Ἄγετ' ὦΣπάρταςεὐάνδρου
κοῦροι πατέρων πολιητᾶν,
λαιᾶι μὲν ἴτυν προβάλεσθε,
δόρυ δ' εὐτόλμως πάλλοντες,
μὴ φειδόμενοι τᾶς ζωᾶς
οὐ γὰρ πάτριον τᾶι Σπάρται.

Sparta can be indeed a great city-state to live. Sparta can be a calm and easy going life but also it’s a life of dynamism and action. I am sure that all men wanted to leave there. How many other cities were worship as Sparta, or how many cities had enemies as Sparta? I can say with confidence no other city-state had what Sparta had!

Sparta Group in Ancient Worlds wants to present that greatness of that city-state with academic facts. That was initially, and still is, its purpose of existence. Slowly the group involved with serious discussions. Finally we get, as members and active elements of the group’s body, to a point, to the publication of the first volume, first issue, of Sparta’s Journal. That first issue, it is a piece of contributions by Reylari and Kallistos’ essays for the 1^st essay competition, which was lasted for a month (12 September – 12 October 2004).

The results of the 1^st essay competition of Sparta Group are the following: Reylari Socartes submit an essay with the title The Spartan Existence II, which discusses the importance of education in the body of Sparta socio-political existence. The essay is the second part of a first posted message in the ‘THE GREAT STOA’. Her essay is good formed with end references of two major historical works. However, the essay looks that lack a strong personal view, I believe that has that great element of academic research for a subject, which is difficult to be critical with, because of deficient information. Personally, I really like it and enjoy read it and for that reason it consist the main body of the Journal.

Kallistos Alexandros, also contribute to the Sparta’s 1^st essay competition, by submitting a very good comment piece. I consider it a comment because of the non-use of any notes or references, which I can say that do not have any position to that written work. I name the piece Women and Sparta’s Values, because I believe that it can simple state that talks about women, modern and ancient, accordance of Sparta’s values and customs. Kallistos work introduces a very serious point about a subject that is misunderstood throughout the modern years. His comment truly simply and support the suggestion that modern women could easily love the idea to leave in ancient Sparta. This comment can be easily the start of a series of debates!

Personally, I did the edition of the Journal and just added some additional book reviews and comments into it. The entire Journal was created because of the two aforementioned individuals, true lovers of Sparta. I hope that in the future they will continue to contribute and consequently others will follow. Sparta as a subject of debate is a great opportunity for imagination or academic inspiration. Thus, Sparta Group in Ancient Worlds was created for that previous mentioned reason, in addition to the development of Hellas neighbourhoods, especially the Peloponnesian prefecture.

I am glad that we reach that level by creating this petite Journal. I truly look forward for supplementary progress.