Lycurgus' laws are supposed to have touched the whole of Spartan society. At various times, the Spartans attributed every one of their institutions to him, except the institution of the dual monarchy. Because the Spartans attributed all manner of laws and customs to him, it is impossible to determine which laws (if any) are his in actuality. However, it is clear today, from comparisons with other archaic Greek states, that Spartan institutions such as men's dining halls, organisation of age cohorts, and the use of iron money were not entirely out of the norm and had previously existed in other Greek cities: what made them distinctive was for how long they had been preserved at Sparta. The character of many of the economic and social reforms attributed to Lycurgus was allegedly to ensure that citizens competed with each other only in merit rather than in wealth. However, many of the social reforms which are attributed to Lycurgus postdate him by centuries, occurring between 600–500 BC after various Spartan conquest of
Messenia and
Cynuria made landholdings available for the Spartan citizens. The economic reforms, which are supposed to have made Spartan citizens equal, never happened and were invented to legitimise redistributive policies in the Hellenistic period.
Political and military Lycurgus' political reforms were supposedly promulgated in a
Great Rhetra that he received from the
Pythia. It, however, is not genuine and contains anachronistic contents. Regardless, Plutarch records it as having included provisions related to Sparta's religious and political practices: Plutarch states that the provision that the elders and kings could set aside decisions of the apella, called the "
rider", was a later addition. However, the grammatical construction of preserved rhetra is consistent with it being part of the original text, a view taken by Massimo Nafissi in
Companion to archaic Greece, believing that the idea that the set-aside provision was later inserted was itself a fabrication of the fourth century BC. Lycurgus is supposed also to have established the Spartan mess halls called or . Such halls were public, where all citizen men were required to eat dinner. Citizens were required to contribute to the mess hall's pantries with a substantial amount of food, wine, and money; failure or inability to do so would entail loss of citizenship. A relatively old tradition, predating the Hellenistic Spartan reformers
Agis IV and
Cleomenes III as well as likely Herodotus, claimed that Lycurgus' imposition of the mess halls created a citizen body of some 9,000 men. Each of these mess halls also played a role in military organisation: each likely had 15 men with three mess halls forming a "sworn band"; but after the were merged into the Spartan army, each mess hall likely formed its own band. Such messes were likely preceded in the seventh century BC poet Alcman's time with (private men's eating clubs). They became the classical after sumptuary restrictions, compulsory contributions from poorer citizens who previously abstained, and intermixture of rich and poor shortly before 500 BC. The silence of the rhetra, a text meant to describe and legitimise the Spartan political system of the seventh century, with regard to Sparta's
ephors suggests that the ephorate was a product of a later reform at Sparta and was not Lycurgan – Herodotus and Plutarch – in origin. In fact, archaeological discoveries at Sparta – showing the decline of Spartan art expressed on vases as well as a sudden expansion of agricultural labour in the mid-sixth century BC – suggest that much of the communitarian reforms attributed to Lycurgus may date to that time.
Economic One of the illusions of the
Spartan mirage was the illusion that Spartan citizens were economically equal: that no citizen owned more land than another. There is, however, no evidence of equal land ownership at Sparta, with exception of
Cleomenes' five-year regime. Land inequality increased through Spartan history, mediated by conquests abroad which allowed poorer citizens to retain a reasonable standard of living. When conquests ended after 550 BC, the poorer citizens were, over time, removed from the citizen rolls for inability to pay dues to the
syssitia. Demands for redistribution, heard by the reformist Spartan monarchs
Agis IV and
Cleomenes III, led to the creation of a myth that Lycurgus redistributed the land of
Laconia and
Messenia equally among the
homoioi with the
helots as bound tenants. The consensus among scholars is that this never happened. The seventh century Spartan poet,
Tyrtaeus, already opposed land distribution in the poem
Eunomia, attesting to land inequality at the earliest times. Lycurgus is also supposed to have ensured the austere lifestyle of the Spartans by banning the use of gold and silver coins, requiring a
currency made of iron. Xenophon claimed that this meant acquisition of wealth became too bulky to hide; Plutarch believed that this was to make it impossible, or at least difficult, for Spartans to purchase luxury goods. Coinage came to Greece in the 550s BC; it is not possible that any law mentioning coins dates to the eighth century BC (or earlier), when Lycurgus is supposed to have lived. Nor is any ban on gold and silver mentioned in Herodotus. Usage of gold and silver at Sparta is implied by other reports that the kings were fined in
drachma and
talents as well as by Spartan state rewards and ransoms. Plutarch's attempted to reconcile the evidence by depicting the Spartans allowing gold and silver for public use but retaining the allegedly Lycurgan restrictions on private use. Such a depiction, however, is not consistent with actions by Spartan generals during the
Peloponnesian War. Other ancient authors were more equivocal, dating the alleged ban on precious metals to after Lycurgus and to different men. Ancient authors claimed of the Spartans a general aversion to commerce, which was also attributed to Lycurgus, who was supposed to have "forbade free men to touch anything to do with making money". This likely emerged from the fact that Spartan citizens, the
spartiates or
homoioi, were a leisurely class of land owners who looked down on manual labourers and craftsmen. Such a ban also likely emerged in the sixth century, since Spartan citizen sculptors are attested to prior to that time. The inequality of Spartan society also implies that trade must have occurred; the second dinner in the syssitia involved bread, meat, fish, and other produce which were bought or donated by wealthy Spartans. Plutarch, who claims Spartan did not dispute or talk about money, is also internally inconsistent when elsewhere notes Spartan commercial contracts and Sparta's delegation of such matters to expert resolution. Plutarch also claims that Lycurgus imposed sumptuary legislation, prohibiting foreign artisans from residing at Sparta and restricting the tools with which Spartan houses could be built, to encourage simplicity. Archaeological evidence of foreign wares postdates the eighth century, with a decline in imports met by local production by the sixth century. The alleged simplicity of Spartan dwellings evidently did not extend to their interiors; and Spartans were famous across Greece for the jewellery worn by Spartan women, their number of slaves and horses, and their dominance at the expensive sport of chariot racing at pan-Hellenic games. While most male Spartan citizens affected a generally consistent and relatively inexpensive form of dress at home, Spartans on campaign showed extreme wealth from the expense of their crimson dyes to the polish of their armour. However, while Xenophon claims this austere dress also came from Lycurgus, art from Laconia implies adoption after 500 BC, consistent with
Thucydides claim that Spartans wore complex and luxurious clothing until "not long ago".
Social bronze statuette in the
British Museum depicts
a Laconian girl running or dancing in a
chiton. Lycurgus is also supposed to have instituted the Spartan practice of staged
bride capture where the bride, rather than being processed to the groom's home for a wedding ceremony with feast, was instead ritually seized by the groom, and the marriage consummated without feast. The seventh century Spartan poet
Alcman makes no mention of such customs, and composed wedding hymns reflecting the more common Greek wedding processions; Spartan wedding customs therefore also postdate Lycurgus, emerging some time before 500 BC. The further claim in Plutarch's
Moralia that Lycurgus prohibited
dowries altogether has no basis. Lycurgus is also said to have instituted a system of wife sharing as a
pronatalist and eugenicist policy; if such wife sharing existed, it is likely a product of Spartan population decline in the fifth century BC. Plutarch also credits Lycurgus with sumptuary laws on burials. Archaeological evidence broadly supports the notion that Spartans practiced uniform burial without grave goods, albeit with exceptions for generals and Olympic victors. However, Lycurgus is also said to have banned lamentations and allowed burials near temples. Burials near temples were common in archaic Greece before being prohibited by most cities; Sparta merely retained the practice. The earliest Spartan art and poems also still mention lamenting mourners, implying that such a ban likely postdates Lycurgus and was introduced ; moreover, any ban on grave goods must postdate a grave, also , containing pottery grave goods. Further claims that Lycurgus required the burial of fallen Spartan soldiers abroad are not compatible with archaeological evidence showing that the first certain mass grave for Spartan battlefield losses was at
Plataea. The education of Spartan boys in the , less anachronistically the
paideia, was also attributed to an initiative of Lycurgus to equalise Spartan citizens socially, by raising them without outside family and clan loyalties. Though the story is rejected by Plutarch, Lycurgus is also said to have instituted the
crypteia, a group of young men tasked with clandestinely killing helots in the night. Both the and likely emerged some time during the seventh century alongside the institution of the ephorate. The education of Spartan women, mainly focusing on physical fitness, or, supposedly, physical fitness to produce healthy children for eugenic purposes, was similarly attributed to Lycurgus. == Legacy ==