Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

58 Amanda Earl
contrasting Sparta with the state of Athens in the mid-sixth century (1993: 172).
Furthermore, as a transferal by the people, this acquisition for Sparta stands as
an example of the successful exchange of the currency of bones as opposed to
the Sikyonian example. By the time of the Persian Wars Sparta was arguably the
most powerful city-state in Greece. Yet it was the changes Lycourgos instituted
that led to Sparta’s good government and consequently its acquisition of Orestes’
bones. When Herodotus introduces Sparta’s development of good laws or
eunomia, it is right after he finishes describing the rise to power of Peisistratos
in Athens, a rise which Boedeker describes as “a mere sham concocted by a selfserving
tyrant (a scheme even worse than the hero cults manipulated by Kleisthenes
of Sikyon)” (1993:172). The same word even, “contrivance,” is used to
describe the tyrant’s plot; he makes hostages of some Athenians, expelling them
from the city, and he digs up dead bodies in Delos (Herodotus.I.63). All this certainly
stands in contrast to the more popularly sanctioned actions of the government
of Sparta.
Lycourgos is a good example of a type of political hero of Sparta. While
not much is known of his real person or date, his figure is credited by ancient
authors for much of the structure of Spartan society: similar to cult practices,
Spartan boys learned together and ate together in common mess halls called
syssitia and the society was very communal. Before Lycourgos, Spartans “had
been the very worst governed people in Greece, as well in matters of internal
management as in their relations towards foreigners” (Herodotus.I.65;
Boedeker, 1993). But by the time this reformer who was sanctioned and even
praised at Delphi (the priestess says she hopes he will “prove a god”), indeed,
Sparta had in place eunomia mediated by the Great Rhetra which gave a certain
power to the people (Herodotus.I.65). Herodotus even says:
On the death of Lycourgos they built him a temple, and ever since they have
worshipped him with the utmost reverence. Their soil being good and the
population numerous, they sprang up rapidly to power, and became a
flourishing people. In consequence they soon ceased to be satisfied to stay
quiet. (Herodotus.I.66)
It is only when Sparta is thus well-governed and able to look to foreign affairs
that it develops the need to acquire new bones and the ability to do so!
It is then that, having acquired Messenia, Sparta looks to conquer the land
it has not been able to, the land of Tegea. While the oracle has made them “confident”
of their ability to “enslave,” they are not conniving but endeavor to collectively
“mete out” or take action themselves positively to fulfill the oracle.
The point is that the Spartans do make good out of the oracle whereas the
Sikyonians do not. Herodotus does glorify Sparta for its good rule and
aristocratic ideals, but according to the facts they deserve this praise furthermore
because they acquire their power honestly. They get a fairly enigmatic answer
when asking the oracle how to conquer Tegea, but an Agathoergos, one of many
knights of Sparta whose job it was to do good for “the State,” interpreted the