Spartan Constitution
According to Plutarch,[1] Lycurgus (to whom is attributed the establishment of the severe reforms for which Sparta has become renowned, sometime in the 9th century BC) first sought counsel from the god Apollo by obtaining an oracle from Delphi regarding the formation of his government.
The divine proclamation, which he received in this manner, is known as a "rhetra" and is given in part by Plutarch as follows: Plutarch provides by way of explanation: "In these clauses, the "phylai" and the "obai" refer to divisions and distributions of the people into clans and phratries, or brotherhoods; by "archagetai" the kings are designated, and "appellazein" means to assemble the people, with a reference to Apollo, the Pythian god, who was the source and author of the polity.
Spartans were obliged to use iron obols (bars or spits), meant to encourage self-sufficiency and discourage avarice and the hoarding of wealth.
A Spartan citizen in good standing (a Spartiate) was one who maintained his fighting skills, showed bravery in battle, ensured that his farms were productive, was married and had healthy children.
Only those who had successfully undertaken military training, called the agoge, and who were members in good standing of syssitia (mess hall), were eligible.
Alcibiades, being an Alcmaeonid and thus a member of a family with old and strong connections to Sparta, was admitted as a trophimos and famously excelled in the agoge as well as otherwise (he was rumoured to have seduced one of the two queen consorts with his exceptional looks).
The other exception was that a helot's son could be enrolled as syntrophoi (comrades, literally "the ones fed, or reared, together") if a Spartiate formally adopted him and paid his way.
A free-born Spartan who had successfully completed the agoge became a "peer" (ὅμοιος, hómoios, literally "similar") with full civil rights at the age of 20, and remained one as long as he could contribute his equal share of grain to the syssitia, a common military mess in which he was obliged to dine every evening for as long as he was battle-worthy (usually until the age of 60).
The state was ruled by two hereditary kings of the Agiad and the Eurypontid dynasties, both descendants of Heracles and equal in authority so that one could not act against the power and political enactments of his colleague, though the Agiad king received greater honour by virtue of seniority of his family for being the "oldest extant" (Herod.
Some theorise that this system was created in order to prevent absolutism, and is paralleled by the analogous instance of the dual consuls of Rome.
They were the chief priests of the state, and performed certain sacrifices and also maintained communication with the Delphic sanctuary, which always exercised great authority in Spartan politics.
In the time of Herodotus (about 450 BC), their judicial functions had been restricted to cases dealing with heiresses, adoptions (although that seems to have been merely the religious duty of being present instead of making any decision) and the public roads (the meaning of that last term is unclear, and has been interpreted in a number of ways, including the possibility of "voyages"; that is, the royal duties in communicating with Delphi including the organization of the official missions,[5] though that possibility was later deemed unlikely by the very researcher who proposed it.[6]).
By 500 BC the Spartans had become increasingly involved in the political affairs of the surrounding city-states, often putting their weight behind pro-Spartan candidates.
In addition, there tended to be extreme reluctance to execute them for crimes; even in cases of a king being convicted of treason, he was often given the opportunity to seek asylum in other states.
Although the five ephors were the only officials with regular legitimization by popular vote, in practice they were often the most conservative force in Spartan politics.
Sparta had a special policy maker, the Gerousia, a council consisting of 28 elders over the age of 60, elected for life and usually part of the royal households, and the two kings.
Unlike most Greek poleis, the Spartan citizen assembly (Ekklesia), could neither set the agenda of issues to be decided, nor debate them, merely vote on the alternatives presented to them.
Sparta considered all discourse from outside as a potential threat and all other states as past, present, or future enemies, to be treated with caution in the very least, even when bound with alliance treaties.
