The Agiad dynasty (Ancient Greek: Ἀγιάδαι, 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. The hypothetical founder of the dynasty was Agis I, possibly the first king of Sparta at the end of the 10th century BC, who subsequently gave his name to the dynasty. The two lines, who maintained an enduring rivalry, were, according to tradition, respectively descended from the twins Eurysthenes and Procles, both descendants of Heracles. The most famous member of the Agiad dynasty was Leonidas I, known for his heroic death at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The last Agiad king was Agesipolis III, deposed by the Eurypontid Lycurgus in 215 BC.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Agiad in the context of Cleomenes III
Cleomenes III (Ancient Greek: Κλεομένης) was one of the two kings of Sparta from 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, Cleomenes waged war against the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon. After being defeated by the Macedonians in the Battle of Sellasia in 222 BC, he fled to Ptolemaic Egypt. After a failed revolt in 219 BC, he committed suicide.
Agiad in the context of Leotychidas
Leotychidas II (Ancient Greek: Λεωτυχίδας; Doric: Λατυχίδας Latychidas; c. 545 – c. 469 BC) was king of Sparta from 491–476 BC, alongside Cleomenes I and later Leonidas I and Pleistarchus. He led Spartan forces during the Persian Wars from 490–478 BC.
Born in Sparta around 545 BC, Leotychidas was a descendant of the Royal House of the Eurypontids (through Menamus, Agesilaus, Hippocratides, Leotychides, Anaxilaus, Archidamos, Anaxandridas I and Theopompus) and came to power in 491 BC with the help of the Agiad King Cleomenes I by challenging the legitimacy of the birth of Demaratus for the Eurypontid throne of Sparta. Later that year, he joined Cleomenes's second expedition to Aegina, where ten hostages were seized and given to Athens. However, after Cleomenes's death in 488 BC, Leotychidas was almost surrendered to Aegina.
Agiad in the context of Agis II
Agis II (Ancient Greek: Ἆγις; died c. 399 BC) was the 18th Eurypontid king of Sparta, the eldest son of Archidamus II by his first wife, and half-brother of Agesilaus II. He ruled with his Agiad co-monarch Pausanias.
Agiad in the context of Anaxandridas II
Anaxandridas II (Ancient Greek: Ἀναξανδρίδας, meaning "descendant of Anaxander") was an Agiad king of Sparta from c. 560 BC to 524 BC, father of Leonidas I and grandfather of Pleistarchus. Under the leadership of the ephor Chilon, in office during the middle of the 6th century, Sparta ended its streak of violent conquests, such as in Messenia, and adopted a pro-Achaea policy based on diplomacy. Anaxandridas was succeeded by Cleomenes I.
Agiad in the context of Pausanias (king of Sparta)
Pausanias (Ancient Greek: Παυσανίας) was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 427 BC and again from 409 BC to 395 BC. He was the leader of the faction in Sparta that opposed the imperialist policy conducted by Lysander.
Pausanias became king in 445 BC, when his father Pleistoanax was forced into exile because he made a peace settlement with Athens, which was deemed dishonourable in Sparta. Too young to reign, his uncle Cleomenes acted as regent. Pleistoanax then returned in 427 BC and resumed his reign. Pausanias effectively became king in 409, at the death of his father. As he continued the conciliatory policy with Athens favoured by Pleistoanax, Pausanias clashed with Lysander, the Spartan general who had won the Peloponnesian War against Athens in 404 BC and supported an imperialist policy in the Aegean Sea. In 403 BC, Pausanias engineered the restoration of the Athenian democracy, which had been replaced by the regime of the Thirty Tyrants installed by Lysander after his victory. The latter's supporters and the other king Agis II attempted a prosecution for betrayal against Pausanias, who narrowly escaped condemnation.
Agiad in the context of Cleandridas
Cleandridas or Cleandrides (Greek: Κλεανδρίδας or Κλεανδρίδης) was a Spartan general of the 5th century BCE, who advised the young Agiad king Pleistoanax during the early part of the latter's reign. According to Plutarch, both Cleandrides and Pleistoanax were banished from Sparta (most likely between the years 446 and 444 BC), for allegedly accepting a bribe from the Athenian leader Pericles to call off their planned attack on the Athenian region Attica. Although Pleistoanax was later recalled to Sparta, Cleandrides had a death sentence imposed upon him in his absence (Plutarch, Life of Pericles XXII).
Nevertheless, Cleandridas was described as a shrewd general and strategist. The 2nd century AD writer Polyaenus described how Cleandridas skillfully sowed dissent among his enemies, the people of Tegea, by promoting the false appearance that their leaders had accepted bribes from Sparta.
Agiad in the context of Pleistoanax
Pleistoanax, also spelled Plistoanax, (Ancient Greek: Πλειστοάναξ) was Agiad king of Sparta from 458 to 409 BC. He was the leader of the peace party in Sparta at a time of violent confrontations against Athens for the hegemony over Greece.
The son of Pausanias, Pleistoanax was still a minor in 458 BC, so his uncle Nicomedes acted as regent. His first recorded action was the invasion of Athens in 446 BC as part of the First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC), but he chose instead to negotiate with Pericles a settlement that became the Thirty Years' Peace. However, Pleistoanax was sued in Sparta for his failure to take Athens and went into exile in Arcadia to avoid punishment. He lived on the sacred ground of Zeus in Mt. Lykaion for the next 18 years.