Reconstructing the history of Sparta involves overcoming two problems. First, already in antiquity many (including the Lacedaemonians themselves) viewed Lacedaemonian society in idealistic terms and mythologized its history (see chap. 10 for discussion of this in regard to the battle of Thermopylae). The process of mythologization, moreover, becomes more pronounced in the later sources. Second, the most comprehensive accounts of Lacedaemonian society and history stand in late sources, in particular Plutarch’s biography of Lycurgus. This Lycurgus was the mostly (if not entirely) legendary lawgiver to whom the Lacedaemonians routinely ascribed all their laws, customs, and institutions. There is no early evidence for his existence; even when the late-seventh-century poet Tyrtaeus is discussing the Lacedaemonian constitution, he makes no mention of Lycurgus who very much belongs to what E. N. Tigerstedt wrote of under the title The Legend of Sparta.
In what follows, for the reconstruction of the early history of Sparta the oldest sources (such as Tyrtaeus or the early treaty in Box 6.1) must have priority. Herodotus has much useful information about events in the sixth and fifth centuries, but with late sources such as Pausanias and Plutarch (both second century AD) caution or corroborating argument is in order. Other historians such as Thucydides (late fifth century BC), Xenophon, or Ephorus (both fourth century) provide much useful information especially for their own day. Likewise, Aristotle’s description of the Lacedaemonian constitution was surely valid in his day (fourth century).
World History
