Lycurgus of sparta biography sample

Traditional founder of Sparta's institutions

For other uses, see Lycurgus (disambiguation).

Lycurgus (; Ancient Greek: ΛυκοῦργοςLykourgos) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its eunomia ('good order'), 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 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 (c.&#;&#;BC) to as late as early eighth century (c.&#;&#;BC). There remains no consensus as to when he lived; some modern scholars deny that he existed at all

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Lycurgus Lawgiver of Sparta

Athens had its Solon, the law-giver, and Sparta, its Lycurgus—at least that's what we like to believe. Like the origins of the reforms of Lycurgus, the man himself is wrapped in legend.

Plutarch on Lycurgus' Rise to Power

Plutarch tells the story of Lycurgus as if he had been a real person, albeit an eleventh-generation descendant of Hercules, since the Greeks generally ascribed genealogy that went back to the gods when writing about important figures. In Sparta there were two kings who jointly shared the power. Lycurgus, according to Plutarch, was the younger son of one of these two kings. His older brother's wife was pregnant when both Lycurgus' brother and father died, and so, the unborn would have become king—assuming it was a boy—in time. Lycurgus' sister-in-law proposed to Lycurgus, saying she would do away with the child if he would marry her. In that way both she and Lycurgus would maintain power in Sparta. Lycurgus pretend

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Lycurgus And The Spartan Laws

Of the many nations between which the small peninsula of Greece was divided, much the most interesting were those whose chief cities were Athens and Sparta. These are the states with whose doings history is full, and without which the history of ancient Greece would be little more interesting to us than the history of ancient China and Japan. No two cities could have been more opposite in character and institutions than these, and they were rivals of each other for the dominant power through centuries of Grecian history. In Athens freedom of thought and freedom of action prevailed. Such complete political equality of the citizens has scarcely been known elsewhere upon the earth, and the intellectual activity of these citizens stands unequalled. In Sparta freedom of thought and action were both suppressed to a grad rarely known, the most rigid institutions existed, and the only activity was a warlike one. All thought and all education had war for