Anaxandridas I () was a conjectured

king of Sparta For most of its history, the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta in the Peloponnese was ruled by kings. Sparta was unusual among the Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it ha ...

and a member of the

Eurypon Eurypon, otherwise called Eurytion (), son of Soos and grandson of Procles, was the third king of that house at Sparta, and thenceforward gave it the name of Eurypontidae. Plutarch talks of his having relaxed the kingly power, and played the dem ...

tid dynasty. According to the

Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust) ...

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, Anaxandrias was the son of king

Theopompus Theopompus (, ''Theópompos''; 380 BC 315 BC) was an ancient Greek historian and rhetorician who was a student of Isocrates. Biography Early life and education Theopompus was born on the Aegean island of Chios in 378 or 377 BCE. In his ear ...

and the father of king

Archidamus I Archidamus I, also spelled Archidamos I (), was a king of Sparta, 12th of the Eurypontids. He reigned from 660 to 645.Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 23. His relationship to other Spartan kings is unclear. According to Herodotus, Archidamus was th ...

. If Anaxandridas actually existed, he would have reigned in the early to mid

7th century BC The 7th century BC began the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. The Neo-Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last ...

, but his historicity is doubtful. According to Pausanias, Anaxandridas I ascended the throne not as the direct successor of Theopompus but as the successor of Zeuxidamos, one of Theopompus' grandsons. Anaxandridas' reign is said to have followed a period of strife between the Spartan royal houses and to have been characterised by a continuing decline of royal prestige and power, especially relative to the

Ephor The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs. The word "''ephors''" (Ancient Greek ''éph ...

s. It is possible that Anaxandridas was in power during the Messenian revolt that precipitated the

Second Messenian War The Second Messenian War was a war which occurred ca. 660–650 BC between the Ancient Greek states of Messenia and Sparta, with localized resistance possibly lasting until the end of the century.L. G. Pechatnova, ''A History of Sparta (Archaic ...

References

7th-century BC monarchs 7th-century BC Spartans Eurypontid kings of Sparta {{AncientGreece-royal-stub