List of the kings of Sparta

Lists of the kings of Sparta have come down to us from various ancient writers.

For the dating of the royal house of the Agiads from Eurysthenes to Polydoros, the numbers from the Excerpta Latina Barbari were used. The last king is not called Polydoros, but Automedus. For the list of the royal house of the Eurypontids from Prokles to Theopompus, the information from Diodor and Eusebius of Caesarea was used. For the subsequent period (7th / 6th centuries BC) Herodotus and Pausanias have different lists, which are mutually exclusive. In 2019, a list of kings for this period was discovered on a papyrus from Herculaneum , which is based on the otherwise unspecified list of Pherecytes of Athens and thus represents the oldest, probably also the most plausible list of the Eurypontid kings for these centuries.

Legendary kings

Surname	Domination
Lelex	15th century BC Chr.
Myles	15th century BC Chr.
Eurotas	15th century BC Chr.
Lacedaemon	14th century BC Chr.
Amyklas	14th century BC Chr.
Argalos	14th century BC Chr.
Kynortas	13th century BC Chr.
Perieres	13th century BC Chr.
Oibalos	13th century BC Chr.
Tyndareos (1st government period)	13th century BC Chr.
Hippocoon	13th century BC Chr.
Tyndareos (2nd government period)	13th century BC Chr.
Menelaus	12th century BC Chr.
Orestes	12th century BC Chr.
Tisamenos	12th century BC Chr.

According to Diodorus , 328 years before the first Olympic Games of antiquity (776 BC), i.e. 1104 BC BC, the return of the Herakleiden to the Peloponnese took place. Here Sparta was also conquered by them.

Dynasty Agiaden Rule period Ruler 11th century BC Chr. (?) Eurysthenes Agis I. Echestratos Labotas (Leobotes) Doryssos Agesilaus I. ( Menelaus ) Archelaus late 8th century BC Chr. Teleclos Alkamenes Polydoros Eurycrates 2nd half of 7th century BC Chr. Anaxandros Eurykratidas 1st half / middle of the 6th century BC Chr. Leon Middle of the 6th century BC Chr. Anaxandridas II. approx. 520-490 BC Chr. Cleomenes I. 490-480 BC Chr. Leonidas I. 480-458 BC Chr. Pleistarchus 458-445 BC Chr. Pleistoanax (1st government period) 445-426 BC Chr. Pausanias (1st government period) 426-408 BC Chr. Pleistoanax (2nd government period) 408-395 BC Chr. Pausanias (2nd government period) 395-380 BC Chr. Agesipolis I. 380-371 BC Chr. Cleombrotos I. 371-370 BC Chr. Agesipolis II. 370-309 BC Chr. Cleomenes II 309-265 BC Chr. Areus I. 265-262 BC Chr. Akrotatos 262-254 BC Chr. Areus II. 254-242 BC Chr. Leonidas II (1st government period) 242-241 BC Chr. Cleombrotus II 241-235 BC Chr. Leonidas II (2nd government period) 235-222 BC Chr. Cleomenes III. 219-215 BC Chr. Agesipolis III.

Eurypontid dynasty Rule period Ruler (after Herodotus) Ruler (after Pausanias) Ruler (after Pherecytes) 11th century BC Chr. (?) Prokles Prokles Soos Euryphon Eurypon Prytanis Prytanis Polydectes Eunomos Eunomos Polydectes Charilaos Charillos Nicandros Nicandros Theopompus Theopompus Theopompus Anaxandridas I. Zeuxidamos Zeuxidamos Archidamos I. Anaxidamos Leotychidas I. (Latychidas) Anaxilaos Archidamos Archidamos Leotychidas I. (Latychidas) Hippokratidas Hippokratidas 1st half / middle of the 6th century BC Chr. Hegesicles Agasicles Agesicles Middle of the 6th century BC Chr. Ariston Ariston Ariston approx. 510-491 BC Chr. Damaratos (Demaratos) Damaratos (Demaratos) 491-469 BC Chr. Leotychidas II (Latychidas) Rule period Ruler 469-427 BC Chr. Archidamos II 427-400 BC Chr. Agis II. 399-360 BC Chr. Agesilaus II 360–338 BC Chr. Archidamos III. 338-331 BC Chr. Agis III. 331-305 BC Chr. Eudamidas I. 305 - approx. 275 BC Chr. Archidamos IV. approx. 275–244 BC Chr. Eudamidas II 244-241 BC Chr. Agis IV. 241 BC Chr. Eurydamidas (Eudamidas III.) 228-227 BC Chr. Archidamos V. 227-222 BC Chr. Eukleidas 219-211 BC Chr. Lykurgos 211-207 BC Chr. Pelops 207-192 BC Chr. Nabis

After Nabis' death there were power struggles and anarchic conditions. The Spartans chose 192 BC. A laconikos to their king to alleviate the situation, which did not succeed until the admission into the Roman Empire. Nothing is known of the reign of Laconikos.

literature

• John Carr: Sparta's Kings, Barnsley 2012.
• Georg Dum: The Spartan King Lists. Wagner, Innsbruck 1878.
• Kilian Fleischer: The oldest list of the kings of Sparta - Pherecydes of Athens (PHerc. 1788, col. 1). In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . Volume 209, 2019, pp. 1-24.
• G. Huxley: Early Sparta , Cambridge (Mass.) 1962.
• Paul Poralla: Prosopography of the Lacedaemonians. Wroclaw 1913.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The reign of Alkamenes in the Excerpta Latina Barbari does not match other dates and was therefore determined differently. See Alkamenes (Sparta) .
2. ↑ Herodotus 8,131; 1.65; 6.61-63; Pausanias 3: 7,6-7.
3. ↑ Kilian Fleischer: The oldest list of the kings of Sparta - Pherecydes of Athens (PHerc. 1788, col. 1). In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . Volume 209, 2019, pp. 1-24.
4. ↑ Only in Excerpta Latina Barbari 218, 42b.