Lycurgus
Lycurgus,traditional founder of Classical Sparta's eunomia (‘good order’). Ancient accounts of his work evolved according to political circumstance. The earliest, in Herodotus (1. 65–6), reflects official Spartan views: guardian of the early Agiad-dynasty king, Leobotes, he was responsible for all Sparta's laws, and military and political institutions which he brought from Crete. Most later writers attached him to the Eurypontid-dynasty king Charillus, perhaps reflecting that royal house's subsequent prominence. A 5th-cent. bc, non-Spartan version that his measures came from Apollo at Delphi was later incorporated by making Apollo sanction laws he brought from Crete. The view that the ephorate (a Spartan magistracy) was post-Lycurgan, probably originated by King Pausanias in exile post-395, was invoked by Cleomenes III when...
[The entire page is 270 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
