A historical anecdote explains why the Macedonians and Spartans never went to war when king Philip conquered all of Greece.

This story appears in the November/December 2016 issue of National Geographic History magazine. Sparta’s enemies, when facing the intimidating Spartan forces, would see a wall of shields ...

The League of Corinth was an initiative of King Philip II of Macedon to unite all Greek city-states against the Persian ...

As a system of government, democracy quickly spread to a number of other leading city-states, despite the authoritarian grip of Sparta on the Greek world. However, Sparta's dominance was not to last.

Spartan women also had more freedom than other Greek women. For example, they could run the family farm. Spartan mothers told their sons before they left for battle, "Come back with your shield ...

As a system of government, democracy quickly spread to a number of other leading city-states, despite the authoritarian grip of Sparta on the Greek world. However, Sparta's dominance was not to last.

Spartan women also had more freedom than other Greek women. For example, they could run the family farm. Spartan mothers told their sons before they left for battle, "Come back with your shield ...