Demographic Fluctuation and Institutional Response in Sparta

Description

The Spartiate population declined from 8000 in the early fifth century to less than 1000 in the mid-fourth, and caused Sparta's political fortunes to drop dramatically from being the unofficial hegemon of the Greek-speaking peoples to a strictly local power in the Hellenistic period. This was the most dramatic population change of any ancient Greek city aside from cases of andrapodismos, and it drew the attention of contemporaries to the process such as Aristotle and Xenophon. Some modern scholars have seen this phenomenon primarily as a personnel loss due to families being demoted from the Spartiate rank or to deliberate elite fertility restriction due to estate preservation. But these explanations neglect the peculiarities of Spartiate reproductive customs maladaptive to demographic recovery. This dissertation first examines what made the Spartiate population regime unique, how it succeeded at first, and why and how it failed to produce a sufficient number of Spartiates to continue Sparta's hegemony. Second, it argues that Sparta's imperial phase was a response to and a result of this attested decline in Spartiate numbers and the attendant addition of non-Spartiates to the Lakedaimonian army. Finally, it examines why efforts at retrenchment in the Hellenistic period failed. Introduction iii Theoretical Approaches x The Spartan Mirage and its Discontents xi The Laconia Survey xv Hereditarianism and Modern Intellectual History xv Population Regimes xviii Chapter 1: Archaic Sparta as a Selection Regime: the Rise of the Lykourgan Kosmos Introduction: Competition in the Peloponnesos 1 The Picture of the Archaic Period from Artistic Production 3 The Lykourgan Regime 10 Eugenic Mechanisms in Spartan Society 23 Conclusions 30 Chapter 2: Tyrtaios, altruism, and eugenic effects Tyrtaios 32 Chronology, Reproductive Time, and the Relation of Tyrtaios to the Lykourgan Reforms 48 Conclusion 56 Chapter 3: Oliganthropia amongst the Spartiates: Discovering the Limitations of the Lykourgan Regime Introduction 57 Mechanisms of Population Shortage and Replacement 59 Patriarchy and Demography 62 Applications 70 Spartiate Men and Sub-Replacement Fertility 72 Spartiate Women and Sub-Replacement Fertility 75 Marginals in Spartan Society 81 Conclusions 91 Chapter 4: The Reluctant Empire Introduction 93 Spartan Soft Imperialism Before Lysander 96 Annexation of Lakonia and Messenia and the Peloponnesian League 98 Kleomenes I, Pausanias the Regent, and the abdication of the leadership of the Anti-Persian League 99 Herakleia Trakhinia and Brasidas in Thrace 104 Spartans and Persians 110 The Three Treaties 111 An Inefficient Imperial Machine: Thasos, Byzantion, Ships, and Money 116 Chapter 5: Lysander and Agesilaos: Population and Imperialism Introduction 118 Kallikratidas 120 The Return of Lysander and Freedom for the Hellenes 122 Lysander and “Hard” Spartan Imperialism 124 The War to Free the Anatolian Greeks 134 Antalkidas 138 Andokides and the Peace Conference at Sparta 140 The Peace of Antalkidas 140 Leuktra 145 Leuktra’s Demographic Effect on the Spartiates 148 Chapter 6: The Transformation of the Spartan Imperial Administration in the Fourth Century Introduction 154 Descriptions of Change 154 Analysis 161 Lakedaimonian Assemblies at Sparta 166 Conclusion 170 Chapter 7: Hellenistic Attempts to Reform the Lykourgan Regime Introduction 172 After Mantineia 172 The Breakdown of the Lykourgan Eunomia 176 Agis’ Institutional, Eugenic Response 181 The Kleomenic Compromise 188 Kleomenes to Nabis 191 Nabis and the Abandonment of Aristocratic Eugenic Selection 193 Flamininus and Philopoimen 198 Conclusions 201 Conclusion 203 Bibliography 211