Leonidas II (; , ''Leōnídas B, "Lion's son, Lion-like") was the 28th Agiad King of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

from 254 to 242 BC and from 241 to 235 BC.

Biography

Leonidas was the son of Cleonymus and grandson of King

Cleomenes II Cleomenes II (; died 309 BC) was king of Sparta from 370 to 309 BC. He was the second son of Cleombrotus I, and grandfather of Areus I, who succeeded him. Although he reigned for more than 60 years, his life is completely unknown, apar ...

() of the

Agiad dynasty The Agiad dynasty (, ''Agiádai'') was one of the two royal families of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. They ruled jointly along with the Eurypontid dynasty, possibly from the 8th century BC onwards, being the senior of the two houses. ...

, one of the two royal families of Sparta (the other being the Eurypontids). Leonidas II was raised at the

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

court, and according to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

's '' Life of Agis IV'', he married a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

woman. According to other sources, this non-Spartan wife was actually a Seleucid, possibly the daughter of

Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; Ancient Greek, Greek: Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, ''Séleukos Nikátōr'', "Seleucus the Victorious"; ) was a Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian Greek general, officer and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to fo ...

by his Persian wife

Apama Apama (), sometimes known as Apama I or Apame I, was a Sogdian noblewoman and the wife of the first ruler of the Seleucid Empire, Seleucus I Nicator. They Susa weddings, married at Susa in 324 BC. According to Arrian, Apama was the daughter of t ...

. She was therefore not fully Persian, but half-Macedonian and half-Persian. His Persian-influenced lifestyle, his non-Spartan (therefore foreign) wife and his half-Spartan children would all be made issues by 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 ...

Lysander, the co-king

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

, and their supporters. Leonidas II opposed the attempted reforms of his

Eurypontid 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 had ...

co-king,

. The ephor, Lysander, claimed to have seen a sign from the gods against Leonidas, and Leonidas fled to avoid his trial. In his absence, Leonidas was deposed from the throne and replaced by his son-in-law, Cleombrotus II. He later returned to Sparta while Agis was on campaign in

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

, deposed and exiled Cleombrotus II, and reclaimed his throne. Soon after, he deposed and executed Agis IV alongside the latter's mother

Agesistrata Agesistrata (died 241 BC), was a Spartan queen, married to king Eudamidas II of Sparta. She was the daughter of king Eudamidas I and Archidamia. She and her mother were the wealthiest women in Sparta. She and her mother were initially unwilling ...

and grandmother

Archidamia Archidamia () (c. 340-241 BC) was a Spartan queen, wife of Eudamidas I, mother of Archidamus IV and Agesistrata, grandmother of Eudamidas II, and great-grandmother of Agis IV. War Siege of Sparta Archidamia served as Queen of Sparta with her hu ...

Family

He was the father of three children by his wife

Cratesiclea Cratesiclea (died 219 BC), was a Spartan queen, married to king Leonidas II of Sparta (ancient Greece), and mother of Cleomenes III and Chilonis (wife of Cleombrotus II), Chilonis. During the reign of her spouse, her foreign origin was used by th ...

, who belonged to the Seleucid dynasty founded by Seleucus Nicator. His son

Cleomenes III Cleomenes III () was one of the two kings of Sparta from 235 BC, 235 to 222 BC. He was a member of the Agiad dynasty and succeeded his father, Leonidas II. He is known for his attempts to reform the Spartan state. From 229 to 222 BC, Cleomen ...

eventually succeeded him, having been married at age 18 to Agiatis (d. 224 BC), widow of

, the Eurypontid king; they had at least one son together who died in Egypt with his grandmother. His daughter Chilonis was married to Cleombrotus II who replaced his father-in-law as king for some time. She was notable for her fidelity to her father, whom she followed into exile, and then to her husband whom she also followed into exile after her father returned to power.Sarah B. Pomeroy, ''Spartan Women'', pp. 87-88.

References

Bibliography

Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge (born 24 March 1947)"CARTLEDGE, Prof. Paul Anthony", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010online edition/ref> is a British ancient historian and academic. From 2008 to 2014 he was the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek ...

& Antony Spawforth, ''Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, A tale of two cities'', London and New York, Routledge, 2002 (originally published in 1989). * Jacqueline Christien,
Léonidas II. La royauté hellénistique à Sparte
, ''Ktèma'', 2015, n° 40, pp. 243–253. 235 BC deaths 3rd-century BC monarchs in Europe 3rd-century BC Spartans Agiad kings of Sparta Year of birth unknown {{Europe-royal-stub

Biography

Family

See also

References

Bibliography