Abstract

When Kleomenes seized the Athenian Akropolis , he was forced to surrender and leave Attika. Why was he wearing a very short cloak? Wilamowitz thought it was because he had to give up part of his clothing when he surrendered. But in fact Spartans always wore scanty clothing; being unwashed for six years cannot have been a condition of surrender after a siege lasting only two days ; and clearly the whole of 278–80 is not an account of the conditions of surrender, but an expression of the Athenians' amusement or disgust at the normal appearance of Spartans