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Spartan kings received a recurring posthumous hero cult like that of the similarly Doric kings of Cyrene. [4] The kings' firstborn sons, as heirs-apparent, were the only Spartan boys expressly exempt from the Agoge ; however, they were allowed to take part if they so wished, and this endowed them with increased prestige when they ascended the ...
Leonidas I (/ l i ə ˈ n aɪ d ə s,-d æ s /; Ancient Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnídas; born c. 540 BC; died 11 August 480 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. He was the son of king Anaxandridas II and the 17th king of the Agiad dynasty, a Spartan royal house which claimed descent from the mythical demigod Heracles.
Modern scholars consider instead that Charilaus was the first historical Eurypontid king. [1] Charilaus and the Agiad Archelaus are indeed the first kings of Sparta mentioned together in ancient sources, a good indication that they were the first pair of kings formed after the synoecism. [1]
Eurotas River. According to myth, the first king of the region later to be called Laconia, but then called Lelegia was the eponymous King Lelex.He was followed, according to tradition, by a series of kings allegorizing several traits of later-to-be Sparta and Laconia, such as the Kings Myles, Eurotas, Lacedaemon and Amyclas of Sparta.
Areus I (Ancient Greek: Ἀρεύς; c. 320 or 312 – 265 BC) was Agiad King of Sparta from 309 to 265 BC. His reign is noted for his attempts to transform Sparta into a Hellenistic kingdom and to recover its former pre-eminence in Greece, notably against the kings Antigonos Gonatas of Macedonia and Pyrrhus of Epirus.
There is a question as to whether he ever was actually in possession there. One tradition says that he was and was therefore the first king of Sparta. A second asserts that he died before taking possession and that the Dorians brought his infant twin sons to Sparta as kings under a regent. [5] Aristodemus was assassinated at Delphi by the Atreids.
Although Sparta is known for its diarchy, Agis ruled as sole king. Later the Eurypontids extended their ancestry to make them as old as the Agiads, but the diarchy was likely the result of the synoecism of Sparta, which took place in the 8th century, with Charilaus the first Eurypontid king (r. c.775–c.760). [10]
In order to explain the peculiarity of the Spartan two kings, the Spartans elaborated a legend saying that Aristodemos—the first king of Sparta—had twins, Eurysthenes and Prokles. Since the Spartans did not know who was born first, they opted for a diarchy , a college of two kings with the same power; Eurysthenes being the first Agiad ...