TL;DR - Lycurgus made Sparta into the legendary city and people that we remember. He made it strong and austere, if only for a time.
While abroad he visited many places where acquainted himself with different systems of law and cultures. He then returned to Sparta to install what he thought to be a far superior system than what was already in place. He started with bringing friends to support his cause. Then while armed they approached the current king, his nephew, who fled for his life. Afterward Lycurgus convinced him that they were not after his life. Lycurgus told the king about his new system and won the king to his cause.
Lycurgus established the Senate consisting of 30 men, 28 of whom were chose form among men above the age of 60 and of the two Spartan kings. This group of 30 was established to balance the tyranny of both the populace (i.e. anarchy) and the monarchy. This group was known as the Gerousia.
Lycurgus exchanged all the gold and silver currency for poorly wrought and heavy iron. This was to discourage the accumulation of wealth. And a consequence of this practice was the decline of outside labor and craftsmen since payment was inefficient. So Spartans learned to do for themselves, but Lycurgus forbid elaborate and ornate craftsmanship.
In order to create a sense of equality people were to take dinner in public with groups of fifteen rather eating dinner at home. Those who ate before coming and didn't partake of the public dinner were shamed. And each man had to take turns giving food to be consumed at the public dinner. This food came from the equal tract of land that Lycurgus allotted to each Spartan man to keep and grow food for himself.
After birth, Spartan children were washed with wine and examined. If deemed weak they were discarded. But if after seven days they survived the exposure they were allowed to live.
At the age of seven each male boy was taken by the military to begin training. The boys even learned such things as stealing whilst in the military. They would have to steal in order to provide food for themselves. And the penalties for being caught stealing were so harsh that it is said that a boy allowed himself to be disemboweled by a fox he'd stolen which was hidden under his clothes rather allow his superiors to catch him having stolen something.
The boys around twelve years of age sometimes had an older Spartan man who took an interest in them and developed an intimate relationship and sponsorship.
Marriage involved a woman getting her head shaved and put on clothing similar to male clothing. She would wait in a dark room for the man to come and perform. This would go on for sometime until a pregnancy occurred. Monogamy was not something that was aspired to seeing as husbands and wives had the option to have the wife sleep with another man for the prospect of having strong children.
Lycurgus' story ends with leaning Sparta to consult the Oracle. He has the city promise to never change the laws he established until he returns. Upon hearing the positive message that the Oracle has for him, he resolves to allow himself a respectable death; perhaps by starvation. And some say that his bones/corpse was never returned to Sparta for fear that the city would take that to mean they could change the laws. In the end the laws seem to have either failed to uphold the city, or the city did go against the wishes of Lycurgus. Sparta is no more.
I doubt I got even a third as much from this chapter as I should've. Lycurgus is an interesting character. He has conviction, and commands great respect in others. One man who, being opposed to Lycurgus' Rhetra (i.e. laws), knocked out one of Lycurgus' eyes with a stick became one of Lycurgus' greatest supporters afterwards do to Lycurgus' treatment of him after the offense. He certainly inspired to the best in people.
Though it seems as if for all his goodness and justice that he turned the Spartans more into cogs in a machine rather than properly developed individuals, but in fairness to him he was more interested in creating citizens to form a stable and strong commonwealth that could defend itself. I always try to keep in mind that I keep perspective when comparing modern society to ancient society. It's not to condone the past, but to remember that things were different.
Something that I find particularly odd about Lycurgus is his strictness with allowing in foreigners and letting citizens go abroad. It was his going abroad that allowed him the opportunity to observe other cultures and their practices which became synthesized into his Rhetra. So it seems odd that he became so worried about bad influences destroying what he had built.
Sources:
Video #1: this is short summary by another who followed the Great Books reading plan.
Video #2: this goes into pretty good detail of the Spartan Constitution.
Video #3: another following the Great Books reading plan. This individual is currently in progress.
Video #4: talks a little about the doubt that some historians have about Lycurgus' existence.
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