The Great Rhetra: The issue of Lycurgus Flashcards
What does ‘Lycurgus’ also mean?
Great saying
Who was Lycurgus?
A legendary lawgiver of Sparta living around 9 BC.
What is Lycurgus credited with creating?
The Spartan constitution in 7 BC to 4BC, which was all oral law.
What was the great Rhetra?
It was a Spartan constitution that dictated government, military, economy, and social structure. Lycurgus traveled the Greek world to find this constitution.
What virtues did Lycurgus’ reforms promote?
Equality among citizens, military fitness, and austerity.
What inconsistencies exist regarding Lycurgus?
- The overlap of time
- contradicting stories from written sources like historians like Herodotus, Plutarch, and Xenophon
Who is Plutarch?
A historian known as ‘The Storyteller’ who wrote a biography about Lycurgus.
What significant event did Plutarch claim to have experienced?
He met the oracle of Delphi, which was said to grant prophecies by the God Apollo.
What did Plutarch say about the Rhetra?
It was revealed through a prophecy.
What is a notable quote from Plutarch’s work?
Sweep away the existing order and to make a complete change of constitution.
Why is Plutarch’s work considered unreliable?
He wrote 500 years after the fall of Spartan society.
Who is Herodotus?
A historian known as ‘Mr Neutral’ who lived from 484 to 425 BCE.
What did Herodotus rely on for his accounts?
Word of mouth from the Laconians.
What does Herodotus say about Lycurgus and the Great Rhetra?
Lycurgus got the Great Rhetra from Crete after becoming the guardian of the nephew of Lebotus.
What was Xenophon known as?
The Spartan Admirer.
What did Xenophon emphasize in his writings?
Sparta’s political and military system, discipline, order, and military ethos.
What is a source from Xenophon?
Constitution of the Lacedaemonians.
How did Xenophon view Lycurgus?
He praised him as wise and a great leader, presenting a biased view.
What is a summary of the evidence regarding Lycurgus?
There is limited evidence, and sources lack reliability due to bias.
What does H. Mitchell state about Lycurgus?
The very existence of Lycurgus is strongly open to doubt.
What occurred regardless of Lycurgus’ existence?
A Spartan revolution did occur.
