48 BehaviorAnalysis and SocialAction - Volume7, Numbers1 & 2, 1989

Lycurgus, Legendary Law-giver of

800 B.C. Sparta: Cultural Engineer
A. Ph. Paschalis
University of Patras, Greece
Jerome D. Ulman
Ball State University

The historian E.H. Carr (1961) argues that "the func-
tion of the historian is neither to love the past nor to emanci-
pate himself from the past, but to master and understand it
as the key to the understanding of the present" (p. 35). How
well we understand the present will of course determine
how effective we can be in planning our future. Presumably,
then, behaviorists concerned with progressive social change
may benefit from the study of history . Yet historical facts
belong to the past, irretrievably; time machines exist only in
fiction . Consequently, the selection, interpretation, and
synthesis of such facts (or assumed facts) are unavoidably,
in part, a function of the historian's reinforcement history
and current circumstances, both personal and cultural.
Hence, behaviorists concerned with understanding the past
face a challenging task: to render interpretations of historical
writings consistent with our best guess as to the controlling
variables operating at the levels of behavior and culture at
the time. As a case in point, we offer the following exercise in
interpretation drawn from the the extraordinarily remote
culture of ancient Sparta - specifically, the accomplish-
ments attributed to Lycurgus, one of the most controversial
and interesting figures of the ancient world.
We must first qualify our title. Not only is Lycurgus
considered the legendary law-giver of Sparta; as often, he is
viewed as a semimythical historical figure. Even the ancients
were in doubt about what he actually did or even when he
lived, with estimates ranging from the 10th to the 8th cen-
tury B.C. Moreover, while Lycurgus is credited with the es-
tablishment of the Spartan constitution, contemporary
scholars argue that the institutions and reforms attributed to
him probably developed over centuries. However, there is
general agreement among modem scholars that there was a
Spartan constitution and that it has been preserved in the
works ascribed to the Greek historian Xenophon (B.C. 434?-
355?). As Moore (1975) notes, this document isn't so much a
constitution as it is a discussion of the way of life of the Spar-
tans .
In short, "although Lycurgus may have been a wholly
mythical personage, the [Spartan] constitution reflects the
realities of Sparta's history and social system" (Brinton,
Christopher, & Wolff, 1960, p . 60). In accordance with most
students of ancient Greek history, we will accept that Ly-
curgus lived around 800 B.C., long before the Greek alpha-
bet was fully developed. Our purpose, however, is not to
argue aboutthe accuracy of his biography but to examine 800
B.C. Sparta as a remarkable feat of cultural engineering in
B.F. Skinner's (1971) sense of the term (i.e., the establish-
ment of practices which induce members to work for the sur-
vival of their culture) .
Spartan society was rigidl y divided into three classes : a
ruling class of citizens - hoplites or Spartans proper - con-
stituting 5 to 10 percent of the population; an oppressed and
exploited class of helots, outnumbering the citizen by about
10 to 1; and a small peripheral group call perioikoi, mostly
farmers, miners, and small merchants. Neither the perioikoi
nor the helots had any political rights . They were denied
admission to the ranks of the Spartans and prohibited from
intermarrying with them .
These social class divisions were the result of Sparta's
history. Spartans were descendants of the Dorian con-
querors who had invaded southern Peloponnesus and occu-
pied one of the most fertile valleys in Greece, the plain of
Laconia. The conquered population was promptly reduced
to the status of helots . During the subsequent period of colo-
nization the problem of overpopulation arose in Laconia.
The Spartans met this problem, not by encouraging emigra-
tion abroad as did other Greek city-states, but mostl y by an-
nexing adjacent territories, thus initially making it an expan-
sionistic culture until it's population became stabilized and
Sparta became a unified state . "The luckier descendants of
Spartas' s once independent neighbors became perioikoi; the
rest became helots" (Brinton, et al., 1960, p. 60).
By the time of Lycurgus the class system was firmly
entrenched . The Spartan citizens - numbering about 8,000-
9,000 (Anderson, 1974, p. 35) - had reduced the great
masses of helots to a cond ition of serfdom and treated them
harshly, occasionally executing a few to discourage recalci-
trance . The helots revolted unsuccessfully a number of
times . Sparta was also threatened by the danger of foreign
invasion. Under these precarious circumstances, as legend
has it, Lycurgus began the task of designing a culture that
would change the Spartan people and turn them into an in-

Reprints may be obtained from Jerome D. Ulman, Department of Special Education, Ball State University , Muncie, Indiana 47306.
 LYCURGUS: 800 B.C. CULTURAL ENGINEER I A . Ph. Paschalisand JeromeD . Ulman I 49
vincible force. As a result, Spartan culture proved to be mili-
tarily unequalled in the whole of Greece for a period of well
over 500 years. These, then, were the social circumstances
under which Lycurgus presumably engineered Spartan cul-
ture - not an aesthetically refined culture like that of
Athens, but a warrior culture well suited for survival within
the surrounding hostile social environment : in the immedi-
ate area, a large population of oppressed and exploited peo-
ple struggling for liberation and, at a farther distance, the
very real danger of invading armies.
According to the Greek biographer Plutarch (46?-120?)
(1864), during the reign of Lycurgus' father there was "anar-
chy and confusion in Sparta" (p. 50). Determined to put an
end to it, Lycurgus resolved to construct a constitution for
Sparta. About which, Plutarch writes:
[Lycurgus] applied himself without loss of time, to a
thorough reformation, and resolved to change the
w hole face of the commonwealth; for what could a few
particular laws and a partial alteration avail? He must
- act as wise ph ysicians do, in the case of one w ho la-
bours under a complication of diseases, by force of
medicines . . . change his whole temperament and
then set him upon a regimen of diet . (Plutarch, 1864, p .
52).
Among the man y changes that Lycurgus made, the
first and the most impo r tant was the establishment of a
council of elders having equal power with the two kings (a
quirk of Spartan history), ata timewheneverywhereelsethe
word of a king was law . "The Spartan 'kings' were merely
members of the aristocracy, participants without special
privileges in the thirty-man council of elders .. . which origi-
na lly ru led the city" (Anderson, 1974, p. 34). The proceed-
ings of the council were held in the open and the public and
all citizens could attend and be kept informed of state affairs.
Citizens could not vote or speak, but they could criticize and
comment, and sho w approval or d isapproval of major deci-
sion s of the council and kings (e.g., declarations of war) .
Like Marx's ai;talysis some 2700 years later, Lycurgus
con tended that p olitical democracy was a worthless gift un-
less it w as accompanied by economic equality (for Lycurgus,
how ever, onl y insofa r as it affected the Spartan w ar rior
clas s). Pluta rch note d that "the most hazardous task he [Ly-
curgu s] ever und ertook was making a new division of their
[th e cit izens'] lands. Fo r there was extreme inequality
am ong st them and w ealth centered upon a very few" (1864,
p. 55). With Lycurgus , Ari stotle (384-322 B.C.) (1939, pp . 42-
43) note d , equa l lots of land w ere given to citizens of new
found cities suc h as in Magna Grecia (Sicily and Southern
Italy ). Such redi stribu tion of land to eliminate inequalities
had n ever b een attemp te d before. As the story goes (cf. An-
derson, 1974, pp. 33-34, Lycu rgus divided the land into forty
th ou sand lot s w hic h h e then distributed among the citizens.
Each lot w as calcu late d to yield about eighty-five bushels of
grain for a n ew ly m arried cou p le, enough to obtain a suffi-
dent supply of oil and wine. The awarding of citizenship
went along with the awarding of an estate and everything on
it, including livestock and slaves . By law, Spartans did not
produce their means of subsistence; they lived off the labor
of the helots . At the same time, luxuries were discouraged ;
the only distinction allowed among Spartans was one of rec-
ognition of merit and virtue through the performance of
worthy acts. Of course, what the state gave, the state could
take away. Thus, the state "was capable also of suspending
the civic rights of a Spartiate [Spartan], or of rescinding them
altogether for specified offences, of which the most flagrant
was that of cowardice in the face of the enemy" (Hooker,
1980, p . 118). Such were the reinforcement and response-
cost contingencies of ancient Spartan culture. "The upshot
of this system was to create an intense collective unity
among the Spartiates, who proudly designated themselves
hoi homoioi - the 'Equals"' (Anderson, 1974, p . 34).
Other ancient law-givers attempted to preserve equal-
ity among their people bu t to no avail. For example, Solon,
law-giver of Athens, tried to limit the amount of land one
could possess . The Locrians forbade the sale of property ex-
cept in extreme circumstances (Aristotle, 1939, p. 51). None-
theless, both land and wealth eventually passed into the
hands of the few . To prevent such from happening in
Sparta, Lycurgus is belie ved to have instituted one of the
most unusual monetary policies in h istory . Silver and gold
were abolished as the medium of exchange and replaced
with money in the form of hea vy iron rods . Because of its
great unit weight and supply relative to the precious metals,
this new money w as w orth ve ry little. Hence , as a medium
of exchange, the reinforcing value of this new money was
offset by the aversive effects of having to lug it around. As
one result, the rate of such an tisocia l behavior as stealing,
robbing, bribing , and whori ng w as p robably reduced sub-
stantially if not totally (Con ttr ell, 1977).
Another pl anned ou tcom e of Lycur gus' new mone tary
policy w as to ensure tha t Sp arta w ould n ever end with its
economy suffocating u n de r th e b urd en of a foreign ex-
change tra de-deficit (i. e ., d ebt peonag e, a p roblem common
to many poo r countries in tod ay' s w orld) . "Merchants sent
no shiplo ads in to Spar tan p ort . .. an d no itinerate fortune-
teller, no h arl ot-mon ger s set foot in a cou ntry w here there
was no m oney (Plu tarch, 1864, p. 56). To fu r ther isolate
Spartans from the p otentia lly corrupting in fluence of the
outside w orld, Lycur gu s forbade the m to tr av el abroad and
also forba d e anyo n e from abroa d to visit Spa rta . Sparta was a
land- locked city -st ate and pr od uc ed vary littl e for exp ort.
Concludes Plut arch (1984), Lycur gu s "w as careful to p rotect
the city from the infec tion of for eign hab its tha t might de-
stroy the harm on y of th e State" (p. 73).
To oblite rate any vestig e of inequ ality am ong the Spar-
tan citizenry , Lycurgus is credit ed with ordaining th at all the
Spar tans woul d ea t in comm on m esses wh ere the food
served was the sam e for ev ery one includi n g the kings . The
meals were frugal but h ealthy and n on -fatte ning (thus ex-
50 I A. Ph. Paschalisand JeromeD. Ulman I LYCURGUS:800 B.C. CULTURAL ENGINEER
emplifying the Greek motto, "a healthy mind in a healthy
body"). Indeed, Spartan men were not even permitted as
much as to eat at home with their wives and then attend the
messes. So strict was this rule that, when King Agis returned
from a victory over the Athenians and asked for food to be
sent home for him to dine with his wife, he was not only
refused but fined for even making the request.
In death too, equality was regulated . Lycurgus is be-
lieved to have prohibited Spartans from putting anything in
the graves except an olive-tree branch and the deceased
cloak (Conttrell, 1977). No names were to be written on their
tombs, including tombs of the kings.
Lycurgus was apparently the first statesman to realize
that education was of paramount importance for the well-
being of the state and its citizens. Education was designed
for all Spartans over the age of 7, irrespective of sex. Plutarch
(1864) stated that "every end and object of law and enact-
ment it was his design that education should effect" (p. 59).
The rigorous life of the Spartans began at birth when
they were first bathed - not in water, as was the custom of
other states - but in wine, based on the belief that defective
children might waste away while those who were healthy
might become vigorous, strong, firm, and tempered like
steel. To further ensure that in Sparta only the strong sur-
vived, the elders hurled unfit babies from nearby cliffs (Con-
ttrell, 1977).
Infants were not swaddled but were unconstrained by
clothing . Their nurses trained them to eat all kinds of food,
not to be afraid of the dark, to tolerate discomfort, and not to
cry. Spartan children were required to make their beds by
cutting or breaking rushes from the bank of the Eurotas
River . Lycurgus emphasized instructing children, not
merely through verbal behavior, but by having them follow
the examples set by their elders. Every Spartan man consid-
ered himself as a father to every boy and never lost an occa-
sion to instruct, advice, and chastise if necessary.
At the age of 7, boys began eating in the common
messes as part of their education. Experienced statesmen in-
structed them in state affairs - in contrast to neighboring
states where slaves served as companions and tutors
(Xenophon, 1968, p. 145). Spartan boys learned how to con-
verse with humor, to make and take jests without being of-
fended, and to praise or criticize one another's behavior on
the basis of whether or not it contributed to the common
good of Spartan life. At the same time, Spartan instructors
did not suffer loose and incontinent talkers (hence, the ori-
gin of the word laconic,derived from Laconia,the greater area
in which Sparta was the main city).
While the art of conversation, poetry and verse, music
and song, and dance and manners, were the Spartans' com-
mon pasttimes, their chief preoccupations were athletic con-
tests, hunting, and all sorts of other vigorous physical exer-
cises. The same exercises were prescribed for both males and
females - races, trials of strength, wrestling, throwing the
quoit, and casting the dart. In so doing, female Spartans
would develop healthy and strong bodies capable of bearing
children and be unafraid of the pains of childbirth. In con-
trast, in the other Greek city-states women were given the
plainest fare, not allowed to drink wine, and ordered to keep
quiet and not complain about doing "women's work"
(Xenophon, 1968, p . 137). Although child bearing was con-
sidered to be the most important function of Spartan
women, according to Aristotle (1939, p. 52), many things in
Sparta were done by the authority of the women. Morever,
unlike women in the surrounding city-states, they could in-
herit property; nearly two-fifths of the whole country be-
longed to women.
Even the institution of marriage was not left to chance,
but was deliberately organized in the interest of perpetuat-
ing Spartan culture. In the processions and festivals held af-
ter the return home from a war campaign, Lycurgus ordered
that the women and the young maidens went naked (as did
the young men) . The processionals thus served as entice-
ment to marriage. And considering the length of the war
campaigns, from early spring until late autumn, it is not sur-
prising that this bit of cultural engineering was quite effec-
tive. Additionally,
in Sparta, celibacy was a crime. Street gangs of women
beat up bachelors. Unmarried men and girls [in pairs]
might be thrust into the same dark room, where [they
mated] ... Spartans, wrote Plutarch, "sometimes had
children by their wives before they saw their faces by
daylight." (Conttrell, 1977, p. 178)
The processionals served another important function
for the survival of Spartan culture, strengthening the com- ·
bative behavior of the warriors. Participants in the festivities
danced and sang songs in praise of those who performed
gallant actions in battle. But they also made jests at the ex-
pense of any warrior whose performance in battle was less
than commendable. The entire city, including the kings and
elders, witnessed these processions, presumably adding to
the quality of social reinforcement for good combative be-
havior.
Regarding the conduct of war, Lycurgus must have
been aware of the process of imitation learning. According
to one of his rhetras (divine revelations and sanctions), Spar-
tan warriors should not engage the same enemy force in
combat often or long lest the latter should learn effective de-
fensive practices. On this account, King Agisilaus, because
of his continual incursions into Boeotia, was blamed for
making the Thebans a match for the Spartans. So when the
king was subsequently wounded in battle, a compatriot told
him he was very well paid for making the Thebans good sol-
diers (Plutarch, 1864).
Because Spartan society was organized on a military
basis, we might surmise that it was an imperialist power.
However, once Sparta's territory had been established in the
Laconian plain and then in Messenia to the west, a conquest
incorporated long before Lycurgus' time, the opposite was
 LYCURGUS: BOOB.C. CULTURAL ENGINEER I A . Ph. Paschalisand JeromeD. Ulman I
true. The Spartans made war only when their safety was
threatened; their primary political goal was to have friendly
governments in neighboring states (Moore, 1975). In con-
trast, with respect to the rights and individual freedoms
granted to its citizens, Athens was a more democratic state
(albeit, its economy was based on slavery). Yet it was "demo -
cratic" Athens which became imperialistic and turned
friendly allies (people living on the many islands of the
Agean) into unfriendly tributary subjects-premised on the
rationalization that since Athens held at bay the Persian dan-
ger of invasion and conquest, it had the right to exact tribute
from its "allies" whom it protected.
With its constitution and laws, the Spartan state ar-
ranged cultural contingencies in such a way as to shape a
uniques behavioral repertoire in a distinct body of people on
a scale never before achieved. This Spartan "personality"
differed from all the rest of ancient Greece and indeed the
world over. Historians have since described Spartans as fru-
gal, witty, to the point, and courageous. They endured pain
and entered the field of battle with joy and enthusiasm - as
if partaking in a grand feast- for they were well trained and
motivated for combat. Their respect for their elders was pro-
verbial and their rigorous self-discipline was renowned
. throughout Greece . It was characteristic of Spartan warriors
to show exceptional valor in battle, courage in the face of
adversity, and severe simplicity in their everyday lives .
Two examples suffice to contrast the Spartan "person-
ality" with those of the rest of the people of ancient Greece.
Demosthenes, the famous Athenian orator and politician,
devoted a lifetime attempting to rouse his fellow citizens
against the Macedonian danger of conquest and consequent
loss of freedom (very real threats posed by King Philip and
Alexander the Great), mostly by delivering fiery speeches in
the general assembly . When it came time for Demosthenes
to physically defend the ideals for which he chronically har-
ranged, he "fled, deserting his place disgracefully, and
throwing away his arms" (Plutarch, 1864, p. 1033).
The second example is contained in the verse of Archi-
lochus, a romantic Greek poet of the sixth century B.C. The
verse is self-explanatory (translation by the first author):
"Some Saian is happy with my shield which I, unwillingly,
left spotless by a bush . However, I escaped death, and as for
the shield, to hell with it, I'll get me another one just as good"
(Edmonds, 1968, p. 100) . Whereas, it became common
knowledge about Spartan warriors that "when, in tight
ranks, they marched to war, Spartan mothers bade them,
'Return with your shield or on it"' (Conttrell, 1977, p. 179).
The constitution attributed to Lycurgus and the
uniques Spartan culture lasted for over five centuries, that
is, until the Spartans began to come into close contact with
51
the outside world and bring home rich spoils from the wars .
The reintroduction of gold and silver engendered luxury
and greed, the antithesis of the Spartan tradition of simplic-
ity and equality. As Anderson (1974) notes,
The decline of Sparta after the Peloponnesian War
[431-404 B.C.] was accompanied . . . by a dramatically
widened economic gulf between wealthy and impov-
erished citizens, amidst demographic contraction and
political demoralization. But the traditions of marital
equality remained so fierce and deep that in the 2nd
century B.C., Sparta gave birth to the astonishing epi -
sodes of the radical king ... (P. 58, fn. 5)
Virtually nothing remains of ancient Sparta today .
What conclusions can we draw from the study of an-
cient Spartan culture? Two voices from antiquity epitomise
the verdict of the Greeks. Plutarch states, "With a common
staff and a coarse coat they [the Spartans] gained the willing
and joyful obedience of Greece" (1864, p . 73). And some-
what less admiringly, Xenophon states, "All men praise
their institutions but no state chooses to imitate them" (1968,
p. 169). In sum, although for five subsequent centuries the
Spartan state never passed beyond the boundaries of aris -
tocracy and autocracy, it did go one step beyond the ancient
monarchies . Additionally, it set the stage for the historically
amazing but brief period of radical reforms of 2nd century
B. C. Sparta - "probably the most coherent and far-reaching
set of revolutionary measures ever formulated in Antiquity"
(Anderson, 1974, p. 58), about which will be the topic of our
next paper.
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