Myke Cole, author of The Bronze Lie: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy, joins the show to discuss what most people get wrong about Sparta, arguing that Spartan warriors were neither more deadly, nor more successful in war, than other Greeks of their day.

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Times 

• 01:09 Introduction

• 05:13 “Not especially tough”

• 09:17 Getting it right, not being right

• 10:48 What is the “Bronze Lie”? 

• 16:57 Captured by politics

• 23:23 Who were the Spartans?

• 30:11 Spartan slavery 

• 34:09 The Greco-Persian Wars 

• 37:00 Thermopylae

• 41:32 Sparta and soft power

• 45:30 “Making the time”