Spartan Constitution

The Spartan constitution provided stability as long as this city-state was the dominant Hellenic power. However, when Thebes defeated Sparta, the resulting constitutional crisis sent the city-state into decline, from which it never fully recovered.

Date: c. 900-c. 200 b. c.e.

Category: Law Locale: Sparta, Greece

Summary Kings ruled Sparta (more properly Lacedaemon) long after the rest of Greece abandoned monarchy, although the survival of the crown owed largely to its weakness. Plato, Xenophon, and Plutarch greatly admired Sparta’s mixed constitution, created, according to legend, by a prince named Lycurgus (dated variously between 900 and 650 b. c.e.).

Lacedaemon had two kings from rival dynasties that traced their origin to twin descendents of Heracles. The dynasties were called the Agiad and Eurypontid lines after early kings. Members of one family could not occupy the throne of the other dynasty, a rule violated only once, when the last Agiad king, Cleomenes III (r. 235-222 b. c.e.), placed his brother Eucleidas (r. 227-222 b. c.e.) upon the Eurypontid throne. Herodotus and Plutarch say that the kings’ authority primarily applied to military and religious matters. They led the army in war and served as priests of Zeus in sacral matters. They received the honor of double portions of food at dinner.

The executive branch consisted of the kings and five annually elected ephors (or overseers). The ephors surpassed the kings in authority and could indict and depose the kings. Citizens over the age of thirty could be elected ephor for a one-year term without salary. The legislature (gerousia) consisted of the two kings and twenty-eight senators (gerontes) over the age of sixty, elected for life. Each man cast one vote. The gerousia exercised the authority to endorse or block bills before they were sent to the people for ratification by voice vote in the Assembly.

The Spartan constitution featured many checks and balances. Magistrates had the power to limit other officials. For example, two of the five ephors accompanied the king on campaign to monitor his conduct. Terms of one year prevented entrenched power. A review of one’s acts followed. Reelection was permitted after a lull.

Spartan society greatly differed from other Greek poleis. Laws were orally recited, never written. Lycurgus supposedly outlawed money (save heavy iron spits) to prevent greed and competition. Marriage was by prearranged abduction. Adultery was no crime, for the state encouraged the birth of healthy citizens. Women enjoyed rights unseen elsewhere in Greece. Most important, whereas other Greeks farmed, Spartans drilled. Lycurgan legislation required all males, starting at age seven, to enter the agogT system, whereby they trained as soldiers. State-owned serfs, called helots, who greatly outnumbered the citizens, farmed the land. The Spartans feared a helot rebellion, so they suppressed them with random acts of terrorism. Thus, both parties lived in fear. Not surprisingly, two great rebellions occurred, about 650 and 464 b. c.e.

Significance When Thebes defeated Sparta in 362 b. c.e., it liberated the helots, breaking the Lycurgan system. Depleted of manpower by military defeats and deprived of their serf labor force, Lacedaemon suffered a double disaster. The old constitution proved anachronistic, forcing efforts, especially under Agis IV (244-241 b. c.e.), to revise and later abandon it.

Further Reading

Cartledge, Paul. Sparta andLakonia: A Regional History, 1300-362 B. C. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Cawkwell, G. L. “The Decline of Sparta.” Classical Quarterly 33 (1983): 385-400.

Chrimes, K. M. T. Ancient Sparta: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Reprint. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1999. Forrest, W. George. A History of Sparta. 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton,

1968.

Jones, A. H. M. Sparta. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. Michell, Humfrey. Sparta. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964.

Piper, Linda J. Spartan Twilight. New Rochelle, NY.: Aristide D. Caratzas, 1986.

Gaius Stern

See also: Cleomenes III; Government and Law; Lycurgus of Sparta.