History of Sparta and Greece Archaic and Classical

Question:
What was the Great Rhetra, and when did it first come into existence?

A greater depth of study and a fuller range of reading are expected in the case of the major essay.

Some of the sources can come from the following.

The basic modern books to read about Sparta are:
W.G. Forrest, A History of Sparta 950-192 BC (W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393004816)
Irad Malkin, Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0090878413)
Paul Cartledge, Spartan Reflections (University of California Press, ISBN 978-0520231245)
Michael Whitby, Sparta (Routledge, ISBN 0415 939577)
The work of the most important ancient writers is available here:
Plutarch Life of Lycurgus (Loeb translation volume 1, ISBN 978-0674990524) or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0047
Plutarch Life of Pelopidas (Loeb translation volume 5, ISBN 978-0674990975) or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0054
Herodotus Histories (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0140446388) or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0140440393) or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0105
or
http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydides-jowetttoc-b.htm
Xenophon, Loeb translation volume 7 (Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, Agesilaus, and other works): ISBN 978-0674992023 or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0210:text=Const.%20Lac
Xenophon Loeb translation volume 3 (Anabasis): ISBN 978-0674991019 or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0202
Xenophon Loeb translation volume 1 (Hellenica I-IV): ISBN 978-0674990982 and Xenophon Loeb translation volume 2 (Hellenica V-VII): ISBN 978-0674990999 or online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.020
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History Loeb translations include ISBN 978-0674994133 Books 9-17 online in English at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0084
or here
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html

Paul Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300-362 BC (Routledge, ISBN 978-0415262767)
D.M. Lewis, Sparta and Persia (Brill, ISBN 978-9004054271)
Daniel Ogden, Aristomenes of Messene: Legends of Sparta’s Nemesis (Classical Press of Wales, ISBN 978-0954384548)