When the descendants of Herakles returned to
Peloponnesus, and divided that country amongst them, Lacedaemon fell to
the lot of Aristodemus, who left his two sons joint heirs to the
monarchy. The kings of Sparta had little real power, and to this no
doubt they owed the fact of their retaining their dignity when every
other Hellenic state adopted a democratic form of government.]
However, in spite of these discrepancies, we will endeavour, by
following the least inconsistent accounts and the best known
authorities, to write the history of his life. Simonides the poet tells
us that the father of Lykurgus was not Eunomus, but Prytanis. But most
writers do not deduce his genealogy thus, but say that Soues was the son
of Prokles, and grandson of Aristodemus, and that Soues begat Euripus;
Euripus, Prytanis, and Prytanis, Eunomus. Eunomus had two sons,
Polydektes by his first wife, and Lykurgus by his second wife Dionassa,
which makes him, according to Dieutychides, sixth in descent from
Prokles, and eleventh from Herakles.
II. The most remarkable of his ancestors was Soues, in whose reign the
Spartans enslaved the Helots, and annexed a large portion of Arcadia. It
is said that Soues once was besieged by the Kleitorians, in a fort where
there was no water, and was compelled to conclude a treaty to restore
the territory in dispute, if he and his men were permitted to drink at
the nearest spring.
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