Laconophilia
Laconophilia is love or admiration of
Admirers of the Spartans typically praise their valour and success in war, their "
Ancient Laconophilia
Athens
In ancient Athens, Laconism began as a current of thought and feeling after the
Some Athenians, especially those who disliked commerce, preferred a closed society and the rule of the few.[citation needed] They believed that the Spartan Constitution was superior to their own. Some even went so far as to imitate Spartan manners by going around Athens long-haired and unwashed, like the Spartiates.[2] Plato's Republic, which is set in the 5th century BC, gives credibility to this claim by having Socrates opine that the Spartan or Cretan type of political regime is the favorite of "the many".[3]
A group of extreme Laconising oligarchs, known as the Thirty Tyrants, seized power in Athens in 404 BC and held it for eleven months, assisted by a Spartan army. Their rule, however, was quickly overthrown, and democracy was reinstated.[4]
In 371 BC, the Spartans were defeated in the Battle of Leuctra. As a result of that defeat, Sparta's allies revolted and the helots of Messenia were freed. Afterwards, the Spartan economy became less able to support professional soldiers, and inequalities between supposedly equal citizens increased. As a result, the reputation of Sparta, either as a military success or as a guide in domestic affairs, diminished substantially.[citation needed]
Philosophers
Laconophiles nevertheless remained among the philosophers. Some of the young men who followed
Greek philosophy, therefore, inherited a tradition of praising Spartan law. This was only reinforced when
In later centuries, Greek philosophers, especially
It became fashionable for the
Contrary views
Even in ancient cultures, Laconophilia was a tendency, not an absolute. None of the contemporaries of the Lycurgan Constitution praised Sparta without reservations, except the Spartans themselves.
Herodotus of Dorian Halicarnassus, consistently portrays the Spartans, except when actually facing battle, as rustic, hesitant, uncooperative, corrupt, and naïve. Plato had Socrates argue that a state which really followed the simple life would not need a warrior class; one which was luxurious and aggressive would need a group of philosophers, like Plato himself, to guide and deceive the guardians. Even Xenophon's encomium of the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians is not unalloyed praise.[12]
Even after the collapse, and idealisation, of Sparta, Polybius wrote, "My object, then, in this digression is to make it manifest by actual facts that, for guarding their own country with absolute safety, and for preserving their own freedom, the legislation of Lycurgus was entirely sufficient; and for those who are content with these objects we must concede that there neither exists nor ever has existed a constitution and civil order preferable to that of Sparta."[14]
Modern Laconophilia
Admiration of Sparta continued in the
Alexander Hamilton mocked the Laconophilia of his era as unrealistic:
We may preach till we are tired of the theme, the necessity of disinterestedness in republics, without making a single proselyte. The virtuous declaimer will neither persuade himself nor any other person to be content with a double mess of porridge, instead of a reasonable stipend for his services. We might as soon reconcile ourselves to the Spartan
Laplanders.[16]
Laconophilia increased in importance during the nineteenth century. Sparta was used as a model of social purity by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
Early Zionism
Early Zionists, and particularly the founders of
Racial Laconophilia
Karl Müller
A new element was introduced into Laconophilia by
In 1824, however, Müller wrote Die Dorier, a history of the Dorian race. It has been described as a "thousand-page fantasia", which portrays the Dorians as a heroic and noble race who expanded into Greece from the north. He used the new disciplines of
Nazi Laconophilia
Müller's emphasis on the northern origins and racial qualities of the Spartans later fed into the development of
Sparta is pictured as particularly Nordic on account of the purity of its Dorian stock, while Athens is more of a mixture. Sparta thus exhibited the military efficiency, the thorough organization and the patriotic sacrifice of the individual to the state characteristic of Nordics everywhere and exemplified in modern Prussia, while Athens exhibited the intellectual brilliancy, the instability, the extreme individualism, the tendency to treason and conspiracy so characteristic of populations having a large Mediterranean element.[22]
These arguments were repeated by Nazi race theorists such as Hans F. K. Günther and Alfred Rosenberg. Adolf Hitler particularly praised the Spartans, recommending in 1928 that Germany should imitate them by limiting "the number allowed to live". He added that "The Spartans were once capable of such a wise measure... The subjugation of 350,000 Helots by 6,000 Spartans was only possible because of the racial superiority of the Spartans." The Spartans had created "the first racialist state."[23]
Following
Contemporary Laconophilia
Modern Laconophilia has been present in popular culture, particularly with reference to the Battle of Thermopylae, as portrayed in films such as The 300 Spartans. It is also evident in the graphic novel 300 and the film derived from it.
In the modern world, the adjective "spartan" is used to imply simplicity, frugality, or avoidance of luxury and comfort.).
See also
References
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War I.102; De Ste. Croix (1972) 76; Plutarch Cimon 16.1ff.
- ^ Aristophanes, Birds 1281; Plato Comicus Fragmenta 132 (PCG); Epilycus Fragmenta 4 (PCG).
- ^ Republic VIII, 544c.
- ^ See the article on the Thirty Tyrants for references.
- ^ Schofield (2006) 38-39; Dawson (1992) 58-59, 61, 74, 103-104; Cartledge The Socratics Sparta (1999); Plato, Crito 52e.
- ^ See his dialogue the Laws.
- ^ Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 1102a7-11.
- ^ For (some) references, see the article on Agis IV.
- ^ See for example: Plutarch Lycurgus; Plutarch Instituta Laconica GreekEnglishEnglish.
- ^ Most notably: Ollier (1933); Tigerstedt (1965-72).
- ^ Cicero Tusculanae Disputationes II.34. LatinEnglish
- ^ Xenophon Constitution of the Lacedaemonians http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Const.+Lac.+14&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0210 14.1]
- ^ Aristotle Politics 1269a-1271b
- ^ Polybius Histories VI, 50; I,6
- ^ "Epilogue: Securing the Republic: Samuel Adams to John Scollay".
- ^ University of Chicago
- ^ Žižek, Slavoj. "The True Hollywood Left". www.lacan.com.
- ^ Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948, By Anita Shapira, Stanford University Press 1999, 300
- ^ Kafka and Cultural Zionism: Dates in Palestine By Iris Bruce, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2007, page 170
- ^ The Making of Israeli Militarism, By Uri Ben-Eliezer, Indiana University Press, 1998
- ^ The Making of Israeli Militarism, By Uri Ben-Eliezer, Indiana University Press, 1998, page 63
- ^ Hankins, Frank, The Racial Basis of Civilization, Knopff, 1926
- ^ a b Hitler, Pol Pot, and Hutu Power: Distinguishing Themes of Genocidal Ideology Professor Ben Kiernan, Holocaust and the United Nations Discussion Paper
- ^ Webster Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Spartan
Bibliography
- Cartledge, P. Sparta: New Perspectives (London, 1999).
- –––. 'The Socratics Sparta and Rousseau's' in: S. Hodkinson, A. Powell (eds.) Sparta: New Perspectives (Londen, 1999) 311-337.
- –––. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis an Collapse (Woodstock, 2003).
- Dawson, D. Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek thought (Oxford, 1992).
- Ferguson, J. Utopias of the Classical World (London, 1975). Discusses the spartiate character of classical utopian literature.
- Hodkinson, S. 'The imaginary Spartan Politeia' in: M.H. Hansen (ed.) The Imaginary Polis, Historisk Filosofiske Meddelelser 91 (Copenhagen, 2005) 222–281.
- Jäger, W. Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture ed. trans. H. Gilbert (Oxford, 1939).
- Jenkyns, R. The Victorians and Ancient Greece (Oxford, 1980).
- Kitto, H.D.F. The Greeks (Middlesex, 1951).
- Mendle, M. Dangerous Positions; Mixed Government, the Estates of the Realm, and the Making of the "Answer to the xix propositions" (Tuscaloosa, 1985).
- Müller, K.O. The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race trans. H. Tufnell, G.C. Lewis (London, 1839).
- Ollier, F. Le Mirage Spartiate : étude sur l'idealisation de Sparte dans l'antiquité grecque (Paris, 1933).
- Powell, A. & S. Hodkinson (eds.) The Shadow of Sparta (London, 1994). Contains studies into the views on Sparta of several non-Spartan Greeks, e.g. Xenophon, Aristophanes, Plato.
- Rawson, E. The Spartan Tradition in European Thought (Oxford, 1969).
- Schofield, M. Plato: Political Philosophy (Oxford, 2006).
- Ste. Croix, G.E.M. de The Origins of the Peloponnesian War (London, 1972).
- Tigerstedt, Ε.Ν. The Legend of Sparta in Classical antiquity I-III (1965–72, Stockholm/Göteborg/Uppsala).
- Turner, F. The Greek Heritage in Victorian Britain (London, 1981).