Old Greek city almost brought back snares (5)
I believe the answer is:
traps
'snares' is the definition.
('trap' can be a synonym of 'snare')
'old greek city almost brought back' is the wordplay.
'old greek city' becomes 'sparta' (I've seen this before).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (almost the whole word is kept).
'brought back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'sparta' with its final letter removed is 'spart'.
'spart' backwards is 'TRAPS'.
(Other definitions for traps that I've seen before include "Captures" , "Pony carts; ensnares" , "The pitfalls" , "Toils" , "Ambushes" .)