Mourning in Sparta (Plu., Lyc. 27.1-4)

Abstract

With relation to the requirements established by the Spartan Lycurgus on funeral rites, the plutarchean biography mentions two exceptions (one man and one woman) from the rule requiring anonymous burials. The manuscripts’ paradosis has been suspected and corrected from the 16th century onwards: in the last two centuries the conjecture λεχοῦς, proposed by Latte and printed by Ziegler in the text of his Teubner edition, has been generally accepted. In this paper the reasons in support of this conjecture are rediscussed, and the possibility of retaining the manuscripts’ text is advanced on the basis of the Lacedaemonian traditions attested by the sources.