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 Greek Soldiers underwent a rigorous training and education regiment prior to earning their shield and being placed in a Spartan phalanx. The success of the phalanx relied on each member of the ...

I will die with my shield before me facing the enemy.” ~Spartan Creed Few militaries in history are more revered than the mighty Spartan army. Spartans made an art form of the Greek phalanx ...

While this line is almost certainly apocryphal, losing one’s shield was nevertheless ... he won the central Greek city of Megara to Sparta’s cause, then marched north, cleverly outmaneuvering ...

Outnumbered and undaunted, Spartan warriors and other Greek troops ... this ceramic plate from the fifth century B.C., a Greek with a shield bearing the image of Pegasus defeats a Persian warrior.

They also worked on ancient Greek pottery designs and made Spartan shields. During the festival, students played a memory game and recalled facts about ancient Greece and made gilded bracelets.

Save guides, add subjects and pick up where you left off with your BBC account. In ancient times, Greece wasn't a single country like it is today. It was made up of lots of smaller states.

Asked why it was dishonorable to return without a shield and not without a helmet, the Spartan king, Demaratos (510 - 491) is said to have replied: "Because the latter they put on for their own ...

Save guides, add subjects and pick up where you left off with your BBC account. In ancient times, Greece wasn't a single country like it is today. It was made up of lots of smaller states.