The syssitia and the origins of the spartan constituition

Abstract

In view of the long-standing controversy over whether or not the Spartan constitution derived from the Cretan constitution, this article examines what ancient sources have to say about one of the highlights of the Spartan constitution: the communal meals held in the syssitia, the civic-military clubs that functioned as a second family for the citizens of Sparta. The syssitia had important admirers, such as Plato and Aristotle; however, an examination of the primary sources, from Herodotus, Plato and Xenophon to Polybius, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, reveals that, because of the political and economic difficulties that gradually undermined the effectiveness of the syssitia, there was a gradual abandonment of the idea that the Spartan constitution had a celestial origin in favor of the idea that it was a secular institution whose model could be found in the communal meals once practiced in Crete.