The Significance of the Reforms of Lycurgus to Spartan Society
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- Category: History: European
- Date Submitted: 03/09/2014 12:53 AM
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History assessment draft
Lycurgus has been interpreted to be a man, god, or figment of historical authors' imagination. Although his personal existence is in question it is believed that he left a collection of reforms to improve Spartan society. These reforms – which he allegedly collected from an oracle at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi – have made a significant blue print of the conception of what Spartan society was. Although, as we look at the evidence we begin to see that these reforms were not as significant as the ancient historians has led us to believe. What the evidence actually shows is a Spartan society that had culture and commerce, which shows that the reforms where a change over time instead of a revolutionary event.
One of the most praised reforms allegedly issued by Lycurgus was the idea of Sparta being an egalitarian society. Archaeological artefacts and ancient writers challenge this reform as the evidence shows historians that the Spartans had acquired luxury goods this of which contradicts the conception of equality due to the obvious inequality. Firstly, to obtain a luxury good one must have means of exchange. According to the reforms of Lycurgus the homoioi got an allotment of land, which is called a kleros. This kleros was equally distributed and farmed by helots, which means that the Spartans had all of they’re necessities provided by the government. With this in my mind and the fact that until the age of 60 all Spartans where training or actively in the army how did they acquire these luxury goods? The answer to this is wealth or a surplus of a means of exchange.
“It was the Spartans who first began to dress simply and in accordance with our modern taste, with the rich leading a life that was as much as possible like the life of the ordinary people” – (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian war)
This source from Thucydides speaks of rich Spartans that could live a life which as close as they could get to the ordinary Greek. This again...
Lycurgus has been interpreted to be a man, god, or figment of historical authors' imagination. Although his personal existence is in question it is believed that he left a collection of reforms to improve Spartan society. These reforms – which he allegedly collected from an oracle at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi – have made a significant blue print of the conception of what Spartan society was. Although, as we look at the evidence we begin to see that these reforms were not as significant as the ancient historians has led us to believe. What the evidence actually shows is a Spartan society that had culture and commerce, which shows that the reforms where a change over time instead of a revolutionary event.
One of the most praised reforms allegedly issued by Lycurgus was the idea of Sparta being an egalitarian society. Archaeological artefacts and ancient writers challenge this reform as the evidence shows historians that the Spartans had acquired luxury goods this of which contradicts the conception of equality due to the obvious inequality. Firstly, to obtain a luxury good one must have means of exchange. According to the reforms of Lycurgus the homoioi got an allotment of land, which is called a kleros. This kleros was equally distributed and farmed by helots, which means that the Spartans had all of they’re necessities provided by the government. With this in my mind and the fact that until the age of 60 all Spartans where training or actively in the army how did they acquire these luxury goods? The answer to this is wealth or a surplus of a means of exchange.
“It was the Spartans who first began to dress simply and in accordance with our modern taste, with the rich leading a life that was as much as possible like the life of the ordinary people” – (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian war)
This source from Thucydides speaks of rich Spartans that could live a life which as close as they could get to the ordinary Greek. This again...