redacted in the 10th century AD. The first of the entry of the Suda runs as follows:The second entry states that the Spartans took him as their general from among the Athenians in response to an oracle.

Traditional accounts of his life were almost entirely deduced from his poetry or were simply fiction, such as the account by Pausanias (2nd century AD) of his supposed transformation from a lame and stupid school teacher in Athens to the mastermind of Spartan victories against the Messenians.