List of kings of Sparta

Sparta
Zeus on his throne with his eagle. This article is part of the series: Spartan Constitution
Great Rhetra Laws of Lycurgus Politeia
List of Kings of Sparta Gerousia Ephorate Apella of the Damos Spartiates Perioeci Helots Agoge Syssitia
Other Greek city-states •  Law Portal

Sparta was an important Greek city-state in the Peloponnesus. It was unusual among Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it had two kings simultaneously, called Arkhagêtai, coming from two separate lines. According to tradition, the two lines, the Agiads and Eurypontids, were respectively descended from the twins Eurysthenes and Procles, the descendants of Heracles who supposedly conquered Sparta two generations after the Trojan War. The dynasties themselves, however, were named after the twins' grandsons, the kings Agis I and Eurypon, respectively. The Agiad line was regarded as being senior to the Eurypontid line. Although there are lists of the earlier purported Kings of Sparta, there is little evidence for the existence of any kings before the middle of the 6th century BC or so. Spartan kings received a recurring posthumous hero cult like that of the Dorian kings of Cyrene. The kings' firstborns 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 throne.

Legendary kings

The ancient Greeks named males after their fathers, producing a patronymic by infixing -id-; for example, the sons of Atreus were the Atreids. In the case of royal houses the patronymic formed from the founder or an early significant figure became the name of the dynasty. A ruling family might in this way have a number of dynastic names; for example, Agis I named the Agiads, but he was a Heraclid, and so were his descendants.

In cases where the descent was not known or was scantily known the Greeks made a few standard assumptions based on their cultural ideology. A people was treated as a tribe, presumed to have descended from an ancestor bearing its name. He must have been a king, who founded a dynasty of his name. This mythologizing extended even to place names. They were presumed to have been named after kings and divinities. Kings often became divinities, in their religion.

Lelegids

The Lelegid were the descendants of Lelex (a back formation), ancestor of the Leleges, a Pelasgian tribe inhabiting the Eurotas valley before the Greeks, who, according to the mythological descent, amalgamated with the Greeks.

• Lelex, a son of Poseidon or Helios, or he was said to be autochthonous — c. 1600 BC
• Myles, a son of Lelex
• Eurotas, a son of Myles, father of Sparta

Lacedaemonids

The Lacedaemonids contain Greeks from the age of legend, now treated as being the Bronze Age in Greece. In the language of mythologic descent, the kingship passed from the Leleges to the Greeks.

• Lacedaemon, a son of Zeus, husband of Sparta
• Amyklas, a son of Lacedaemon. He founded Amyklai
• Argalus, a son of Amyklas
• Kynortas, a son of Amyklas
• Perieres, a son of Kynortas
• Oibalos, a son of Kynortas
• Tyndareos (First reign), a son of Oibalos and father of Helen
• Hippocoon, a son of Oibalos and brother of Tyndareos
• Tyndareos (Second reign)

Atreids

The Atreidai (Latin Atreidae) belong to the Late Bronze Age, or Mycenaean Period. In mythology these were the Perseids. As the name of Atreus is attested in Hittite documents, this dynasty may well be proto-historic.

• Menelaus, a son of Atreus and husband of Helen — c. 1250 BC
• Orestes, a son of Agamemnon and nephew of Menelaus — c. 1200 BC
• Tisamenos, a son of Orestes
• Dion, husband of Iphitea, the daughter of Prognaus — c. 1200 BC
• unknown

Heraclids

The Spartan kings as Heracleidae claimed descent from Heracles, who through his mother was descended from Perseus. Disallowed the Peloponnesus, he embarked on a life of wandering. They became ascendant in the Eurotas valley with the Dorians who, at least in legend, entered it during an invasion called the return of the Heracleidae; driving out the Atreids and at least some of the Mycenaean population.

• Aristodemos, a son of Aristomachus and husband of Argeia
  • Theras (regent), a son of Autesion and the brother of Aristodemos' wife Argeia, a Cadmid of Theban descent, served as regent for his nephews, Eurysthenes and Procles.

Agiad dynasty

The dynasty was named after its second king, Agis.

• Eurysthenes ? – c. 930 BC
• Agis I c. 930 – c. 900 BC
• Echestratus c. 900 – c. 870 BC
• Labotas c. 870 – c. 840 BC
• Doryssus c. 840 – c. 820 BC
• Agesilaus I c. 820 – c. 790 BC
• Archelaus c. 790 – c. 760 BC
• Teleclus c. 760 – c. 758 BC
• Alcamenes c. 758 – c. 741 BC
• Polydorus c. 741 – c. 665 BC
• Eurycrates c. 665 – c. 640 BC
• Anaxander c. 640 – c. 615 BC
• Eurycratides c. 615 – c. 590 BC
• Leon c. 590 – 560 BC
• Anaxandridas II c. 560 – c. 520 BC
• Cleomenes I c. 520 – c. 490 BC
• Leonidas I c. 490 – 480 BC
• Pleistarchus 480 – c. 459 BC
• Pleistoanax c. 459 – 409 BC
• Pausanias 409–395 BC
• Agesipolis I 395–380 BC
• Cleombrotus I 380–371 BC
• Agesipolis II 371–369 BC
• Cleomenes II 369–309 BC
• Areus I 309–265 BC
• Acrotatus II 265–262 BC
• Areus II 262–254 BC
• Leonidas II 254–242 BC
• Cleombrotus II, 242–241 BC
• Leonidas II, 241–235 BC
• Cleomenes III 235–222 BC

Eurypontid dynasty

The dynasty is named after its third king Eurypon. Not shown is Lycurgus, the lawgiver, a younger son of the Eurypontids, who served a brief regency either for the infant Charilaus (780–750 BC) or for Labotas (870–840 BC) the Agiad.

• Procles - c. 930 BC
• Soos ? - c. 890 BC
• Eurypon c. 890 – c. 860 BC
• Prytanis c. 860 – c. 830 BC
• Polydectes c. 830 – c. 800 BC
• Eunomus c. 800 – c. 780 BC
• Charilaus c.780 – c. 750 BC
• Nicander c. 750 – c. 725 BC
• Theopompus c. 725 – c. 675 BC
• Anaxandridas I c. 675 – c. 645 BC
• Zeuxidamus c. 645 – c. 625 BC
• Anaxidamus c. 625 – c. 600 BC
• Archidamus I c. 600 – c. 575 BC
• Agasicles c. 575 – c. 550 BC
• Ariston c. 550 – c. 515 BC
• Demaratus c. 515 – c. 491 BC
• Leotychidas c. 491 – 469 BC
• Archidamus II 469–427 BC
• Agis II 427–401/400 BC
• Agesilaus II 401/400–360 BC
• Archidamus III 360–338 BC
• Agis III 338–331 BC
• Eudamidas I 331 – c. 305 BC
• Archidamus IV c. 305 – c. 275 BC
• Eudamidas II c. 275 – c. 245 BC
• Agis IV c. 245 – 241 BC
• Eudamidas III 241–228 BC
• Archidamus V 228–227 BC
• Eucleidas 227–221 BC

Eucleidas was actually an Agiad installed by his brother Cleomenes III in place of Archidamus V.

Following Cleomenes III's defeat against Antigonus III Doson of Macedon and the Achaean League in the Battle of Sellasia, the Spartan system began to break down. Sparta was a republic from 221 to 219 BC. The dual monarchy was restored in 219 BC.

• Agesipolis III, 219–215 BC, the last Agiad, deposed by Lycurgus

• Lycurgus, 219–210 BC
• Pelops, 210–206 BC, son of Lycurgus and last king from either of the old dynasties,

Tyrants

• Machanidas, 210–207 BC, regent for Pelops
• Nabis, 206–192 BC, first regent for Pelops, then usurper, claiming descent from the Eurypontid king Demaratus
• Laconicus, 192 BC–??? – last known king of Sparta

The Achaean League annexed Sparta in 192 BC.

External links

• Livius
• Eurypontids and Agiads by Jona Lendering