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Lycurgus (/laɪˈkɜːrɡəs/; Greek: Λυκοῦργος Lykoȗrgos; fl. c. 820 BC) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta. He was credited with reforming Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.[1]
He is referred to by ancient historians and philosophers Plutarch, Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato, Polybius, and Epictetus. It is not clear if Lycurgus was an actual historical figure.
Historicity edit
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The actual person Lycurgus may or may not have existed – it is possible that "Lycourgos" was an epithet of the god Apollo as he was worshiped in very early Sparta, and that later legend transformed this aspect of the god into a wise human lawgiver[2][3] – but as a symbolic founder of the Spartan state he was looked to as the initiator of many of its social and political institutions; much, therefore, of Plutarch's account is concerned with finding the "origin" of contemporary Spartan practices.
Various dates have been given as to when Lycurgus lived; they are as early as the 10th century BC and as late as the 6th century BC. Some scholars think the most plausible date is indicated by Thucydides, who said that in his time the Spartan constitution was over four hundred years old. This would imply a date for Lycurgus, or at least for the reforms attributed to him, of the last quarter of the 9th century BC.[2][3][4]
References edit
- ^ Forrest, W.G. A History of Sparta 950–192 B.C. Norton. New York. (1963) p. 50
- ^ a b Burn, A.R. (1982). The Pelican History of Greece. London: Penguin. pp. 116–117.
- ^ a b Bury, J.B.; Meiggs, Russell (1956). A History of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great (3 ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 135–136.
- ^ Hammond, N.G.L. (1967). A history of Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 103.
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