La leggenda di Polidoro e la ridistribuzione di terre di Licurgo nella propaganda spartana del III secolo

Abstract

Two different traditions are handed down by Plutarch and Pausanias about king Polydorus of Sparta. According to Plutarch, who probably preserves the older one, Polydorus operated in agreement with the other king Theopompus, in order to promulgate antidemocratic decrees after Licurgus’ law (the so-called Rhetra). On the contrary, Pausanias pictures him as a popular hero, who favoured the conquest of Messenia and the distribution of its territory among Spartan farmers. This second tradition could go back to the reign of Agis IV, who tried to redistribute land and to carry out a reforming policy.