Tyrtaeus (; Tyrtaios; fl. mid-7th century BC) was a Greek elegiac poet from Sparta whose works were speculated to fill five books. His works survive from quotations and papyri, and include 250 lines or parts of lines. He wrote at a time of two crises affecting the city: a civic unrest threatening the authority of kings and elders, later recalled in a poem named Eunomia ("Law and Order"), where he reminded citizens to respect the divine and constitutional roles of kings, council, and demos; and the Second Messenian War, during which he served as a sort of "state poet", exhorting Spartans to fight to the death for their city. In the 4th century BC, when Tyrtaeus was an established classic, Spartan armies on campaign were made to listen to his poetry. The Suda states that he wrote martial songs; these were important in Spartan festivals and were done through anapaestic and iambic chants that accompanied armed dances and processions.
Life
Birth and place of origin The floruit given in the first entry of Suda is perhaps too early since Jerome offers a date of 633–632 BC. Modern scholars are less specific and provide instead date ranges for the Second Messenian War (and thus for Tyrtaeus' life) such as "the latter part of the 7th century",V. Parker, 'The Dates of the Messenian Wars', Chiron 21 (1991), pages 25–47, as summarized by . or "any time between the sixties and the thirties" of the 7th century.
The confusion about his place of origin, which emerged by the 5th century BC, may have had several causes. It has been suggested that the depictions of Tyrtaeus as a lame schoolmaster from Athens were invented to denigrate Sparta, which in the views of Athenians could not have had a talented poet of its own. According to Pausanias, the Athenians sent the lame, mentally defective teacher-poet to Sparta as a compromise, wishing to obey the oracle which had demanded an Athenian, but unwilling to help the Spartans in their war with a more capable individual.Pausanias 4.15.6, cited by . Yet, Tyrtaeus was not listed by Herodotus among the two foreigners ever to have been awarded Spartan citizenship.Herodotus ix. 35. One ancient source even listed Aphidnae as his supposed Athenian deme, but there was also a place of that name in Laconia.
Ancient Athenian propaganda might indeed have played a role, although even Plato, who could hardly have intended any denigration as an admirer of Sparta, gave credence to the poet's Athenian origin.Plato Laws 1.629a–b, cited by . According to scholar N. R. E. Fisher, "[t]he story was surely an invention by Athenians, designed in the first instance for a predominantly Athenian market. It must have been aimed at making co-operation between Sparta and Athens more acceptable". It has also been noted that Tyrtaeus did not compose in the vernacular Laconian Doric dialect of Sparta, as could be expected of a native Spartan like his near contemporary Alcman. However, Greek elegists used the Ionic dialect of Homer regardless of their city of origin or their audience.
Scholars generally agree that Tyrtaeus was a native of Laconia for several reasons: the use of the first personal plural to include himself among the Heraclidae whom Zeus had given to Sparta in fragment 2; the presence of occasional Doric words in his vocabulary; and his tone of authority when addressing Spartan warriors, which would have been tolerated only if delivered by a Spartan-born poet.
Sources Virtually all that is known about the life of Tyrtaeus is found in two entries of the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia redacted in the 10th century AD. The first of the entry of the Suda runs as follows: The second entry states that the Spartans took him as their general from among the Athenians in response to an oracle.
Traditional accounts of his life were almost entirely deduced from his poetry or were simply fiction, such as the account by Pausanias (2nd century AD) of his supposed transformation from a lame and stupid school teacher in Athens to the mastermind of Spartan victories against the Messenians. Variations on his Athenian origin and deformity are found in numerous ancient sources. This includes philosopher Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century AD), who said that the Athenians regarded him as deranged,Diogenes Laërtius 2.43, cited by . and Porphyry (3rd century AD), who labelled him "one-eyed."Porphyry in Horace A.P. 402, cited by . Finally, historian Justin (2nd century AD) believed that he was sent to the Spartans by the Athenians as a deliberate insult.Justin 3.5, cited by .
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the picture of Tyrtaeus' life has been complicated by doubts about the authenticity of many of his verses, which were dated by various scholars to the 5th or 4th century BC. The theory that Tyrtaeus was in fact a 5th-century Athenian poet was even posited by Eduard Schwartz in 1899.E. Schwartz, "Tyrtaios", Hermes 34 (1899), cited by . See also Macan in Classical Review (February 1897); H. Weil, Études sur l'antiquité grecque (1900), and C. Giarratani, Tirteo e i suoi carmi (1905). According to Douglas E. Gerber (1997), however, "that skepticism has now largely disappeared". Disagreements among scholars now essentially revolve around the version of fragment 4 that should be accepted as genuine (Plutarch's or Diodorus' version, or a combination of the two), and some doubts remain about the dating of fragment 12, which some critics have assigned to the time of Xenophanes (c. 570 – c. 475 BC) or shortly before 498 BC.. Gerber states that "most critics have been convinced" by Jaeger's defence of fr. 12 as Tyrtaeus' work (Five Essays. 1966 . pp. 103–42), but that Fränkel (EGPP. pp. 337–39) assigns it "to the time of Xenophanes" and G. Tarditi ("Parenesi e arete nel corpus tirtaico". 1982. RFIC 110. pp. 257–276) to shortly before Pindar's Pythian 10 (498).
Sparta at the time of Tyrtaeus
The conquest of Messenia in the 8th century BC, by the grandfathers of Tyrtaeus's generation, provided the foundation for a sophisticated and cultivated lifestyle. Foreign poets like the Lesbian Terpander and Cretan Thaletas were welcome guests. Ivory and gold ornaments, bronze vessels of ornate workmanship, fine pottery and the odes of Alcman all testify to refined tastes, continuing even into the sixth century. The continuance of those luxuries was "dearly purchased" in blood and toil by Tyrtaeus's generation when the Messenians revolted, and the ensuing war and civil strife inspired his entire poetic work. The crisis was mentioned by Aristotle for its instructive power:Aristotle Politics 5.6.1306b36, cited by .
His verses seem to mark a critical point in Spartan history, when Spartans began to turn from their flourishing arts and crafts and from the lighter verses of poets like Alcman (roughly his contemporary), to embrace a regime of military austerity: "life in Sparta became spartan". Some modern scholars believe that Tyrtaeus helped to precipitate and formulate this transition,e.g. Jaeger and Tigerstedt, cited by but others see no real evidence for this.
Tyrtaeus in his poetry urged the Spartans to remain loyal to the state and he reminded them of a constitution based on divine providence, requiring co-operation of kings, elders and the people."After listening to Phoebus, they brought home from Pytho the god's oracles and sure predictions. The divinely honoured kings, in whose care is Sparta's lovely city, and the aged elders are to initiate counsel; and the men of the people, responding with straight utterances, are to speak fair words, act justly in everything, and not give the city (crooked?) counsel. Victory and power are to accompany the mass of the people. For so was Phoebus' revelation about this to the city."adapted into prose from Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 6, and Diodorus Siculus World History 7.12.5–6, by . He sought to inspire them in battle by celebrating the example of their grandfathers' generation, when Messenia was first captured, in the rule of King Theopompus,"...our king Theopompus dear to the gods, through whom we captured spacious Messene, Messene good to plough and good to plant. For nineteen years the spearmen fathers of our fathers fought unceasingly over it, displaying steadfast courage in their hearts, and in the twentieth year the enemy fled from the high mountain range of Ithome, abandoning their rich farmlands."adapted into prose from three sources (Pausanias 4.6.5, schol. ad loc. (p. 301 Greene) on Plato's Laws, Strabo 6.3.3) by . and he gave practical advice on weapons, armour and tactics (see for example the verses below). Some modern scholars however think his advice shows more familiarity with the schoolroom than with the battlefield, appearing to feature obsolete armour and tactics typical of Homeric rather than hoplite warfare. Others have argued that the Spartans at that time were still developing hoplite tactics, or that they were adapting hoplite tactics to encounter Messenian guerillas.
Tyrtaeus's poetry is almost always interpreted teleologically, for signs of its subsequent impact on Spartan society. The similarities in meter and phrasing between Homeric epic and early elegy have encouraged this tendency, sometimes leading to dramatic conclusions about Tyrtaeus's significance. He has been called, for example, "the first poet of the Greek city state" and, in a similar vein, "he has recast the Homeric ideal of the single champion's arete (excellence) into the arete of the patriot".Tigerstedt (1965) p. 50, and Jaeger (1966) p. 103, cited and quoted by For some scholars, this is to credit Tyrtaeus with too much: his use of arete was not an advance on Homer's use of it but can still be interpreted as signifying "virtue" in the archaic sense of an individual's power to achieve something rather than as an anticipation of the classical sense of moral excellence, familiar to Plato and others.
Athenaeus, Strabo and the second entry of the Suda claim that Tyrtaeus was a Spartan general.Athenaeus 14.630f and Strabo 8.4.10; cited by . Some modern scholars, such as F. Rossi (1967–68), maintain that Tyrtaeus held a high military position,Rossi, F. (1967–68). "La 'strategie' di Tirteo". AIV. 126. pp. 343–375. but Gerber (1997) contends that this is a speculative surmise: "[i]t may have been assumed that only a military commander could give military admonitions and instructions, but it is an unnecessary assumption.".
Works The Constitution () mentioned by the Suda is generally treated as an alternative title for the Eunomia () mentioned by Aristotle and Strabo. Surviving only in a few fragments, it seems to have emphasized the role of divine providence in the development of the state and of its government. Eventually the Spartans emerged from the Second Messenian War with their constitution intact, either because victory made change unnecessary or because "religious propaganda" of the kind promoted by Tyrtaeus stemmed the pressure for change.
According to the Suda, both his Constitution and his Precepts () were composed in elegiac couplets. Pausanias also mentions Anapests, a few lines of which are quoted by Dio Chrysostom and attributed to Tyrtaeus by a scholiast.Pausanias 4.15.6 and Dio Chrysostom 2.59; cited by . They are generally seen by scholars as belonging to the so-called War Songs () mentioned by the Suda. Presumably written in the Laconian dialect, nothing else of it has survived.