The Growth of Spartan Policy Author(s): Guy Dickins Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 32 (1912), pp. 1-42 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/624130 . Accessed: 28/03/2013 14:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 137.149.3.15 on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:24:16 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GROWTH OF SPARTAN POLICY. THE relation of Sparta to the other Greek states in the early days of Greek history has been little examined and less understood. As a result two erroneous hypotheses have found their way into the stock-in-trade of the ancient historian. The first of these is that the development of Sparta was quite exceptional and unique among the Greek states; the second is that the foreign policy of Sparta was wholly opportunist, or, so far as a guiding principle can be traced, was mainly influenced by the domestic question of the helots.1 It is the object of this article to prove :- (I) That down to 550 Sparta underwent a political development closely analogous to that of the rest of Greece.