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The epiphany of Lycurgus: A Sparta ascendant timeline.

Reading through Greek history in General, and Spartan history in particular is an incredible experience. You have the invention of an incredibly inticirate, fantastic, self contradictory mythology and cosmology during the 8th century BCE which spreads across the Meditaranian and the Middle East… only to have its gods and myths discredited and demoted to allegories by it's leading philophosers less than 300 years later. You have those same philosophers debating concepts in government which are incredibly modern when they aren't joining the national armies of their microstates to bash phalanxes with their distinguished collegues. You have direct and very lively democracy followed by social revolution, followed by tyranny, followed by revolution, followed by democracy... with involved citizens switching sides willy nilly. You have this squabbling collection of microstates throw back, TWICE, the invasion of an empire which stretches over 100 times of much territory and with at least 50 times the population… and then see them invade and CONQUER this empire (albeit under the leadership of a semi-foreign edge state).

And then you have Sparta. If Athens and the other Greek polis offer us a microcosm of Western nationalism and rationalism Sparta offers another, almost completely unique path of what might have been.

It's a path that, to some extent, been explored by the S.M.Stirling's wildly implausible Draka. Historically, this path was both flawed and too inflexible to expand, widen its power base, adapt to changing conditions or reform its deficiencies. It got off to a roaring start but ran into a dead end after about 300 years, though it continued to stagger about for another 300 or so.

What I'm going to do is slightly (or more than slightly) modify the basic Spartan social DNA near its point of inception to eliminate its main sources of weakness while retaining and increasing its strengths. In this I am guided by Ian mongomery's excellent essay on how to create effective evil empire: https://www.alternatehistory.com/gateway/essays/MusingsEvilEmpires.html

The linchpin of this transformation is the man who arguably made the Spartans what they are- Lycaragus, creator of the Spartan constitution.

For those not familiar with the name Lycurgus is the semi-historical framer of the Spartan constitution http://www.e-classics.com/lycurgus.htm#2. According to Spartan legend he left Sparta for Crete and Ionia to study their forms of government- and to avoid being accused of, or being the magnet for, conspiracies against his nephew, charilus the eurypontid king of Sparta. According to some legend he also visited Egypt. For the purposes of TTL I'm making the point of departure his decision to visit the shine celebrating the birth of Zeus in Knosus. This delays him and prevents him from catching a ship to Samos, while ensuring assasins sent from Sparta have a chance to catch up with him. This results in his decision to take a longer journey, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, The Assyrian empire, Babylon, Tyre, Cilicia, Phyrigia and Lydia before getting to Ionia, exposing him to many new Ideas. This gives him a much wider perspective for his constitution and leads him to question his belief in the gods (and consider ways of reorganizing the olympic pantheon for the benefit of the state). His longer journey also gives Sparta a chance to devolve into near civil war- Making Lycurgus even more of a savior figure capable of molding Spartan society in the direction he wants it to go.

Chapter 0: Change of course (Knosus, Crete 775BCE)

Lycurgus raised his voice in a hymn to his patron deity, the smoke rising up from the rich offering on the alter: "Zeus Pater, father of gods and men, accept this sacrifice. In this, the place of your glorious birth, grant me the Aretehttps://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=6#_edn1 to guide my people, the descendants of your seed by your son Hercales[ii], to be reborn into unity, strength and honor in your name. Oh glorious youth[iii]….. " Lysander, standing outside the cave heard the plaintive cries of his uncle and leige[iv] and shuddered. It was much easier to imagine the dark cave on the outskirts of knosus to be the dwelling place of a monster, a Titan, than the Birth place of the chief god of olympus[v]. Lysander was distracted enough by the dancing shadows in the cave that he failed to notice the shadows behind him…


Lycurgus finished his prayers allowing silence to fill the great cavern cave once more. He sighed. He had hoped that in this holy place at least he would feel… something. But he felt nothing but emptiness. As if his prayers were directed at an empty void rather than the Alfather.

His jaw clenched. He had decided to remain in Crete and miss a boat to Samos in order to visit the shrine[vi]. Or rather, one of the shrines… there were at least three caves on Crete claiming to be the site of the birth of Zeus, each of course, controlled by a rival city state. Well, there was no hurry… The situation in Lacdemon had to be given time to expose the underling factional tensions before he could return to offer a new basis for governing the nation. Nor, he reminded himself, was the visit entirely fruitless. The Paidea system he had witnessed in Ida, and the role of the Kuirotes in educating the youths in the ways of war were clearly applicable to the lacdemonians. What better way to foster unity than to have all Dorian youths train and fight together?

His mind wrapped in thoughts he nearly missed the bloodstain at the entry to the holy enclosure. Nearly… but not quite. The rush of the assassin, and his life, was terminated at the sharp end of Lycurgus's spear.

Lysander was still alive when he reached him. But not for long. Lycurgus considered the scattered bodies. Clearly the only reason the assassin had not killed him while he was praying was his reluctance to spill blood within the sacred prescient. But slaying a youth of 13 did while he waited for his master did not trouble his heart.

He raised himself, about to call on the priests of the sanctuary. Then he paused. No one knew he was coming to the caves this night… besides the priests. Best not to take chances. Lycaragus placed two coins over the eyes of Lysander[vii] for the ferryman and started his lope towards the inn and the harbor. He would gather Thales and his men and take the next available berth out of Crete.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=6#_ednref1Yeah, Yeah I know this isn't a cannon hym of prayer to Zeus. But those Hyms were codified by Homeric writings which aren't yet all that widespread or canonical. Actualy, this centuary is exactly the transitional period when the Greek gods turn from a collection of local deities into an integrated Pantheon with panhellenic sites of worship. So I'm taking some poetic license here.


[ii]The Dorian kings of Sparta, like half of the royal lines of Greece (and Macedon) claimed descent from Hercales.

[iii]That's the praise name of Zeus in Crete, where myth has him being born and raised in hiding from Chronus. He's descipted there as a teenager hiding in the trees rather than a mature man with a white beard on top of a mountain.

[iv]Dorian society is pretty feudal at this point. Lycurgus is a land owner and has a personal war band he took into exile. Lysander is one of his many nephews and is the archaic equivalent of a page.

[v]Yes, also anachronistic. I know. Look, just cut me some poetic slack. OK, less footnotes from now on.

[vi]This is the POD

[vii]Yes, this may also be anachronistic. But no one knows for sure when the custom started.
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