De héroes a antihéroes: los espartanos en la historiografía europea de la primera mitad del siglo XIX

Abstract

Until the end of the 18th century the Spartans were the main model and referent of Greek Antiquity in western tradition and thought, embodying the values ​​of courage, patriotism, community service, constitutional stability and austerity against an Athens whose democracy was perceived as ochlocracy and its wealth like corruption. In this paper we will show how the incipient scientific historiography of the first half of the 19th century, notably in Great Britain, dismantled the Spartan paradigm by focusing on its exclusive oligarchic regime, its militarism and its cultural and economic sterility, while replaced by the Athenian paradigm, based on its democratic regime, its imposing cultural legacy and the beneficial leadership of a naval empire, an image that holds a suspicious resemblance to the liberal and industrious contemporary British empire.

Keywords

• sparta
• athens
• paradigm
• democracy
• historiography
• grote
• bulwer lytton