The two-volume work by Sarantos Kargakos, a distinguished historian from Laconia, which totals 1600 pages, aims to cover with admirable vividness and scientific depth the history of the city-state of Sparta, which, along with the city of Athens, formed the duality around which, for the most part, ancient Greek life was woven in its rich and varied expressions.

The book, as the well-meaning researcher and reader will discover, covers the history of Sparta from mythical times and the pre-Dorian era to the 4th century AD. A central element of the writing is the exhaustive use of sources up to 2005. Based on this vast "material," where ancient writers take precedence, Kargakos prismatically analyzes the accounts and gives his writing a distinctive multi-layered form.

Thus, the history presented is not - as one might expect - solely military and partially political; it is also economic, religious, and demographic, as necessary for a society in continuous action. This allows him to refer to many unknown or obscure figures and aspects of Spartan history.

The work is adorned with rare and simultaneously rich photographic material, as well as rare lithographs, which come exclusively from the author's archive. All of the above is framed by the well-known literary grace, clarity, and personal style of the renowned historian Sarantos Kargakos, who manages, despite the volume of the work, to make "The History of Ancient Sparta" accessible and enjoyable for those who read it, without diminishing the scientific prestige of the work in the least.