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ABSTRACT: This study reassesses the reforms of the mid-third-century Spartan kings. It examines first the possible landscape impacts of oliganthropy and demotion to 'Inferior' status. Possible attempts, by state or individuals, to combat inequality by cultivating unused land or ignoring the prohibition on manual labour did not solve the problem. Since Sparta and perioikic poleis possessed distinct territories, 'Malea(s)' in Plutarch's account of Agis's land reforms should mean Mt Parnon, not Cape Malea; it was only Sparta's own chora that Agis IV and Kleomenes III could redesign. Disadvantaging the perioikoi was impossible, given the relative increase in their power within Laconia.
Keywords: Agis IV - Kleomenes III - Sparta - hellenistic Laconia - perioikoi - Malea
1.Introduction
Between the 240s and the 220s,2 two kings of Sparta - first Agis IV of the Eurypontid house (c.244-241), then some years later the Agiad Kleomenes III (c.235-222), who had married Agis's widow - tried to address Sparta's manpower problem and rebuild its military strength. The present study reassesses their reform programmes in the light of recent progress in understanding the notorious Spartan manpower shortage ('oliganthropy') and new archaeological evidence for rural settlement. A proposed new identification of a place-name in Plutarch's account of Agis's plans brings into sharper focus the changing balance of power between Sparta and its perioikoi in the late classical and early hellenistic periods.
Plutarch devotes a joint Life to the two kings, comparing them with the Gracchus brothers in late second-century Rome. Kleomenes is the better-known of the two kings, for his reign was distinguished by a brief but overwhelming revival of Spartan military supremacy in the eastern Peloponnese. Modern studies of the two men's careers have often focused on such topics as military strategy, Kleomenes' manipulation of Spartan education, and the reliability of Plutarch and his sources,3 notably the non-Spartan Phylarchos, a sympathetic eye-witness to the events of Kleomenes' reign.4
A fuller understanding can be gained if we start from the principle that in order to understand the history of a polis we must try to comprehend both its internal dynamics and its external links. A precise analysis of Sparta's manpower problem and its likely impact on the landscape (§§ 2-4), a reassessment of key topographic and numerical evidence (§§ 5-8),...