Lycurgus (Ancient Greek: Λυκοῦργος; variously dated to the 9th, 8th, 7th, or 6th centuries BCE) was an ancient Greek political figure credited with reforms to the governmental structure of Sparta. Information about him in surviving sources is contradictory. Lycurgus belonged to one of the Spartan royal dynasties (either the Agiads or the Eurypontids) and served as a guardian to his nephew, either Harilaus or Leobotes. Drawing on the instructions of the Delphic Oracle and his own experiences, including those in Crete, he implemented political transformations. Lycurgus established or reorganized the council of elders (gerousia), incorporating kings, and streamlined the workings of the popular assembly (apella).
-> See also: Pausanias: The Spartan King That Opposed Imperialists
According to some accounts, he created a supervisory body known as the ephorate. As a result, Sparta evolved into an aristocratic polis with limited royal authority. Some ancient authors attribute broader reforms to Lycurgus, shaping all the socio-economic and cultural features of classical Sparta. According to these accounts, Lycurgus instituted an “equality society” by dividing state land into equal, inalienable plots (cleroi), prohibited the use of gold and silver coins, minimized interactions between Sparta and the outside world, and developed a distinct system of education.
In historical scholarship, there was long-standing skepticism about the historicity of Lycurgus, considering him a mythical figure (either a deified archaic-era god or a composite image of a Spartan lawgiver). Contemporary historiography leans towards viewing this figure as historical, though debates persist regarding the timing of Lycurgus’ life and the specific reforms attributed to him.
General Challenges
Ancient traditions about Lycurgus are fragmentary and highly contradictory. Many ancient Greek authors wrote about the Spartan lawgiver, but only a negligible portion of these accounts has survived, and opinions diverge on each biographical detail. This has led to debates in historiography on several issues. Overall, the problems related to the identity of Lycurgus and his legislation rank among the most intricate and convoluted aspects of Spartan history.
Chronology
For all ancient authors writing about Lycurgus, there is a tendency to date his activities to times of remote antiquity. In Xenophon’s account, this is the era of the first Heraclids, specifically Procles and Eurysthenes (11th century BCE). Herodotus places Lycurgus during the reign of King Leobotas in Sparta (early or the first half of the 10th century BCE). Thucydides, without naming Lycurgus, mentions that by the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (431 BCE), Sparta had “maintained good laws for over four centuries,” suggesting a date around the late 9th century BCE or approximately 831 BCE. Scholar N. Hammond proposed that Herodotus and Thucydides, working differently (relying on a list of kings in one case and calculating from contemporary events in the other), refer to the same date derived from Spartan tradition.
Eratosthenes and Apollodorus of Athens date Lycurgus’ legislation to the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 8th century BCE. Ephorus suggests a period between 885 and 869 BCE (or around 870 BCE). Aristotle, claiming to have read Lycurgus’ name on a disk from Olympia containing rules for a sacred truce, places the Spartan lawgiver as a contemporary of the first Olympiad in 776 BCE, making this the latest of the ancient datings.
-> See also: Archidamus II: The King of Sparta for 42 Years
In general, the chronological range assigned to Lycurgus by ancient authors spans more than three centuries. Modern scholars also lack a unanimous opinion on the dates. For a long time, the version proposed by Thucydides, placing Lycurgus at the end of the 9th century, was considered canonical due to Thucydides’ authority. However, in contemporary historiography, three main dates exist.
The first option roughly aligns with the classical view: the end of the 9th to the middle of the 8th centuries BCE, the period before the First Messenian War. Supporters generally trust the ancient tradition and attempt to reconcile specific discrepancies. For instance, N. Hammond suggests that the chronological accounts of Thucydides and Aristotle do not contradict each other: Lycurgus might have conducted his reforms around 810 BCE, “in the prime of life,” and acted as a geront in Olympia 34 years later. Some scholars make an important caveat: Lycurgus might have lived at the turn of the 9th and 8th centuries, but the reforms attributed to him could have taken place later, no earlier than the end of the 7th century BCE (A. Gomme’s version) or even in the 6th century BCE (G. Berve’s version).
The second date is the period between the First and Second Messenian Wars, from the end of the 8th to the first half of the 7th centuries BCE. Arguments supporting this dating suggest that another Lycurgus (a mythological hero from the Arcadian cycle according to E. Meyer or the legendary King Nemea in Argolis) might have been mentioned on the Olympic disk, or that the disk itself might belong to a later era, around 700 BCE, when Sparta (presumably) first became involved in Olympic affairs.
Finally, within the framework of the third hypothesis, Lycurgus’ reforms are attributed to the period after the Second Messenian War, in the 6th century BCE, often associated with other unknown lawmakers. Advocates of this version claim that less advanced Sparta could not have written laws before more advanced Athens and Corinth, considering ancient authors’ accounts of Lycurgus unreliable.
Curriculum vitae
Sources associate Lycurgus with one of the two royal houses of Sparta and, accordingly, with the lineage of the mythological hero Heracles. According to Herodotus, he was the son or grandson of King Agis I, the founder of the Agiad dynasty. According to the version of “most authors,” as presented by Plutarch, Lycurgus belonged to the Eurypontid dynasty and was the son of King Eunomus from his second wife, Dionassy, and the younger half-brother of King Polydectus. Researcher Y. Andreev notes that the name Eunomus is “too fitting for the father of the lawgiver to be considered genuine.” Plutarch, citing Simonides and an alternative genealogy, suggests that Lycurgus was the brother of Eunomus and the son of King Prytanis.
Researchers consider all these details to be fictional, belonging to the classical era. Apparently, each of the two ruling dynasties of Sparta wanted to claim Lycurgus as their representative, but acknowledging him as a king post-factum was impossible; lists of Spartan rulers were a well-known source. The solution was to portray Lycurgus as the son and younger brother of kings, acting as the guardian of his underage nephew. In Plutarch’s version, Lycurgus served as the guardian of Eunomides Harilaus, while according to Herodotus, he served Agiad Leobotes.
Plutarch asserts that the future lawgiver did inherit power after the death of his brother Polydectus, but it was soon revealed that the latter’s widow was pregnant. Lycurgus then declared that he would transfer power to the unborn child if it were a boy. The queen secretly offered to get rid of the fetus on the condition that Lycurgus would later marry her. He pretended to agree but insisted on preserving the child and the lineage, promising to “remove the newborn from the path.” A boy was born, and the uncle immediately proclaimed him king. Thus, Lycurgus’ rule lasted only eight months.
Later, Lycurgus had to leave his homeland due to constant conflicts with Harilaus’s mother and her relatives, especially with Harilaus’s brother Leonidas. He traveled to neighboring countries, studying their governmental structures, laws, and customs along the way. Lycurgus visited Crete (according to Aristotle, he lived for a long time in the city of Likt on this island) and then Ionia, which the Hellenes associated with luxury and indulgence.
There, he first read the poems of Homer, which were still relatively unknown, and “finding in them… much extremely valuable for an educator and statesman, he carefully transcribed and collected them to take with him.” According to Ephorus, on Chios, Lycurgus even met Homer in person. His journey then took him to Egypt. Spartan writer Aristocrat, son of Hipparchus, claimed that Lycurgus also traveled to Africa and the far west of the Oikoumene, to Spain, as well as far east to India, where he conversed with gymnosophists.
Meanwhile, civil unrest was unfolding in Lycurgus’ homeland. According to Plutarch, “the people grew bold, and the kings… either by their harsh measures excited the hatred of their subjects, or, seeking their favor or being impotent against them, stooped to them, so that lawlessness and disorder took possession of Sparta for a long time.” Lycurgus was repeatedly asked to return and take control, as people hoped for stabilization under his leadership. Eventually, he agreed, but first, he went to Delphi. The Pythia responded to his inquiry, stating that “the deity promises to bestow upon the Spartans orders vastly superior to those in other states.” Encouraged by this answer, Lycurgus began his reforms.
According to the sophist Hippias, Lycurgus “was a man tested in valor, a participant in many campaigns.” However, other authors described him as a peaceful man, and some associated his name with the idea of a sacred truce during the Olympic Games. According to one version of ancient tradition, Lycurgus came to the first Olympiad as a private individual but suddenly heard a voice rebuking him for “not persuading his fellow citizens to participate in this universal celebration.” Lycurgus considered it a sign and joined King Iphitos of Elis to “make the festival more magnificent and glorious, to give it a more reliable foundation.”
When the reforms were completed, the legislator announced to the assembly that there was still one question on which he needed advice from Apollo. Lycurgus obtained an oath from the Spartans that they would uphold the new laws until his return and he went to Delphi. The Pythia told him that “the laws are good, and the city will remain at the height of glory if it does not alter Lycurgus’s arrangement.” Lycurgus sent the text of the prophecy back to his homeland and, in accordance with his last will, subjected himself to starvation, ensuring that the Spartans would be forever bound by their oath.
“For him, he reasoned, after the most excellent achievements he had accomplished, this death would truly be the crowning glory of fortune and happiness. For his fellow citizens, who had sworn to preserve faithfulness to his institutions until his return, it would be the guardian of the blessings he had brought them in life.”
In historiography, there is an opinion that Lycurgus had to go into exile due to resistance faced by his reforms. Plutarch writes that the legislator was “fiercely hated by the rich,” and he had to flee the square under a hail of stones. A young Spartan named Alcander struck Lycurgus in the eye with a stick. In memory of this event, Lycurgus built the temple of Athena Optileptidae.
The legislator died, according to some accounts, in Cyrrhus, while others suggest Elis or Crete. According to Aristoxenus, the Cretans showed travelers Lycurgus’s tomb near the main road close to the city of Pergamum. According to Aristocrat, son of Hipparchus, the body of the deceased was burned in accordance with his last will, and the ashes were scattered over the sea.
Plutarch mentions a son of Lycurgus named Antior, who died childless. In subsequent eras, no Spartan claimed descent from the legislator.
Legislation
Great Rhetra
In the biography of Lycurgus written by Plutarch, a text of the legislative act called “Great Rhetra” has been preserved, apparently taken from Aristotle’s completely lost “Lacedaemonian Constitution.” It is presented in the form of an injunction from Apollo to the one who asked the question and reads: “Erect a temple to Zeus Sillaneius and Athena Sillaneia. Divide into phylai and obai. Establish 30 elders with leaders altogether. Convene the Assembly between Babichus and Cnacion, proposing and dissolving matters there, but let the rule belong to the people.”
All researchers, with rare exceptions, believe that this is indeed the text of an ancient document; scholars who acknowledge the historicity of Lycurgus associate the Great Rhetra with his name. The document, apparently, was kept in the state archives of Sparta, and at an early stage, the law may have functioned in oral form. From the text, it is inferred that Zeus and Athena were declared patrons of the community (the semantics of the epithet Sillaneius/Sillaneia, which is not found anywhere else, has no unanimous interpretation among scholars).
The Rhetra mentions phylai (units of tribal division in society) and obai (territorial entities, also referred to as villages). In Laconia, there were four Spartan obai (Limnae, Cynosura, Meso, and Pitana) and one Achaean, Amyclae. Apparently, Lycurgus replaced (completely or partially) the tribal division with a territorial one, but due to the conciseness of the Rhetra, researchers can only hypothesize about the details. For instance, N. Hammond suggested that instead of tribal phylai, fundamentally new subdivisions with the same name were created, each of which occupied the territory of one of the obai. Meanwhile, the old phylai, divided into fratries (clans), continued to exist and retained significance for religious life, while the new phylai were crucial primarily from a military-political perspective: each formed a military regiment, lochos.
Gerousia and Apella
According to Plutarch, Lycurgus’s very first and most important reform was the establishment of the council of elders, the Gerousia. It was the main governing body in Sparta, albeit subject to the popular assembly. Presumably, the Gerousia existed before Lycurgus but underwent reorganization by him. The number of gerontes (members of the Gerousia) might have been fixed at 30, and appointments based on tribal phylai could have been abolished, but age and class qualifications were retained.
According to Aristotle (researchers entertain the historicity of this information), Lycurgus formed the Gerousia from his friends and like-minded individuals but established a clear procedure for the future formation of this body. After the death of a gerontes, a Spartan over 60 years old would be elected to replace him—”the one recognized as the most courageous.” This formulation primarily implied prominence and, secondarily, a specific set of moral qualities accompanying high lineage. As a result, the Gerousia became a body of class authority (not tribal, as before).
During Lycurgus’s time, kings began to be included in the Gerousia (mentioned as archagetai in the Great Rhetra). Presumably, this fixed the rulers’ status as merely first among equals, signifying Sparta’s transformation into a polis with an aristocratic form of governance. The phrase from the Great Rhetra, “Let the rule belong to the people,” indicates that the popular assembly (apella) had the right to make final decisions on political matters. The authority of the apella was limited: “No ordinary citizen was allowed to express their judgment, and the people, gathering, only approved or rejected what the elders and kings proposed.” The significance of Lycurgus’s reform lies in regularly convening the popular assembly in a specific location, turning the apella from a gathering of warrior types into a fully-fledged and meaningful state organ.
Ephorate
Herodotus attributes the introduction of a new political institution, the Ephorate, to Lycurgus. This refers to special officials (“ephors,” meaning “observers of the stars,” “those looking up”) elected by the popular assembly to oversee other branches of power. Ephors convened the apella and the Gerousia and presided over their sessions; they managed finances and foreign policy, observed the behavior of Spartiates, demanded explanations from kings on specific issues, and even annulled their decisions. Ephors acquired judicial authority and the right to pre-trial arrest, allowing them to suspend the powers of officials.
According to alternative information, ephors appeared in Sparta later, during the reign of King Theopompus.
Society of Equals
Many ancient authors associate Lycurgus with, in addition to the innovations recorded in the Great Rhetra, all the features of Sparta’s political and social life related to the classical era. Aristotle writes about Lycurgus creating a comprehensive constitution regulating all aspects of the polis’s life; Plutarch attributes powerful influence to the legislator in politics, education, and agrarian organization.
Aristotle attributes to Lycurgus (albeit somewhat uncertainly) the creation of the system of krypteia. “They say,” writes the philosopher, “that he [Lycurgus] introduced the krypteia, based on which they [Spartans] still, even now, hide during the day, and at night [text corrupted] with weapons, killing as many helots as is convenient.”
According to Plutarch, Lycurgus took several measures to establish economic equality. He divided state land into nine thousand cleroi (plots yielding equal income), and each Spartan family received one such plot. All Spartiates, regardless of their nobility, now had to participate in communal meals (syssitia or phiditia), contributing a specific quantity of products monthly for this purpose.
The use of gold and silver coins was forbidden in Sparta; instead, Lycurgus started minting iron coins, “and even these he appointed an insignificant value, so that for the storage of an amount equal to ten minas, a large warehouse was required, and for transportation, a matched team.” The consequence of this was the almost complete disappearance of external trade, the degradation of crafts, and the Spartan elite’s renunciation of luxury.
“The most important and beautiful task of the legislator,” according to Plutarch, was education. He introduced a system where girls engaged in physical exercises alongside boys, forgetting “about delicacy, indulgence, and other feminine whims.” Spouses met only at night and briefly, not seeing each other at all in daylight. Feelings of possession and jealousy were not characteristic of them, so it was considered normal for a Spartiate to temporarily give his wife to another to conceive a child with a worthy citizen.
Newborns were examined by the elders of the phyle, deciding on their future. If the “child was weak and deformed, they sent him to the Apothetae (the cliff at Taygetos), considering that his life is unnecessary both for himself and the state.” When boys reached the age of seven, they were taken away from their parents, and from that moment on, they were raised together, divided into squads.
“He accustomed his fellow citizens to not wanting and not being able to live apart but, like bees, being in an indissoluble connection with society, all tightly united around their leader and wholly belonging to the homeland, almost completely forgetting about themselves in the surge of enthusiasm and love for glory.”
In Culture
Ancient Tradition
Even ancient authors lacked precise information about Lycurgus and his activities. This is attributed to the absence of a historiographical tradition in Sparta and the secrecy of this polis: foreigners rarely visited, and local authorities sought to conceal everything that happened there. Nevertheless, Sparta attracted constant interest from ancient Greek intellectuals due to its military successes and the specificity of its organization. As a result, legends and rumors about this polis gained excessive significance; separating such legends and rumors from real facts poses a serious challenge for classical scholars.
The earliest surviving source mentioning Lycurgus is Herodotus’s “Histories” (not earlier than the mid-5th century BCE). It is known that writings about the reform of the Spartan system existed even earlier; Tyrtaeus, in one of the preserved verses of his “Eunomia,” outlines the content of the Great Rhetra, while the logographer Hellanicus attributes the reforms to the first kings of Sparta, Procles and Eurysthenes (for this, he was later reproached by an ephor). Plutarch, narrating about Lycurgus, refers to Simonides of Ceos, who lived before Herodotus, but there could be an error. In reality, Plutarch might be referring to a genealogist named Simonides, who lived later.