patronomos
patronomos
- Antony Spawforth
Extract
Patronomos (πατρονόμος), official instituted c.227 bce by *Cleomenes (2) III (Paus. 2. 9. 1) in his reform of Sparta's polity, attested from the 1st cent. bce as Sparta's eponymous magistrate. Roman inscriptions link his duties with the ‘Lycurgan customs’ (cf. lycurgus(2)), so favouring the title's translation as ‘guardian of the ancestral traditions’. Probably the first patronomoi oversaw Cleomenes' revived *agōgē.Subjects
- Greek Law
