I've been playing Rome Total War 2 recently.
Yes, I know, sharp intakes of breath, an absolutely horrible way to learn anything remotely to do with history.
Obviously Sparta becoming an analogue for the Roman Empire as it has in my game is stupid.
But, playing the game has got me thinking about real Spartan history.
What if, they did manage to carve out a little empire for themselves?
Nothing on a Roman scale of course, but a more significant chunk of Greece than they did IOTL.
What if we get to a situation where Sparta has no choice but to annex other cities, merely making them pay tribute wouldn't work for some reason.
The main direction of my thoughts was....what would come of Spartan society in this situation?
Could they hold to their strict ideas of citizenship? But what then, what would happen with all of these free non-citizens running about?
Is it simply impossible for Sparta to get an empire as it would always be stuck sitting on the lesser peoples with its limited Spartan numbers?
Yes, I know, sharp intakes of breath, an absolutely horrible way to learn anything remotely to do with history.
Obviously Sparta becoming an analogue for the Roman Empire as it has in my game is stupid.
But, playing the game has got me thinking about real Spartan history.
What if, they did manage to carve out a little empire for themselves?
Nothing on a Roman scale of course, but a more significant chunk of Greece than they did IOTL.
What if we get to a situation where Sparta has no choice but to annex other cities, merely making them pay tribute wouldn't work for some reason.
The main direction of my thoughts was....what would come of Spartan society in this situation?
Could they hold to their strict ideas of citizenship? But what then, what would happen with all of these free non-citizens running about?
Is it simply impossible for Sparta to get an empire as it would always be stuck sitting on the lesser peoples with its limited Spartan numbers?