Abstract

Lysander, who defeated Athens in 404 BC, polarized not only Greece, but also Sparta, where his room for maneuver was sometimes extended, and sometimes curtailed by the political bodies and protagonists. In the Gerousia Lysander’s supporters were mostly in the majority and made sure that his opponents were convicted and that he himself was protected from lawsuits and penalties. Perhaps these Gerontes not only stood behind Lysander’s imperialist post-war order, but also behind his plan to make the kingship elective. This collaboration would be astonishing because the Gerousia has been considered as conservative since antiquity; but it would be perhaps less a sign of audacity than of a will to create. The extent of the resistance to such a policy can be gauged from the pamphlet of King Pausanias, which can be understood as a knee-jerk defense of the hereditary monarchy.