In the first episode of The Spartans, Bettany Hughes examines the evolution of this intriguing ancient civilisation. While Athens is credited with art, architecture, science, philosophy and democratic politics, Sparta's ideals and traditions are equally potent and enduring: duty, discipline, the sacrifice of the individual to the greater good and mind over matter. Hughes explains how Sparta evolved from a group of tribal villages concerned with farming and fighting into the most powerful force in the Ancient Greek world. A totalitarian utopia, whose unique society revolved around a single aim: the creation of a male warrior-elite whose sole focus was war. Unlike other Greek states whose hunger for land had been met by colonisation, Sparta found a different solution: they attacked, subdued and enslaved their Greek neighbours.