For in lineage, of course, the latest of the Spartan kings were also Heracleidae but Xenophon apparently wishes to use the name Heracleidae of the first and more immediate descendants of Heracles, so famous in story.
P207 40 3 Xenophon, also, 3 makes an impression of simplicity in the passage where he says that Lycurgus lived in the time of the Heracleidae. Among these is Aristotle the philosopher, and he alleges as proof the discus at Olympia on which an inscription preserves the name of Lycurgus. 1 2 But those who compute the time by the successions of kings at Sparta, like Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, prove that Lycurgus was many years earlier than the first Olympiad. 2 And Timaeus conjectures that there were two Lycurgus at Sparta, at different times, and that to one of them the achievements of both were ascribed, owing to his greater fame he thinks also that the elder of the two lived not far from the times of Homer, and some assert that he actually met Homer face to face. Some say that he flourished at the same time with Iphitus, and in concert with him established the Olympic truce. (39) 1 1 Concerning Lycurgus the lawgiver, in general, nothing can be said which is not disputed, since indeed there are different accounts of his birth, his travels, his death, and above all, of his work as lawmaker and statesman and there is least agreement among historians as to the times in which the man lived.
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