THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SPARTANS (color, approx. 200 minutes) Produced by Triage Entertainment for The History Channel, 2003. Overall direction by Richard Schmidt, with various writers, editors, and segment directors. First broadcast in the USA by The History Channel (cable TV), 2002. Available in the USA on A&E Video (DVD and VHS; two discs or cassettes) First of all, a caveat emptor: the DVD version of this documentary is available only on DVD-R, a departure from the norm, and they have a horrible incompatibility with many DVD players, especially from those before 2000, I’m told. This writer, with a Zenith DVD player bought in 2000, experienced this firsthand, with two separate sets failing to play. I am reviewing this from my old-fashioned VHS tapes made from the original TV broadcasts in October 2002. Big thumbs down to A&E and its DVD suppliers for treating so many potential customers like second-class citizens. The home video design consists of the dull, generic History Channel packaging, too, in contrast to the PBS show’s colorful box art. Part 1: Code of Honor This program, like PBS’ THE SPARTANS, opens at Thermopylae. And it, too, employs a lot of reenactor footage, much of it shot in annoyingly blurred and grainy slo-mo close-ups (this has the virtue of sometimes camouflaging sloppy costuming). With these effects, a little typical CGI work, and heavy reliance on static talking head shots, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SPARTANS comes across as very much a formulaic, by-the-numbers US TV documentary. There is little of the dynamism or stylish composition of THE SPARTANS, zero humor, and far too much redundant commentary by various academic experts. These include many authors found in our Book List: Victor Davis Hanson, Steven Pressfield, Donald Kagan, and Paul Cartledge. The effect is a choppy and dull production, not helped by the fadeouts for commercials every 15 minutes or the hackneyed soundtrack, After the intro, the narrative reverses course and discusses the Dorian invasions and immediately loses credibility by showing a map of Greece that places Sparta in a completely wrong location (on the coast!) – a mistake that is never corrected. Other factual errors slip into the narration. Didn’t any of the experts see a preview copy? Early Spartan art is discussed, then the Messenian conquest, helots, and the Lycurgan rhetra. Spartan social and political institutions are examined. Some location photography of Sparta is used to accompany voiceovers, but not as much as in the PBS film, and often it is not clear what is being shown. Some of the still art chosen for the camera is also suspect – Turks substituting for Persians, Pantheon-like structures for classical Greek temples, and so on. (Side note: why doesn’t someone fully excavate Sparta’s theatre?) The Spartan education system (the agoge) is then treated at length (although the script sometimes makes the agoge sound like a place or building rather than an institution). At least the “compulsory homosexuality” claim is not made, and the nature of Spartan male relationships is addressed from all points of view. The term “regiment” is used synonymously with the syssitia, the small, intimate mess clubs, which is very misleading. The coming of the Persian Wars is then discussed, although some elements are compressed (Athens did not have its navy until Xerxes’ invasion) and the date is wrongly given as “the end of the 7th century BC” and Ionia is inaccurately portrayed on a map of Asia Minor as a city rather than a region. Hoplite warfare is detailed and the narrative confusingly backtracks several generations to look at the Spartan/Tegean conflict of the 560s BC. Then back to the Persian threat. Then we learn about kings Cleomenes and Demaratus, then Leonidas and Thermopylae, then we back up again (after the commercial fade) to Marathon. The entire chronology of this section is fragmented and jumpy. The battle of Thermopylae is examined in great detail, rating much more time than given in THE SPARTANS. (The site of Thermopylae is also usually misplaced on the map.) We see many reenactor scenes, including some subpar Greeks and a handful of pseudo-Persians. Computer graphics give the false impression that the pass was dramatically on the edge of a sheer precipice falling into the sea. After the fall of Thermopylae, the remainder of Part 1 deals with the battles of Salamis and Plataea. Keeping to the pattern, Thessaly and Thebes are mislocated on a map. Part 2: Tides of War The second part opens with a recapping of the rise of Spartan power and the events of the Persian Wars, then moves on to the origins of the Delian League and Athenian empire. In fact, the focus of Part 2 shifts strongly away from Sparta and onto Athens. Making up slightly for this curious twist, Thessaly finally gets placed correctly on the map. The Peloponnesian War dominates this part almost exclusively. Strategies, maneuvers, and battles are exuberantly explained by voiceovers and the corps of talking heads while drums and brass thunder ominously in the background. Interesting stuff, but it gets tedious as detail piles upon detail. The narrative structure fights to stay on track while each commentator veers the discussion into a different avenue. Oddly, the watershed battle of Sphacteria is given only a cursory mention. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SPARTANS threatens to become The Alcibiades Show about 30 minutes into this half. The final third of Part 2 deals with the Spartan Hegemony following the final defeat of Athens. The commentary turns quite harsh at this point, with Sparta universally condemned as a bully and its leaders presented as utterly unscrupulous. This does not reflexively make Sparta’s enemies more admirable to me; it just makes for a sad, tawdry atmosphere to the end of this program. The defeat of Leuctra inevitably comes – although Epaminondas’ new tactics are inadequately explained – and some speculation is given over to reasons why Sparta’s population went into terminal decline. The founding of Megalopolis and the separation of Messenia from the Lacedaemonian state are presented as death blows to Spartan power. Like THE SPARTANS, this documentary closes with mention of Roman tourists treating Sparta as a theme park and of Sparta’s surprisingly enduring legacy and influence on succeeding states, from noble experiments such as the French and American republics to the foul perversions of Nazi Germany. Strangely, there is no examination of religious customs or women’s roles except briefly in Part 1. There is also no further discussion of social or cultural issues in the second half of the program; part 2 is entirely military/political history, often with a pro-Athens slant. Regrettably, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SPARTANS is something of a wasted opportunity. It has the typical virtues and failings of what has become The History Channel/A&E network documentary house style, with none of the flair of THE SPARTANS made a year later. Adequate, but nothing to get excited about, and marred by embarrassing sloppiness. If you have to chose between the two, I recommend buying THE SPARTANS and renting this one. The former you’ll enjoy over and over again, but the other is strictly pedestrian. Kevin Hendryx