List of kings of Sparta in the context of "Leonidas I"

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.

Pleistarchus (Ancient Greek: Πλείσταρχος Pleistarchos; died c. 458 BC) was the Agiad King of Sparta from 480 to 458 BC.

The Return of the Heracleidae is an ancient Greek myth concerning the return of the descendants of the hero Heracles to the Peloponnese, Heracles's homeland, and their conquest of various realms in the region. In the myth, Heracles was assisted by the Dorians: the story served as an aetiological myth for the Dorian communities of the Peloponnese, particularly Sparta.

According to the myth, Heracles's children (the Heracleidae) were forced from the Peloponnese by Eurystheus, and settled in the northern Greek region of Thessaly, where Hyllus, Heracles's eldest son, formed an allegiance with the Dorians. The Heracleidae killed Eurystheus, with Athenian support and protection, but Hyllus's attempt to retake the Peloponnese ended in failure and his own death in battle. Following the advice of the Oracle of Delphi, Hyllus's great-grandson, Temenos, led his relatives in a successful invasion, fifty years later, with the help of the Dorians and Oxylus. Temenos then divided the kingdoms of the Peloponnese between himself (receiving Argos), his brother Cresphontes (who received Messenia), and Eurysthenes and Procles, the sons of his brother Aristodemus, who had been killed before the Heracleidae reached the Peloponnese. Eurysthenes and Procles jointly received the kingdom of Sparta, founding the city's dual royal lineage.

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 Spartiates over the age of sixty, known as gerontes. The Gerousia was a prestigious body, holding extensive judicial and legislative powers, which shaped Sparta's policies.

Ancient Greeks considered that the Gerousia was created by the mythical Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in his Great Rhetra, the constitution of Sparta.

Anaxander or Anaxandros (Ancient Greek: Ἀνάξανδρος) was the 12th Agiad King of Sparta (ruled c. 640–615 BC).

He was the son of King Eurycrates and father of King Eurycratides.

Cleombrotus II (Greek: Κλεόμβροτος Β΄) was a Spartan king of the Agiad dynasty. He married into the royal family via the daughter of Leonidas II, Chilonis. Chilonis's mother was a Persian/Seleucid woman, and Cleombrotus II's wife was therefore not fully Spartan. This created friction between Cleombrotus II's father-in-law and then co-regent Agis IV when it came to succession. Cleombrotus II nevertheless succeeded Leonidas II when the latter fled to avoid trial after clashing with co-regent's reforms, and reigned from 242 BC to 241 BC before Leonidas II returned and once more took the throne. He then sent Cleombrotus II and Chilonis into exile. Cleomenes III, Leonidas II's son, eventually succeeded his father at his death.