Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Classics

Supervisor

Steinbock, Bernd

Abstract

Scholars of the constitutional development of Archaic Sparta and its dyarchy (or dual kingship) have long considered Tyrtaios’ Eunomia contemporary evidence for the mysterious lawgiver Lykourgos, whose alleged reforms have largely been reconstructed from late-Classical and Roman sources. According to orthodox narratives of Lykourgos, seventh-century Sparta enjoyed internal stability and good governance, but Tyrtaios’ seventh-century poem strongly suggests the continued existence of civil strife. Drawing on social memory studies and archaeological survey data, this dissertation questions the Lykourgan grand narrative and explores the capacity of Tyrtaios’ Eunomia to help us recontextualize Sparta’s socio-political development in the seventh century BCE.

I argue that Tyrtaios fr.2 West2 offers insights into how the seventh-century poet encouraged Spartans to preserve their basileia by using local social memory in the form of the myths of the return of the Herakleidai and the Dorian migration. Building on the work of Hans van Wees and Jessica Romney, I make the case that Tyrtaios’ Eunomia did not respond to an external challenge to Sparta’s rule over Messenia but was composed in response to ongoing political instability within Sparta. Using the concept of social memory as an analytical tool, I explore the transmission and varied functionality of these two foundational myths in relation to a broader collective memory concerning Herakles and his offspring in the Peloponnese. I also demonstrate that the poem highlights the divine heritage of the two basileis as descendants of Herakles and Zeus and links their origin to the origin of the Spartan community itself, thus legitimizing the Spartan dyarchy as an essential element of the established divine order. Tyrtaios’ Eunomia represents a moment in the institutionalization process of the Spartan basileia in the middle of the seventh century. Alkman’s Partheneion, a choral song composed c.600 BCE, presented to its audience a prescribed social order that implicitly called upon the Spartans to consider their basileis as embodiments of proper behaviour with respect to marriage. It thus shows that the Spartan basileia was, by then, successfully integrated into the socio-cultural and religious fabric of the Spartan community.

Summary for Lay Audience

It is now widely accepted by specialists that our historical narrative about Archaic Sparta is problematic. Scholarship on the political development of Archaic Sparta and its systems of rulership has long considered Tyrtaios’ Eunomia, a seventh-century lyric poem, to be proof of the reforms of the legendary Spartan lawgiver, Lykourgos. While Sparta, according to modern historical reconstructions, should have been enjoying internal stability and good governance, Tyrtaios composed a poem about civil strife. This dissertation builds on previous scholarship that similarly challenges orthodox narratives to explore the capacity of Tyrtaios’ poetry to help us recontextualize Sparta’s political development in the seventh century.

I am primarily interested in exploring how Tyrtaios’ Eunomia, and in particular the second fragment of this poem (Tyrtaios fr.2 West2), encouraged the Spartans to retain the Spartan basileia (the dual-kingship or dyarchy) in the seventh century. I argue that by using local social memory in the form of the myth of the return of the Herakleidai, which describes the return of the Spartan ruling families to power in the Peloponnese with divine approval, and the myth of the Dorian migration, which features the emigration of the Dorians to the Peloponnese, Tyrtaios legitimized the rule of the Spartan basileia. Building on the work of Hans van Wees and Jessica Romney, I argue that Tyrtaios’ poem Eunomia was composed in response to ongoing political instability inside Sparta. Using the methodology of social memory studies, I explore how this myth was transmitted over time and what its functions were in relation to a broader collective memory concerning Herakles, the ancestor of the Spartan ruling families, and his descendants in the Peloponnese. I conclude that Tyrtaios’ Eunomia highlights the divine heritage of the Spartan basileia and connects the origin of this institution to the origin of the community itself, thus creating a sense that it was necessary to maintain the Spartan basileia based on an established divine order. I further test my thesis by examining Alkman’s Partheneion (c.600 BCE), a choral song, which, I argue, highlights that the Spartan basileis were successfully incorporated into the very fabric of the Spartan community.

Download

Share

COinS