Lycurgus was once asked why Sparta had no defensive wall around its perimeter. He responded, “A city is well-fortified with a wall of men instead of brick.”
Parallel – Numa
Important Places
- Sparta – Lycurgus’s hometown. This polis will become famous for its military oligarchy and remain undefeated (against a Greek foe) until the Thebans defeat them in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC.
- Crete – Island at the bottom of the Aegean Sea, the center of Bronze Age Minoan civilization and thus respected by the Iron Age Greeks for its antiquity and traditions.
- Asia Minor – Called Anatolia by the Greeks of the Classical Period, the Aegean Coast of modern-day Turkey had hundreds of Greek colonies who spoke a dialect similar to the Attic, the dialect spoken around Athens.
- Egypt – One of the greatest powers in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, their Iron Age existence was dominated by foreign powers: Nubians, then Assyrians, and finally the Persians.
Important People
- Homer – Lycurgus discovers his poems in Asia Minor and sees their benefit in training soldiers to seek battle-glory.
- Alcander – Another poet
- Lysander – For Plutarch, Lycurgus begins Spartan greatness and Lysander causes its downfall. As he begins the story of Spartan glory, he still keeps their demise in view.
Outline
- Uncertain origins: second son of King of Sparta
- Expected to become king when father and brother dead
- Chemical Abortion or Infanticide?
- Charilaus born – joy of the people
- 8-month reign as regent incites envy
Lycurgus Learns through Travel
- Travels
- Crete
- Poetry makes good laws palatable
- Private hostilities calmed
- Asia Minor
- Crete was healthy “simple and severe”
- Asia diseased “extravagant and permissive”
- Lycurgus discovers the poems of Homer!
- makes Homer famous all over mainland Greece
- Homer’s poetry harmonizes well with the Spartan ideals of military courage as the highest virtue
- Crete
- Return Home
- Lycurgus resolves to rewrite the entire Spartan system of government
- Not a written constitution; this will become particularly clear later on
- Apollo gives his blessing calling Lycurgus “more god than man”
- Apollo also prophesies that his reforms will be “by far the strongest and best of all constitutions”
- He and 30 friends take over the marketplace
- Lycurgus resolves to rewrite the entire Spartan system of government
Legals changes 1, 2, 3
- ONE: Gerousia (Senate)
- γέρων (gerōn) – old man – Council of Elders –> γερουσία (Gerousia)
- senex – old man – Council of Elders –> Senate (see Life of Romulus)
- Rhetrai [sections 6 and 13]
- Verbal contracts with sacred force
- The name for most utterances of the gods to men
- Not to be ignored or trampled over lightly
- “named in the belief that they came from the gods as oracles”
- The GREAT RHETRA (from Apollo)
- Mixed Constitution
- 2 Kings
- Gerousia
- 5 Ephors – balance the power of the oligarchs
- Mixed Constitution
- TWO: Redistribution of Land
- Purpose – “To end jealousy, vice, and luxury”
- Homoioi – equals
- Perikoikoi – (not mentioned in this life)
- Helots – etym. “the seized” a particularly brutal form of slavery, even by an ancient standard [28]
- Citizens forbidden from
- Using coins (iron bars instead)
- Practicing a trade
- Even the tradesmen limited in
- What they could make
- Tools they worked with
- Nonetheless, their objects attained the reputation as well-crafted
- e.g. like modern military-issue gear (K-bar knife, M-16, etc…)
- Even the tradesmen limited in
- THREE: Syssitia (Common Meals)
- Fixed Menu – black broth the staple!
- Wealth – blind, lifeless, and still in Sparta
- The wealthy react poorly
- Lycurgus loses an eye!
- Punishment for Alcander
- Serve Lycurgus
- Converted to thinking L is best man and himself becomes “Sparta’s most well-mannered and wise citizens”
- Temple to Athena Optilis
- The COHORT (15 members)
- Everyone contributes food
- King Agis not allowed to dine at home
- Children learn self-discipline here (GRK: σωφροσύνη)
- What happens in here, stays in here
- Take a joke, and give one!
- Bread-basket ballot
- Punishment for Alcander
- Three other minor rhetras
- Don’t write these down! (Training and Ethics more important than Laws)
- Simple Homes: All tools except axe and saw forbidden
- Don’t fight consistently against the same enemy
- Marriage and Childbirth [14-16]
- The Agōgē (ἀγωγή) [16-19]
- Those Laconic Spartans [19-21]
- Military Maneuvers [22-24]
- Education never stops [24-25
- Blessing of scholē
- Freedom and restraint
Political Setup
- How someone elected to Gerousia [26]
- Over 60
- Group of candidates selected
- Assembly called, and votes decided by length of shout and volume of shout
- Burying the dead [27]
- NO injustice or inequality in these laws [28]
- Those who criticize (cough cough: ARISTOTLE + PLATO) for lack of Justice
- Krypteia! And treatment of Helots
- Lycurgus leaves: Spartans are living the laws, established in their hearts and minds [29]
- Makes Spartans promise never to deviate
- Goes to Delphi, sacrifices to Apollo, starves himself to death
- Leaves the Spartans to 500 years of supremacy and prosperity
The End of Perfection: Why Did Sparta fail?
- Until Lysander [30]
- Money flowed in and corrupted the morals
- Before then, Spartans consistently selected as generals:
- By other Greeks
- By Sicilians
- By Egyptians
- By satraps and kings in Asia
- Lycurgus created a state not suited to rule others [31]
- A state “in love with wisdom”
- “free, self-reliant, self-regulated” citizens
- Many philosophers agreed with him, but he was the only one who executed on his great ideas, leaving behind a polis rather than just writings.