Expert: Irulan Serena - 2/5/2004

Question
I am doing research about Alcibiades.  Can you direct me to any books that provide information about Spartan Culture during the time he was in Sparta?  For example, sources I've read only mention one king, but I was under the impression Sparta had two kings.

Answer
Hello John,


INFORAMTION ABOUT ALCIBIADES:     See following links:

http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_64.asp

http://www.kat.gr/kat/history/Greek/Gn/Alcibiades.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/a/alcibiad.asp    
See bottom of this link for articles etc.

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/Alcibiades.html

http://ragz-international.com/alcibiades.htm

BOOKS:

Socrates and Alcibiades: Four Texts
by David Johnson (Paperback - April 2003)

Plato XII : Charmides, Alcibiades I & II, Hipparchus, Lovers, Theages, Minos, Epinomis
by Plato, W. R. M. Lamb (Translator) (Hardcover - June 1927)

Plato: Alcibiades
by Plato (Author), et al (Paperback )

Plutarch's Lives: Alcibiades and Coriolanus Lysander and Sulla (Lcl, 80) by Bernadotte Perrin, et al (Hardcover - December 1989)

Alcibiades and Coriolanus by Plutarch, Dryden (Translator) (Digital - March 2001)

SPARTAN MONARCHY:      Spartans were ruled by two kings:  a military and a political king.

At the top of Spartan government was the monarchy; the monarchy, however, was a dual monarchy. Below the monarchy was a council which was composed of the two kings plus twenty-eight nobles, all of whom were over sixty, that is, retired from the military. The council debated and set legislative and foreign policy, and was the supreme criminal court. Below the council (or above it), was an assembly of all the Spartiate males (a democracy, in other words) that selected the council and approved or vetoed council proposals. Above them all, however, was a small group of five men known as the ephorate . For all practical purposes, Spartan government was the ephorate, for these five men led the council, ran the military, ran the educational system, ran the infant selection system, and had veto power over everything coming out of the council or the assembly. They even had power to depose the king; however, they needed powerful divine proof (in the form of omens or oracles) to exercise this power.

Hope this helps,

Cordially,

I.