate. With Spartan military society being a VERY exclusive club any losses on the battlefield could never be easily replaced. So, over time, their numbers dwindled until they were finally overcome and destroyed.