Tyrtaeus

Tyrtaeus (/tɜːrˈtiːəs/; Greek: Τυρταῖος Tyrtaios) was a Greek lyric poet from Sparta who composed verses around the time of the Second Messenian War, the date of which isn't clearly established, but sometime in the latter part of the seventh century BC. He is known especially for political and military elegies, exhorting Spartans to support the state authorities and to fight bravely against the Messenians, who had temporarily succeeded in wresting their estates from Spartan control.

Traditional accounts of his life, on which we rely for biographical details, were almost entirely deduced from his poetry or were simply fiction, as for example an account by Pausanias of his supposed transformation from a lame, stupid school teacher in Athens to the mastermind of Spartan victories against the Messenians.

Nevertheless, the Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda has two entries for Tyrtaeus, summarizing conflicting reports that were current at that time. The first of them runs as follows:

Tyrtaeus, son of Archembrotus, a Laconian or Milesian elegiac poet and pipe-player. It is said that by means of his songs he urged on the Lacedaemonians in their war with the Messenians and in this way enabled them to get the upper hand. He is very ancient, contemporary with those called the Seven sages, or even earlier. He flourished in the 35th Olympiad (640–37 BC). He wrote a constitution for the Lacedaemonians, precepts in elegiac verse, and war songs, in five books.

The second entry states that the Spartans took him as their general from among the Athenians in response to an oracle.

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