By any standards Sparta was a remarkable society. Its early history is little known, but by the start of the Classical Period Sparta was one of many city-states vying with each other for power and hegemony. During the 5th century BCE Sparta became the dominant such power, and did so largely because its society was entirely focused on military preparedness. All of its male citizens (spartiates) were professional, full-time soldiers, reared from birth with that sole purpose in mind. These were the hoplites, and with such a uniquely rigorous and single-minded attitude it is no wonder that they were universally accepted as the finest soldiers in the Hellenic World. Their primary role was to ensure the continuance of the social order at home, where they were vastly outnumbered by the perioikoi (free non-citizens) and particularly the helots, who were serfs (basically enslaved conquered peoples). This set is dated for the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, which saw many wars between the various Greek city states as well as two major incursions by the mighty Persian Empire to the East. During this period Sparta rose to be the dominant power in Greece, then declined, and was ultimately conquered by Macedonia along with the rest of the Greek states.

Although there was no real concept of uniform, the appearance of warriors still followed fashion and changed over time, and this set is ambitious indeed in claiming that it covers two centuries, so to begin with we must examine this claim in detail. All the men wear bronze cuirasses, specifically the 'bell' cuirass, which was the forerunner of the muscle cuirass which strangely is illustrated on the front of the box but does not appear on the figures themselves. The bell cuirass was worn in the 6th and early 5th centuries BCE, but after that it disappeared, replaced first by the muscle cuirass and then largely by the stiffened linen cuirass. By the later 5th century the cuirass had disappeared entirely in an effort to further lighten the load of the soldier, although the latter seems to have returned later still. All this means these men are only suitable for the first few years of the 5th century, perhaps the first quarter century (given that Sparta was a highly conservative society and was very slow to change or abandon traditional costume). Zvezda then have wildly overestimated the suitable date range for these figures, which we must assume is a deliberate marketing ploy to maximise the appeal of the set. These figures are actually good for approximately 520 to 475 BCE.

There are plenty of other features of this set to confirm this dating. The helmets, though in several designs, are all of the Corinthian or the open-faced Illyrian type (these are modern categorisations). All have fixed cheek-pieces, and none have cut-outs for the ears, nor the completely closed face, which again fits exactly in our suggested period. All have crests, including one with a raised crest that would have been particularly old-fashioned by the early 5th century. All have greaves which cover the knee and clip on to the leg, which appear during the 6th century and disappear at the same time as the cuirass. A few also have metal armour on their upper right arm, which had largely disappeared by the close of the 6th century, but again may have persisted in conservative Sparta for longer. The same applies to the two poses with metal flaps round the groin, which would have been very rare by the 5th century. Finally, all wear a tunic. To what extent Spartan (or other) Greek soldiers actually went into battle naked remains a matter for debate, so the presence of the tunic is fine here.