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.
Author(s): Doran, Timothy
Publisher: PhD Dissertation, Berkeley
Year: 2011
Language: English
Commentary: ProQuest Document ID: 1441337939
Pages: 249
City: Berkeley
Tags: History, Sparta, Demography, Ancient History, Peloponnesian War, Tyrtaeus, Antalkidas, Classical Studies
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
