Lycurgus
Lycurgus was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its , involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Delphic oracle. The Spartans in the historical period honoured him as a god.
As a historical figure, almost nothing is known for certain about him, including when he lived and what he did in life. The stories of him place him at multiple times. Nor is it clear when the political reforms attributed to him, called the Great Rhetra, occurred. Ancient dates range from – putting aside the implausibly early Xenophonic 11th century BC – the early ninth century to as late as early eighth century. There remains no consensus as to when he lived; some modern scholars deny that he existed at all.
The reforms at various times attributed to him touch all aspects of Spartan society. They included the creation of the Spartan constitution, the imposition of the Spartan mess halls called syssitia, the redistribution of land to each citizen by head, Spartan austerity and frugality, and Sparta's unique wedding and funerary customs. None of these reforms can be concretely attributed to Lycurgus. Most of the reforms likely date to the late sixth century BC, postdating his supposed life by centuries; some of the reforms, such as for the redistribution of land, are fictitious.
The extent of the Lycurgan myth emerges from Sparta's self-justification, seeking to endow its customs with timeless and divinely sanctioned antiquity. That antiquity was also malleable, reinvented at various times to justify the new as a return to Lycurgus' ideal society: his land reforms, for example, are attested only after the reformist Spartan monarchs Agis IV and Cleomenes III who sought to redistribute Sparta's land. The reforms attributed to Lycurgus, however, have been praised by ancients and moderns alike, seeing at various times different morals projected on a figure of which so little concrete can be known.
Biography
Historicity and chronology
A multitude of ancient sources mention Lycurgus; it is, however, troubling inasmuch as those accounts evolved according to then-contemporary political priorities and that they are profoundly inconsistent. The oldest is that of Herodotus, who wrote in the latter half of the fifth century BC. His account is likely based on oral accounts from both Spartans and non-Spartans in Greece. The two royal dynasties of Sparta, the Agiads and Eurypontids, both claimed Lycurgus in their ancestries.However, Lycurgus does not feature in the earliest preserved Spartan source – the poet Tyrtaeus – which has led many historians today to doubt his historicity: for example, Massimo Nafissi in A Companion to Sparta writes he is "probably mythical". Others have attempted to glean from the myths that survive some kernel of truth. But most historians "would subscribe to the stark judgement of Antony Andrewes: 'if there was a real Lycurgus, we know nothing of him.
There is no consensus as to when a historical Lycurgus lived, neither today or in the ancient world. Most attempts to date his life are based on when the Great Rhetra, which promulgated Lycurgus' reforms, occurred. The most accepted date in the ancient world was that based on the genealogy of Ephorus and the chronology of Eratosthenes, which dated the to 118 years after the reign of one of Sparta's founding kings, Procles, which corresponds to. Alternatively, an excursus in the 5th century BC Greek historian Thucydides' Archaeology indicates that the reforms were instituted some four hundred years prior to the end of the Peloponnesian war, placing them to 804 or 821 BC. The 4th century BC Greek general Xenophon, on the other hand, claimed that he was also responsible for the creation of the Lacedaemonian dual monarchy, placing him during the reign of the Heraclid kings Eurysthenes and Procles, dated to. Modern scholars generally date the Great Rhetra to before the First Messenian War, placing it prior to 736 BC. Little consensus exists for any more specificity. Nor should Lycurgus necessarily be credited with, and therefore dated to, the rhetra: it may have been a charter created some time in the seventh century to justify and ennoble with antiquity Sparta's institutions, especially after Sparta's emergence as the most powerful state in Greece.
One artefact, the Disc of Iphitos, also allegedly documents Lycurgus' involvement with the formation of the Olympic Games and would therefore place him, per the philosopher Aristotle. The disc, however, is likely a forgery from the fourth century BC. The ancients had two solutions for this lack of chronological clarity: the historian Timaeus posited two Lycurguses: one who did the reforms and a later one with the same name who was present at the first Olympics. Eratosthenes instead posited the disc reflected informal Olympics held before 776 BC.
The tradition in Sparta of Lycurgus' existence dates to some time between the archaic age and the fifth century. Inasmuch as no Lycurgus is mentioned in Tyrtaeus, it is likely that the legend dates to shortly after Tyrtaeus' time, and therefore the late seventh or early sixth century. It likely emerged from Spartan success in that period and a desire to explain it. His legend was also constantly reworked and expanded through the course of the classical Greek period by securing for Spartans in their times divine sanction and greater legitimacy for actions which they claimed to be a return to Lycurgus' laws.
Life
In the earlier legends of Lycurgus, namely in the accounts of the Great Rhetra, Lycurgus is not credited with a radical reorganisation of Spartan life or with the institution of the ephorate. These early oral traditions – contra the written accounts – are "far from uniform". The earliest surviving written account on Lycurgus is in Herodotus, placing him as the guardian and regent of the early Argiad king Leobotes. Later accounts of Lycurgus' activities associate him with the later-more-influential Eurypontid dynasty instead, specifically as regent of Charilaus; the disputes indicate that the two royal houses by the historical period attempted to associate themselves by blood with the figure.Herodotus provides two accounts for how the laws which Lycurgus enacted came to him: in the first version, Lycurgus receives those laws from Apollo through the Pythia at Delphi; in the second, based on Sparta's own traditions, Lycurgus bases the reforms on existing laws in Crete. Spartan and Cretan institutions did indeed have common characteristics, but, though some direct borrowing may have occurred, such similarities are in general more likely to be because of the common Dorian inheritance of Sparta and Crete rather than because some individual such as Lycurgus imported Cretan customs to Sparta. Some versions of the story say that Lycurgus subsequently traveled as far as Egypt, Spain, and India. In the narrative of Lycurgus' reforms in Herodotus, Lycurgus is supposed to have created much of the Spartan constitution, including the gerousia and the ephorate. He also is supposed to have reorganised Spartan military life and instituted the syssitia. In Xenophon's telling, the legend of Lycurgus expanded even further, ascribing to him not only reforms but also the creation of the Lacedaemonian dual monarchy and state as well.
The description of Lycurgus as a regent or guardian who establishes the laws characterises him as a selfless figure who places the good of his king and community before his own. To that end there are two main traditions relating to his regency. The first, in Herodotus, is that he undertakes the regency until his ward came of age. The second is that he resigns, to protect his ward, amid rumours that he wishes to supplant the ward as king. Plutarch's version of the story includes the ward's mother seeking Lycurgus' hand in marriage to facilitate his accession. In this version, Lycurgus leaves to prevent himself from being used as a pawn in politics against his nephew.
The tradition where Lycurgus continues in the regency has little difficulty in placing him in a position to promulgate his laws. But the latter tradition where he leaves the city requires him to be recalled. In Aristotle's version, recounted by Plutarch, Lycurgus leads his followers into the city and occupies the agora to impose his laws; backed by Apolline divine approval, he forces the tyrannical Charilaus to accede to them and institutes the gerousia. Xenophon instead has Lycurgus forging an alliance with the most powerful non-royal citizens and forcing the laws through. Plutarch's narrative presented in his own voice instead consolidates prior disparate stories into a general upsurge of support from the kings, the people, and the aristocracy.
In Plutarch's narrative, Lycurgus' laws cause backlash among the wealthy, who attempt to have him stoned. After he flees to the temple of Athena Chalcioecus and has one of his eyes put out by an adolescent, his opponents back down and he forgives the adolescent. The extent to which this story of revolution and conflict with the wealthy is driven by – or a retrojection from – the experiences of the reformist Spartan kings Agis IV and Cleomenes III is unclear; the two later Spartan kings used the Lycurgan legend to justify their redistributive policies as a return to Lycurgus' "true" Spartan traditions, deviations from which explained all problems of latter-day Sparta. Finally, in Plutarch's version, after Lycurgus' recall to Sparta to institute new laws, he has the community swear not to change the laws until he returns from Delphi. Upon reaching Delphi he dies so to enshrine the laws forever.
Attributed reforms
Lycurgus' laws are supposed to have touched the whole of Spartan society. At various times, the Spartans attributed every one of their institutions to him, except the institution of the dual monarchy. Because the Spartans attributed all manner of laws and customs to him, it is impossible to determine which laws are his in actuality. However, it is clear today, from comparisons with other archaic Greek states, that Spartan institutions such as men's dining halls, organisation of age cohorts, and the use of iron money were not entirely out of the norm and had previously existed in other Greek cities: what made them distinctive was for how long they had been preserved at Sparta.The character of many of the economic and social reforms attributed to Lycurgus was allegedly to ensure that citizens competed with each other only in merit rather than in wealth. However, many of the social reforms which are attributed to Lycurgus postdate him by centuries, occurring between 600–500 BC after various Spartan conquest of Messenia and Cynuria made landholdings available for the Spartan citizens. The economic reforms, which are supposed to have made Spartan citizens equal, never happened and were invented to legitimise redistributive policies in the Hellenistic period.