CLA 2100	Lecture Nine: Laying Down the Laws: Sparta and Athens.
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Assignment: Plutarch, Coursepack, "Lycurgus," pp. 45-58, & "Solon," pp. 59-70.

Topics Addressed:

The Spartan Way as Outlined in the Life of Lycurgus by Plutarch

• Lycurgus: history of legend?
• Lycurgus' main institutions
  • Council of Elders
  • Redistribution of Land & Possessions
    • Reform of currency
  • Common messes
• Laws unwritten: why?
  • Education
  • Spontaneous commitment
  • Public opinion
  • Competition and Emulation
  • The ability to take a joke...
• Marriage by Abduction. Initial visitation only in secret. Why?
• Inspection of newborns.
• Centerpiece of Spartan way: Education.
  • Exercise for both men and women.
  • Nakedness.
  • Limited reading and writing.
  • Boys attached to young men as lovers. Why?
  • Boys taught to steal (e.g. story of fox).
  • No one allowed to live as he pleased.
  • Life in a military camp.
• Laconic mode of speech: what is it?
• Long hair for warriors: why?
• Spartan military practices
  • Do not fight often against the same enemy: why?
  • Do not slaughter an enemy that has surrendered: why?
• Who supported the militarized leisure of Spartan men?
• Travel restrictions
• Funeral arrangements

A Look at Athens as Reflected in the Life of Solon by Plutarch

• Solon: poet, philosopher, historical.
• Military career: Salamis and Aegina.
• Solon presents an alternative solution to the problem of rich vs. poor: cancels debt (or eliminates debt-bondage), but does not redistribute land (as in Sparta). Result? Angers both rich and poor.
• Compare Athenian love of euphemism with Laconic mode of speech. What do Athenians call taxes, prostitutes, prisons, etc.?
• Revision of Draco's legal code. Elimination of death penalty for minor offenses.
• Other legislation
  • Classification of citizens by wealth
  • Laws on Marriage
    • Husbands must have sex three times per month with wives
    • Tried to remove dowry as a consideration in marriage
  • No slander of dead
  • Freedom of bequests in wildl-making
  • Neatness & orderliness for women
  • No self-laceration at funerals
  • No more than three sets of clothes for corpses
  • Laws on rape: how did they vary?
  • Laws on planting, wells, and figs (cf. sycophancy)
• Athenians swore to uphold his laws for 100 years.
• Travel to Egypt, Cypress, Sardis
• Visit to Croesus.
• Wisdom: No one may be considered happy till he is dead. Why? Stories of Telus, Cleobis & Biton.
• End of life spent under tyranny of Pisistratus.