Person

Tyrtaeus

7th century BCE · 7th century BCE

Tyrtaeus was a Greek elegiac poet who lived in Sparta in the mid-seventh century BCE, during the Second Messenian War. His surviving poems exhort Spartan citizens to stand firm in the battle line and die for their city, and one, the Eunomia, praises the Spartan order given by the gods. They are among the earliest evidence for Spartan society and for hoplite warfare.

Tyrtaeus
Image: Gustave Moreau · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tyrtaeus. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tyrtaeus
MLA
“Tyrtaeus.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tyrtaeus. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tyrtaeus.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tyrtaeus.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tyrtaeus’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/tyrtaeus (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻