One cause of slavery in ancient Greece was, in the case of Sparta, a complex interplay between political structure, economic pressures, and military intentions. The Lacedaemonians (i.e., the Spartans), as Polybius explains in his Histories, were a militaristic and warlike nation. Yet they were hindered in pursuits of glory by the very constitution that their lawgiver, Lycurgus, had established. To be sure, it was an excellent constitution, claims Polybius, for self-containment and freedom within their own Peloponnesian territory. Yet it failed to enable the nation's expansionist inclinations. A key hindrance for Sparta was the restriction that no one of them could own more property than another (Polybius, Histories VI.45.3). Also, they eschewed money-making (VI.45.4). As Polybius observes, this limited their ability to create wealth, and, instead of fostering the virtue of self-control, their covetousness turned to war and the enslavement of others (VI.49.1). What the Sp