The most important accomplishment of the Lycurgan reforms was the creation of the Spartan Army, an instrument of power that held off political revolution in Sparta for 400 years. At the same time, the reforms created some behaviors which had a negative impact on the army and diminished its power to protect the Spartan people.
Before discussing the army, it is necessary for us to explain how the words Spartan and Lacedaemonian come into play here. Spartans were the people inhabiting the five villages of Sparta – Mesoa, Kynosaura, Pitane, Limnae, and Amyklai, while Lacedaemonian defines the physical area of Spartan control including Sparta, Messenia, and the Perioikoi Villages of the Central Peloponnese. Because the Spartan Army used hoplites from the Lacedaemonian territories, the word Lacedaemonian more accurately describes its composition.