A story of Glaucus of Sparta

The Tale of Glaucus of Sparta

The Spartans tell the Athenians a tale about Glaucus of Sparta in book six, chapter 86. Leotychides recounts the tale to persuade the Athenians to free the hostages taken by the Aeginetans. The protagonist of the tale is Glaucus of Sparta, who received corporal discipline for his intention to keep a deposit he had received from a foreigner. Due to Leotychides’ reputation as a corrupt figure who took bribes, the tale failed to accomplish its intended goal. (6.72). His reign as monarch is linked to corruption (6.66). The Athenians chose not to release the prisoners because they did not agree with his reasoning. According to the information from Herodotus, the Athenians are not punished for their decision. Leotychides story aims at both the Aeginetans and Athenians.

The Story of Glaucus

The story of Glaucus is based on a situation that occurred in Athens, Greece. The narration is that Glaucus was given a deposit by a foreigner and his heirs went to demand it after sometime. When they approached Glaucus, he acted not to remember having received such deposit. He requested them to give him some more time to investigate about the matter in question. He did this to create time in order to consult Delphi and check whether it was possible for him to steal the money. Leotychides was relating the story to the incident where the Aeginetan captives had been handed over to the Athenians by the Spartans. The Athenians also made claims that both king Cleomenes’ of Sparta and Loetychides had agreed to offer the hostages to them. They argued that they wondered how only one king, Leotychides was asking for the captives (6.86.1). However, the excuse was similar to what was sad when Cleomenes wanted to rescue medizers from Athens (6.50.2). After consultations, Delphi advised Glaucus that any appeals from the Athenians will be in vain due to the awareness of king Cleomenes’ mistakes.at that particular point, the intention of Loetychides’ story started to become clear. According to the story, Glaucus attempt to appeal was denied. The information issued by the Pythia outlined that, an act intended to test god amounts to a serious offence (6.86.2). At that moment, Leotychides speech seemed to cause an even a bigger contradiction. The repercussions faced by Glaucus for only intending to steal were so severe. The people believed that their god would offer the same magnitude of punishment to a person who intends to do a crime and the one who actually does it. This believe implied that, the Athenians were likely to face more trouble in future for refusing to release the Aeginetans in their custody.

Leotychides’ Persuasion

The speech made by Leotychides was partly intended to persuade the Athenians to let go of the hostages. On a different dimension, the story was presumed to warn the Athenians of possible trouble that may befall them in the future no matter their choice to release the captives or not. However, the claims that it was actually Leotychides and Cleomenes who offered the slaves to the Athenians did not seem to justify the act of wanting them back. Since Leotychides reputation was bad due to related corruption allegations, his words did change the Athenians decision. The Athenians started to criticize his speech and said that he should also give the same address to the Aeginetans. They related the situation to that faced by Glaucus because they felt that, they were in custody of something which they didn’t need and have always wanted to get rid of. In a previous incidence, the Athenians had to accept Leotychides when he was turned to them by the Spartans (6.85.2). They did this although the Theasides of Sparta had warned them before. They decided to stay calm just the same thing Glaucus had done when received a warning form the Pythia. Leotychides had offered to go with the Aeginetans to get back their people from Athens. To their surprise, he offered a speech that did not conform to their agreement. He then disappointed them further by telling them that their friendship was done.

The Failure of Leotychides’ Speech

Leotychides failed to offer a convincing speech that would have necessitated the release of the Aeginetans. The content he talked about would rather have been addressed to the Aegina and Athens at the same time. The situation was different from what Glaucus went through. Aegna and Athens were involved in endless conflicts that conspired for a very long time. This is regarded by some scholars to be some form of Athenian imperialism. The statements made by Leotychides to the Athenian have never come to reality including the punishments anticipated for Athens (5.89.2). Herodotus regards his speech as one that will never come to reality. This is because he warned both the Athenians and the Aeginetans at the same time.

Challenges Faced by Leotychides and Socles

After what happened, Leotychides and Socles faced serious challenges related to diplomacy. Socle was a Corinthian. He worked as an ambassador of Sparta and at the time Cleomenes secretly wanted to impose Isagoras to the post of a tyrant in Athens. The act would have been very unfair. It was now hard for Socles to convince the other allies of Sparta to resist her since there was no previous grievance to base their conflict. Socles were now left with only one choice. The option that remained was to mention to the allies about the consequences of tyranny and to stand for their rights to prevent future wars that may be unbearable. On the other side, Leotychides was a king of Sparta and was faced with a difficult situation. At one particular time, he hardly survived being handed over to the Aeginetans when he was forced to beg for them on some policies he had formed. He was able to change the situation when he had the opportunity to give a speech in Athens accompanied by the Aeginetans. This was the time when he had lied to the Aeginetans to accompany him to the Athenians to liberate their people who were held hostage.

Cultural and Historical Significance

The storytelling in the histories demonstrates a variety of cultures and values that existed in ancient Greece. The leadership mainly consisted of kingships and examples of such kings are mentioned in the story including Letychides and Cleomenes. The communities of the time are mentioned as Athenians, Theasides, Spartans, and the Aeginetans. The storytelling is used to portray how the position of the king was influential to the societies during decision making. It is clear that the kings were highly trusted and the societies subject to their reign were supposed to obey them, and their orders were carried out with utmost respect. For example, the influence of king Leotychides is well demonstrated at the part when he was accompanied by members from Aegna to help them convince the Athenians to allow them to get their people held in custody (6.86.1). The major urban areas of the time can be identified as Athens, Aegina, and Sparta. The storytelling in the histories also brings out the aspect of religion. It displays how the ancient Greek communities held a high level of respect and honor for their gods. The book displays how the people would try to avoid anything that will be against the gods.

Conclusion

In the book Herodotus uses both the methods of history and storytelling to illustrate and cover significant events that occurred in human life in the ancient times. The works of Herodotus have greatly impacted on indicating how culture and values have been exchanged by different societies over time. The book is a combination of numerous stories that are useful in understanding and gaining an image of the early society settings. Herodotus can be considered as an explicit source that properly illustrates evidence of storytelling and history at large. The numerous narratives contained in the book give an insight into various distinct communities of early times. There is a clear indication of how storytelling was applied by ancient leaders, especially kings, to express their ideas to their subjects. The stories sometimes served as motivation to different people. Storytelling was also used to provide moral and other life lessons to people of different ethnic backgrounds. The book is therefore, a very important source of history materials regarding the religions, politics, and other aspects of the ancient groups.

References

Johnson, D.M., 2001. Herodotus’ Storytelling Speeches: Socles (5.92) and Leotychides (6.86). The Classical Journal, 97(1), pp.1-26.