Although this system had originally brought Sparta to her hegemony in 404 BC with victory over Athens in the Peloponnesian War, flawed elements within her own economic system and the conservative nature of her leaders throughout the period had eventually led to the state's decline. ... This represented a weakness in the state and economic structure that hindered its power, and Aristotle (from The Politics, quoted in Hennessy, 1991, 69) is critical of Sparta's brutal methods employed to control them as he states "results of this kind go to show that the state has yet to learn the righ...

• Word Count: 2813
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate