Archidamia ( el, Ἀρχιδαμία) (c. 340-241 BC) was a

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

n queen, wife of

Eudamidas I Eudamidas I ( Greek: Εὐδαμίδας) was Spartan king between 331 and c. 300 BC. He succeeded his brother Agis III, who died at the battle of Megalopolis against Macedonia. Eudamidas' reign was therefore peaceful as Sparta recovered from th ...

, mother of

Archidamus IV Archidamus IV ( el, Ἀρχίδαμος Δ΄) was Eurypontid king of Sparta from c. 300 BC to c. 275 BC. An obscure king, Archidamus is only known for his defeat against the Macedonian king Demetrius Poliorketes at Mantinea in 294, where he migh ...

and

Agesistrata Agesistrata (died 241 BC), was a Spartan queen, married to king Eudamidas II of Sparta.Plutarch, Vita di Agide, 7. She was the daughter of king Eudamidas I of Arachidamia. She and her mother were the wealthiest women in Sparta. She and her m ...

, grandmother of

Eudamidas II Eudamidus II ( grc-gre, Εὐδαμίδας) was the 24th King of Sparta of the Eurypontid dynasty. He was the son of King Archidamus IV, nephew of Agesistrata and grandson of Eudamidas I and Archidamia. He ruled from 275 BC to 244 BC. Tw ...

, and great-grandmother of

Agis IV Agis IV ( grc-gre, Ἄγις; c. 265 BC – 241 BC), the elder son of Eudamidas II, was the 25th king of the Eurypontid dynasty of Sparta. Posterity has reckoned him an idealistic but impractical monarch. Family background and accession Ag ...

War

Siege of Sparta

Archidamia served as Queen of Sparta with her husband

(331 BC – c. 305 BC). In 272 BC when Pyrrhus decided to attack Sparta in the

siege of Sparta The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, ( 297–272 BC) and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I ( 309–265 BC) and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon. ...

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...

, ''

Parallel Lives Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...

: Life of Pyrrhus'' § 27.2 Ruling was Archidamia's grandson

in conjunction with King

Areus I Areus I ( grc-gre, 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 an Hellenistic kingdom and to recover its former pre-eminence in Greece, notably a ...

(r. 309–265 BC). With the pending siege the Spartan

Gerousia The Gerousia (γερουσία) was the council of elders in ancient Sparta. Sometimes called Spartan senate in the literature, it was made up of the two Spartan kings, plus 28 men over the age of sixty, known as gerontes. The Gerousia was a pr ...

planned to evacuate the women to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

. However, Archidamia, speaking on behalf of the Spartan women, entered the Gerousia, "with sword in hand," and contested this proposal, questioning whether the Spartan women were "so faint hearted as to live after Sparta was destroyed". Famously she asked "Spartans! I ask, by the memory of your race, Are ye worthy of the name!" before ending her speech with "her women can die, and be free". With her speech given the Women of Sparta were given a role in the siege.

Women in War

With the matter settled, the Spartans initiated the construction of a defensive trench running parallel to Pyrrhus's camp. Archidamia direct the Spartan women in task, since it is reported that the Spartan women impressively "completed with their own hands a third of the trench." Consequently, Archidamia led the efforts of Spartan women during the subsequent battle against Pyrrhus, as they are noted for supplying the defenders with weapons and refreshment during combat, and extracting wounded from the battlefield.

Later life

Later records of Archidamia date three decades later, with her assisting in the revolutionary designs of her grandson/great-grandson

, as he attempted to restore Lycurgan institutions to a Sparta then thoroughly corrupted by wealth and greed. Because Archidamia and Agesistrata were the wealthiest two people in all of Lacedaemon, Archidamia's support of Agis was instrumental in gaining support for the cause. She was among those who first pledged to contribute their wealth to a common pool, which was then to be distributed equally amongst both old and new Spartan citizens. However, these revolutionary designs were foiled by the corruption of Agis's uncle and erstwhile supporter,

Agesilaus Agesilaus II (; grc-gre, Ἀγησίλαος ; c. 442 – 358 BC) was king of Sparta from c. 399 to 358 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony ...

, and the machinations of a rival party, led by the

Agiad The Agiad dynasty was one of the two royal families of Sparta, a powerful city-state of Ancient Greece. The Agiads were seniors to the other royal house, the Eurypontids, with whom they had an enduring rivalry. Their hypothetical founder was Agis ...

King,

Leonidas II Leonidas II (; grc, Λεωνίδας Β΄, ''Leōnídas B, "Lion's son, Lion-like") was the 28th Agiad King of Sparta from 254 to 242 BC and from 241 to 235 BC. Biography Leonidas was the son of Cleonymus and grandson of king Cleomenes II (), ...

. Leonidas and the

Ephors 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 ''ép ...

had Agis illegally imprisoned and executed, unbeknownst to a mob that had gathered out of concern and a possible desire to see him freed. Archidamia and Agesistrata were subsequently lured into the prison on the premise that they were to see Agis; and there they too both met their ends at the hands of their political rivals. Considering that she must have born her son Archidamus IV before 320 BC, at the time of her execution in 241 BC she was probably far in her nineties.

Other literature

Queen Archidamia has been referenced in other forms of literature. The references include the German work Die grossmüthige Spartanerin, oder, Archidamia by composer

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

. More recently Queen Archidamia was referenced in Professor Scott Romine's 'Belles and Poets; Intertextuality in the Civil War Diaries of White Southern Women'. According to Romine

Kate Stone Kate Stone (after marriage, Holmes; January 8, 1841 – December 28, 1907), was an American diarist and community leader. She was the daughter of a wealthy cotton farmer and slaveholder in the Southern United States. She is remembered in Americ ...

drew inspiration from the Queen's famous 'Are you worthy of the name' speech.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archidamia Spartan princesses Spartan women in ancient warfare 3rd-century BC Spartans 3rd-century BC Greek women Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Ancient Spartan queens consort Eurypontid dynasty 241 BC deaths Murdered royalty 4th-century BC Spartans 4th-century BC Greek women