Dai Letra - Dai Letra

Japanese: 大レトラ - だいレトラ

The oracle is said to have been brought from Delphi by the legendary Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, and it stipulated the outline of the Spartan state. It is handed down in Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, Chapter 6, and is called the Greater Rhetra, whereas the three Rhetra described in Chapter 13 are called the Minor Rhetra today. Rhetra means contract, law. The parts of the Greater Rhetra that described the construction of temples, two kings, the council of elders, and the assembly were established around 800 BC when Lycurgus established the aristocratic polis, while the parts about tribes and the oba (regional division of the Spartans) were added shortly after 750 BC when Amycrae annexed Sparta, and then another additional clause was added during the First Messenian War in the late 8th century BC, reaffirming the superiority of the council of elders. The whole of the above can be interpreted as having been approved by the oracle of Delphi.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

スパルタの伝説的な立法者リュクルゴスが，デルフォイからもたらした神託といわれ，スパルタの国制の大綱を規定したもの。プルタルコスの《リュクルゴス伝》第6章に伝えられており，第13章に記されている三つのレトラを今日〈小レトラ〉と呼ぶのに対して，〈大レトラ〉と称される。〈レトラrhētra〉は〈契約，法律〉の意。〈大レトラ〉の中で，神殿建立，2王，長老会，民会について述べた部分は，前800年ころ，リュクルゴスが貴族政ポリスを成立させたときに定められ，部族とオーバōba(スパルタ人の地域的区分)に関する部分は，前750年後まもなく，アミュクライのスパルタ併合時に付加され，さらに前8世紀後半の第1次メッセニア戦争中に，長老会の優越性を再確認する〈追加条項〉が別に加えられ，以上の全体がデルフォイの神託によって裁可された，と解することができる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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