Zeus is scheduled for release fall 2000

Despite the highly regimented nature of Spartan society, some changes did take place. One which I have already alluded to was the passing of a law in the fourth century which allowed for property to be passed from one person to another by means of a will, instead of reverting back to the state on the person's death. Although on the face of it a fairly innocuous change, this would have far-reaching effects on the nature of Spartan society, and especially upon the number of Spartans who could be called upon for military service.

As time passed, land began to concentrate in the hands of a few families, thus destroying the egalitarian ideal behind the original property laws. This in turn made many people poorer, and not able to afford the weapons and armour needed to become a full Spartan citizen. This was one of the factors which contributed to the rapid decline in the number of Spartan citizens.

The most glorious thing which could happen to a Spartan was to die in battle. Thus the actions of King Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, when the King and 300 fellow Spartans faced an entire invading army of Persians which probably numbered something in the region of at least 150,000 (the king and all Spartans present were slaughtered), was considered to be one of the most legendary episodes in Spartan history.

Women were upset when their sons returned home from fighting a battle, and often became distraught if they heard that the Spartans had been defeated without their son being killed. In his Sayings of Spartan Women, Plutarch reports a story of a Spartan mother who saw he son running back from a defeat where all other Spartans had been killed. Instead of being overjoyed to see her son return safely, the woman threw a tile at him, killing him, whilst shouting "And so they sent you to tell us the bad news?".

Another thing which has survived is the words supposedly spoken by a wife or mother to her husband or son when she handed him his heavy shield before he left to go on a campaign - "Return either with it or on it.". Greek shields were very heavy, and almost always discarded when a soldier fled the field. Spartan tradition dictated that dead Spartans should be brought back to the polis for burial on their shields - hence the saying.