Politics and Geopolitics 105
moments of political reform at Lacedaemon—one aristocratic, and the other
democratic—would help explain why the ancient writers locate Lycurgus, var-
iously, in the time of Charillos in the middle of the eighth century, and in that
of Terpander and Thaletas three-quarters of a century thereafter. It would also
help explain why the reforms that took place were attributed by some to him
and by others to Theopompus, Polydorus, or the two in tandem.
Even more to the point, such an hypothesis would help make sense of the
regimen that the Spartans imposed on themselves. For the agōgē ́ with its elab-
orate system of age classes resembles institutions found elsewhere among
tribal peoples devoted, like the early Dorians, to hunting and war; and the
same can be said regarding the institution of pederasty, the rite of passage
called the krupteía, and the practice of taking meals and sleeping with one’s
comrades in the sussıtíon. The survival or revival of these institutions within a
fully elaborated political community is likely to have been dictated by peculiar
circumstances, such as the need to reconquer, pacify, and hold Messenia while
fending off the Argives and the Arcadians; and the same rationale explains the
enforcement of a measure of socioeconomic equality within the master class,
the practice of exercising naked at the gymnasium, the intense piety exhibited
by the Spartans, and their embrace of complex political institutions apt to
promote consensus and foster civic solidarity. All of the mores, manners, and
ways attributed to the Lacedaemonians make sense as components within a
comprehensive grand strategy aimed at protecting, preserving, and upholding
the distinctive Spartan way of life. All seem quite logical when one views them
from the perspective of the daunting mission that the Spartiates of Polydorus’
day chose for themselves when they set out to recover Messenia; and, although
some scholars now suspect that at least some of these institutions and prac-
tices may have been introduced in the sixth century, in the fifth century, or
well thereafter,^21 it seems more reasonable to suppose that they were all insti-
tuted early on—as the ancient writers, who knew far more than we can ever
hope to know, all presumed. It seems more reasonable to conclude that the
various elements in this kaleidoscope fell into place and came to form a kós
mos well before the late archaic lyric poet Simonides tellingly described Lace-
daemon as “man-subduing [damasímbrotos]” in and soon after the age when
Tyrtaeus first celebrated the achievement of eunomía at Lacedaemon.^22 It
seems reasonable, in fact, to connect these practices with the fateful decision
made in the time of Polydorus—when the Spartans imposed on themselves a
species of necessity and chose to make a virtue of it.^23 It is similarly, in light of