"Doran has succeeded in stressing the importance of phenomena that must have played a great role in the decline of the Spartan state. One of the positive features of the book is that Doran himself does not overestimate the signifi cance of his favourite causes of oliganthropia. Furthermore, he obviously has a very good command of relevant scholarly literature, his occasional criticisms are polite and respectful, he never pretends (so far as I can see) that a relevant controversy does not exist, and he succeeds in drawing our attention to aspects that have been rather neglected so far. The result is a praiseworthy achievement indeed."- Pavel Nývlt, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, in: EIRENE, Studia Graeca et Latina, 56 (2020).
