Sparta was ancient Greece's most formidable warrior society. Their rigorous militaristic culture and battlefield feats have become the stuff of legend - but what are the cold, hard facts behind the six-packs and leather loincloths of the popular imagination? Dr Andrew Bayliss of the University of Birmingham joins us to separate the fact from the fiction, explaining how a brutal education system and unyielding discipline forged this elite military state, and what eventually led to its downfall. Andrew's book is called 'SPARTA: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower' and publishes on the 18th September, 2025. 4:12 The Rise of Sparta & The Enslaved Helots 13:46 The Surprising Power of Spartan Women 17:20 Creating Warriors: The Brutal Spartan Upbringing 22:51 The Battle of Thermopylae: Fact vs. Fiction 39:35 The Peloponnesian War & The Decline of Sparta 45:58 Why Are We Still Obsessed With The Spartans? Produced by Mariana Des Forges, edited by Natija Grauzinyte & the channel manager is Vilde Øksnes. Join Dan and the team for the first-ever LIVE recording of Dan Snow's History Hit on Friday 12th September 2025! To celebrate 10 years of the podcast, Dan is putting on a special show of signature storytelling, never-before-heard anecdotes from his often stranger-than-fiction career as well as answering the burning questions you've always wanted to ask! Get tickets here, before they sell out: You can find more Dan Snow's History Hit on the audio podcast here: Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at All music from Epidemic Sounds. #DanSnowsHistoryHit #HistoryPodcast #Sparta