Sparta e l’eugenetismo. Le leggi di Licurgo e i criteri di selezione degli spartiati

Abstract

In a passage from his Zweites Buch (1928), Adolf Hitler hints at the elimination of sick, weak, deformed children, which – in his opinion – made Sparta not only the most powerful city in Greece, but also the first eugenic and racist state in history. Even today it is a common and rooted idea that, due to the lawgiver Lycurgus, a public board («the elders of the tribe») was to inspect all Spartiate newborns and reject those deemed physically unfit.
This paper analyzes in detail the only ancient source that preserves the memory of such a rule (Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, 16.1-2), to demonstrate that its meaning is different from the one generally attributed to it. As a matter of fact, it is likely that the selection practice mentioned by Plutarch did not concern infants, but rather boys who had reached the age of seven – namely, the age required to be enrolled into the rigorous and compulsory
Spartan education system, the so called ἀγωγή. Moreover, the evaluation did not concern the body of the candidate but was instead aimed at verifying that he was born from a legal union of Spartiate parents. From this perspective, Sparta would not appear to be a city fundamentally different or exceptional compared to other Greek πόλεις. As was the case elsewhere (and particulary in Athens), some public officials had to ensure that individuals about to enter the civic body met the necessary requirements for full and rightful inclusion.

Keywords : Lycurgus the Spartan Lawgiver; Sparta; Ancient Greek Law; Citizenship in Ancient Greece; Eugenics.