Editing Tyrtaeus (section)

=== Sources ===
Virtually all that is known about the life of Tyrtaeus is found in two entries of the ''[[Suda]]'', a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[encyclopedia]] redacted in the 10th century AD.{{Sfnp|Gerber|1997|p=102}} [[File:3195 - Athens - Stoà of Attalus Museum - Spartan shield (425 BC) - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 9 2009.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Bronze Spartan shield captured by Athenian soldiers at the [[Battle of Pylos]] in 425 BCE and now stored in the [[Ancient Agora Museum]]]]The first of the entry of the ''Suda'' runs as follows:{{Blockquote|Tyrtaeus, son of Archembrotus, a [[Laconia]]n or [[Milesians (Greek)|Milesian]] elegiac poet and pipe-player. It is said that by means of his songs he urged on the Lacedaemonians in their war with the Messenians and in this way enabled them to get the upper hand. He is very ancient, contemporary with those called the [[Seven Sages of Greece|Seven sages]], or even earlier. He flourished in the 35th [[Olympiad]] (640–637 BC). He wrote a constitution for the Lacedaemonians, precepts in elegiac verse, and war songs, in five books.<ref name="suda">Suda [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tyrtaeus-testimonia/1999/pb_LCL258.25.xml iv.610.5 (Adler)], cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=25}}.</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}
The second entry states that the Spartans took him as their general from among the Athenians in response to an oracle.

{{Blockquote|Tyrtaeus. The Lacedaemonians swore that they would either capture Messene or die, and when the god gave them an oracle to take a general from the Athenians, they took the poet Tyrtaeus, a man who was lame. By exhorting them to valour he captured Messene in the 20th year. They razed it and grouped the prisoners among the helots.<ref name="suda"/>|author=|title=|source=}}

Traditional accounts of his life were almost entirely deduced from his poetry or were simply fiction,{{Sfnp|Gerber|1999|p=102}} such as the account by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (2nd century AD) of his supposed transformation from a lame and stupid school teacher in Athens to the mastermind of Spartan victories against the [[Messenians]].<ref name="Paus-4.15.6" /> Variations on his Athenian origin and deformity are found in numerous ancient sources. This includes philosopher [[Diogenes Laërtius]] (3rd century AD), who said that the Athenians regarded him as deranged,<ref>Diogenes Laërtius 2.43, cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=31 n. 1}}.</ref> and [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] (3rd century AD), who labelled him "one-eyed."<ref>Porphyry in Horace ''A.P.'' 402, cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=31 n. 2}}.</ref> Finally, historian [[Junianus Justinus|Justin]] (2nd century AD) believed that he was sent to the Spartans by the Athenians as a deliberate insult.<ref>Justin 3.5, cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=31 n. 1}}.</ref>

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the picture of Tyrtaeus' life has been complicated by doubts about the authenticity of many of his verses, which were dated by various scholars to the 5th or 4th century BC.{{Sfnp|Gerber|1997|p=104}} The theory that Tyrtaeus was in fact a 5th-century Athenian poet was even posited by [[Eduard Schwartz]] in 1899.<ref>E. Schwartz, "Tyrtaios", ''Hermes'' 34 (1899), cited by {{harvp|Campbell|1982|p=171}}. See also Macan in ''Classical Review'' (February 1897); H. Weil, ''Études sur l'antiquité grecque'' (1900), and C. Giarratani, ''Tirteo e i suoi carmi'' (1905).</ref> According to Douglas E. Gerber (1997), however, "that skepticism has now largely disappeared". Disagreements among scholars now essentially revolve around the version of fragment 4 that should be accepted as genuine (Plutarch's or Diodorus' version, or a combination of the two), and some doubts remain about the dating of fragment 12, which some critics have assigned to the time of [[Xenophanes]] (c.&nbsp;570 – c.&nbsp;475 BC) or shortly before 498 BC.<ref>{{Harvp|Gerber|1997|p=104 (see also n. 5)|ps=; p. 105 n. 8}}. Gerber states that "most critics have been convinced" by Jaeger's defence of fr. 12 as Tyrtaeus' work (''Five Essays.'' 1966 [1932]. pp. 103–42), but that Fränkel (EGPP. pp. 337–39) assigns it "to the time of Xenophanes" and G. Tarditi ("Parenesi e arete nel corpus tirtaico". 1982. RFIC 110. pp. 257–276) to shortly before Pindar's Pythian 10 (498).</ref>