Sparta – Come and Take Them

Five weeks inside the hardest state in the ancient world.

In 480 BC a Persian army reached a narrow pass held by a few hundred Spartans. Xerxes told them to hand over their weapons. King Leonidas sent back two words: come and take them. This unit asks how a city produced men who would answer like that. It also asks what it cost them, and who paid the bill.

Every story is built on real, named people from the record. Students meet Leonidas at Thermopylae, Cleomenes and his ugly end, Demaratus the exiled king, Styphon on Sphacteria, and the helots whose labour held the whole system up.

What’s inside

• Social Studies: twelve original readings with questions. Each one tracks who fed the machine and who resisted it.
• Language Arts: original Spartan fiction in Weeks 1 and 3, with The Hobbit in Weeks 2 and 4. Every passage comes with close-reading questions. Each week ends with a Defend It argument.
• Science: the human body. Hands-on labs on muscle, endurance, sleep, heat and first aid.
• Philosophy: a weekly session on courage, using Aristotle’s middle way on real Spartan dilemmas.
• Rhetoric: a weekly spoken argument built on a four-part sentence.
• Second language: four short sessions a week.
• Shadow History: a weekly case file on a historical mystery. Settled facts come first. Every theory names its source.
• Life skills: one practical skill a week.

Who it’s for

This unit is for students aged 11 to 15. All reading, quizzes and written work are done online. A parent or tutor runs the hands-on parts. There are no grades and no exams: students are judged on what they can explain, defend and do.

The unit tells Spartan history straight, violence included.

Maths is not included. We recommend Khan Academy alongside.