The book that I read was, A History of Sparta 950-192 B.C., by W.G. Forrest. This narrative of history extends from Sparta's founding in the tenth century B.C. to the Roman Conquest in 192 B.C. The book gives the reasons for Sparta's rise and fall. Forrest examines the reasons why Sparta was able to conquer in war but could not maintain an empire, and why the state was too weak to survive the shock of defeat by Athens at Leuktra in 371.
             Sparta was founded in the tenth century and was not a city like those of the rest in Greece. By the late fifth century, Sparta had become the paragon of Greek oligarchies as Athens was the model for democracies. In 404 B.C. Athens lost the Peloponnesian War. An extraordinary experiment in imperialism had failed and the bright world she had built to dazzle the world of Greece for fifty years collapsed. Sparta was renowned for the skill and courage of their army and for the stability and excellence of their constitution. A man by the name of Lykourgos had created all the institutions which made Sparta and the Spartans what they were.
             Not long after the annexation of Messenia, in 708, Sparta sent out a colony of Tarentum in South Italy, her only certain colony venture after the migration period. The motive was political trouble at home; the colonists, a dissident group called the Partheniai. These people were not recognized as Spartans even though they were born of Spartan mothers and fathers. Disgruntled by this, they attempted a revolution.
             The first Pelonponnesian War broke out in 459 B.C. with Athens' occupation of Megara and encounters with other northern allies of Sparta, which resulted in an untidy affair from the Spartan side. Sthenelaidas won by a large majority. To Sparta hegemony mattered more than a treaty.
             The second Peloponnesian War began in 415, when Athens committed a large part of her forces to an attack on Sicily. Athens lost the battle. No mat...