Oliganthropia is a momentous phenomenon in Spartan history, which severely affected her social and military structures, and eventually her power, as a much quoted remark by Aristoteles noticed (Pol. II 1270a 29-39). Evaluation of the pace of the decline of Spartan manpower entails however many uncertainties, because it involves difficult questions of detail, such as the interpretation of Thucydides' figures for the Spartan force at Mantinea, and a precise stance about the hotly debated organization of the Lacedaemonian army. This paper assesses the wider questions of the significance attached by the sources to Spartan and perioecic manpower and its relationship to Spartan hegemony. It elucidates i.a. the different perceptions of the anomaly of Sparta as a powerful and hegemonic city in Thucydides (I 10, 1-2) and Xenophon (Lac. pol. 1, 1), the changing and fading image of Sparta and Laconia as popolous city and land, the diverse appraisals of Spartan manpower proposed in some speeches in Xenophon's Hellenica (III 5, 15; IV 2, 11; VII 1, 9). Special attention is devoted to the origin of the notion of «the hundred cities of Laconia» (Strabo VIII 4, 11).
La Laconia, Sparta e i perieci. Una potenza egemone fra le «cento città» e l'oliganthropia
NAFISSI, Massimo
2014
Abstract
Oliganthropia is a momentous phenomenon in Spartan history, which severely affected her social and military structures, and eventually her power, as a much quoted remark by Aristoteles noticed (Pol. II 1270a 29-39). Evaluation of the pace of the decline of Spartan manpower entails however many uncertainties, because it involves difficult questions of detail, such as the interpretation of Thucydides' figures for the Spartan force at Mantinea, and a precise stance about the hotly debated organization of the Lacedaemonian army. This paper assesses the wider questions of the significance attached by the sources to Spartan and perioecic manpower and its relationship to Spartan hegemony. It elucidates i.a. the different perceptions of the anomaly of Sparta as a powerful and hegemonic city in Thucydides (I 10, 1-2) and Xenophon (Lac. pol. 1, 1), the changing and fading image of Sparta and Laconia as popolous city and land, the diverse appraisals of Spartan manpower proposed in some speeches in Xenophon's Hellenica (III 5, 15; IV 2, 11; VII 1, 9). Special attention is devoted to the origin of the notion of «the hundred cities of Laconia» (Strabo VIII 4, 11).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
