Lykurgs Gesetz über die Kinderzeugung und seine zweite und dritte Rhetra

Abstract

Ancient historians generally consider the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus a legendary, even mythical figure. However, his laws, known as rhetrai, can be plausibly reconstructed and interpreted if one assumes that they were created in a specific historical context, the Messenian War, which forced the Spartans to free helots to improve their military standing. These helots were to marry the widows of fallen Spartiates in order to provide for them and at the same time bolster the Spartan forces by increasing the birth rate. The freed helots were settled on the newly conquered land in Messenia. The prohibition of craftsmanship, of travel and the possession of gold and silver, as well as the provisions for the building of military camps and their participation in campaigns all aimed to tie these newly settled soldier peasants to the new land and to reinforce military control of Messenia. When considered in this historical context, the view of the Lycurgan laws given in Xenophon’s Spartan Constitution thus appears in a new light.