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[German version] (Ἰσχαγόρας; Ischagóras). Spartan, was unable, in 423 BC, to carry out his task of bringing reinforcements to  Brasidas in Thrace because of countermeasures by Perdiccas of Macedonia. He managed to reach the war zone there with a few companions, and with the aid of Brasidas had Spartans installed as commanders in some of the poleis (Thuc. 4,132). Having signed the Peace of Nicias in 421 and overseen the execution of its provisions in Thrace, in the same year he gave his oath for the…

[German version] (Κλεόρα; Kleóra). Spartan, wife of Agesilaus [2] II, mother of Archidamus [2] III (Xen. Hell. 3,4,29; 5,4,25; Plut. Agesilaus 19). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum)

[German version] (Ἀγιάτις; Agiátis). Rich Spartan woman, heiress of the Spartan Gylippus, who died c. 241 BC. First married to the reform king  Agis [4] IV. After his death,  Leonidas II forced her to marry his still very young son, the later reform king  Cleomenes III. According to Plut. Cleom. 1,1-3; 22,1-3, who portrays her as beautiful and full of character, she is supposed to have convinced her second husband to take up Agis' reform plans by telling him stories about them. The significance of this emotional element for the initiatives of Cleomenes III is difficult to judge. Welwei, Karl…

(Καλλικρατίδας; Kallikratídas). [German version] [1] Spartan nauarch, 407/6 BC Spartan nauarch (naval commander) in 407/6 BC, was only able to relieve  Lysander of his command in the spring of 406 and was confronted through the latter's intrigues with extremely serious problems while preparing his operations. However, he was as unimpressed by these as by the affront he suffered from Cyrus the Younger. C. secured the finances for his warfare and took the initiative. After relocating his naval base from Ep…

[German version] (Δαμάρατος, Δημάρητος; Damáratos, Dēmárētos). Spartan king, Eurypontid, son and successor (around 510 BC) of King Ariston. The turning-point in his life was brought about by the enmity with Cleomenes I, whose intention to establish a Spartan satellite regime in Athens, with the help of an army campaign in 506 he thwarted at Eleusis (Hdt. 5,74f.). We do not know whether Athenian investigations became known to the Persian satrap in Sardeis [3. 273-276]. In 491 D. plotted against Cleome…

(Λυκοῦργος/ Lykoûrgos, ep. Λυκόοργος/ Lykóorgos, Lat. Lucurgus, Lycurgus). [German version] [1] Son of Dryas Son of Dryas, in Nonnus also son of Ares (Nonnus, Dion. 20,149 et passim), opponent of Dionysus, who drives the latter's nurses over the unidentified Nysḗïon mountains ( Nysa) with the bouplḗx (‘ox beater’) and intimidates the mad god to such an extent that he dives into the sea to Thetis (Hom. Il. 6,128-140). While in Aeschylus' tetralogy Lykourgeía (TrGF 3 T 68: Ēdōnoí F 57-67, Bassárai/- rídes F 23-25, Neānískoi F 146-149, Lykoûrgos F 124-126) L. is king of the Thracian …

[German version] Former Oscan mercenaries, predominantly from Campania, hired by Agathocles [2] of Syracuse. After his death (289 BC), they conquered the town of Messana between 288 and 283 BC. They called themselves M. after the war god Mamers, the Oscan form of Mars (Diod. Sic. 21,18,1; Cass. Dio fr. 40,8; Fest. 150,30-35), plundering a wide area and enforcing tributes (Pol. 1,7,2-5; 8,1; Plut. Pyrrhus 23,1). After the M. had conquered wide areas of Northern Sicily (Diod. Sic. 22,13,1-2), they c…

[German version] (Σθενελαίδας; Sthenelaḯdas). Spartiate, one of the éphoroi and the leader of the apella , who in 432 BC, with reference to the complaints of Spartan sýmmachoi (Peloponnesian League) and despite the warnings of the king Archidamus [1] II, called for an active containment of the power of Athens. Unusually, he held the vote not by acclamation but by calling for those for and against to stand in separate places, and was thus able to carry through the resolution that Athens had broken the 446 BC peace treaty (…

[German version] (Ἐπιτάδευς; Epitádeus). An ephor from Sparta; according to Plutarch (Agis 5), out of anger against his son, he passed a law making it permissible to give away or pass on house and   kleros at will, no doubt with the aim of increasing the number of Spartiates. Plutarch dates this  rhetra vaguely to 404 BC, but cites this law as the reason for significant differences in wealth amongst the Spartiates in c. 250 BC. Aristotle (Pol. 1270a 15-34) seems to see the deplorable state of affairs in Sparta's cosmos in the mid-4th cent. BC as a consequence of this…

[German version] (Ἀγχίμολος; Anchímolos). In Aristot. Ath. Pol. 19,5 and schol. Aristoph. Lys. 1153 (Anchimolios in Hdt. 5,63,2) high-ranking Spartan, who in 511 BC was supposed to expel the  Peisistratids from Athens and landed with hoplites at Phalerum. In expectation of the invasion  Hippias had, however, called upon 1,000 Thessalian horsemen for help and prepared the landing-point for their attack. A. fell, the rest of his hoplites fled. Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum)

(Ἆγις; Âgis). [German version] [1] I, eponymous hero of the  Agiads A. I, eponymous hero of the  Agiads, son of Eurysthenes and father of Echestratus, according to another version father of the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus (Hdt. 7,204; Paus. 3,2,1). The institution of the perioikia and of the  Helots by him (Ephorus, FGrH 70 F 117) is historical fiction. Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) [German version] [2] II, Spartan king (427-400 BC) A. II, Eurypontid, Spartan king 427/26-400 BC, son of Archidamus [1] II and stepbrother of Agesilaus [2] II, in 426 and 425 led troo…

[German version] (Ξενάρης; Xenárēs). Spartiate, probably identical to the son of Cnidis who, as harmost ( Harmostaí [2]) in Heraclea [1] Trachinia in the winter of 420/19 BC, fell in battle against the Aenianes, the Dolopes and other tribes in that territory (Thuc. 5,51,2). As éphoros in 421/20 BC, X. and his colleague in office Cleobulus [3] rejected the alliance between Sparta and Athens concluded after the Peace of Nicias [1]. After unofficial negotiations with the Boeotians and the Corinthians, the two managed to conclude a special a…

[German version] (Λαβώτας; Labṓtas). Legendary Spartan king of the house of the Agiads. During his (fictional) reign (traditionally 1025/4-989/8 BC), Sparta is said to have fought against Argus for the first time (Apollod. FGrH 244 F 62; Hdt. 1,65; 7,204; Plut. Mor. 224c; Paus. 3,2,3f.). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum)

(Κλέαρχος; Kléarchos). [German version] [1] Bronze sculptor from Rhegion Bronze sculptor from Rhegion. Because of his statue of Zeus Hypatus in Sparta, a   sphyrelaton according to the description, C. was wrongly considered the inventor of bronze statues by Pausanias. According to tradition he was a student of  Dipoenus and Scyllis or of  Daedalus as well as the teacher of  Pythagoras and, therefore, was active in the 2nd half of the 6th cent. BC. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Overbeck No. 332f., 491 P. Romanelli, in: EAA 4, 365f. J. Papadopoulos, Xoana e sphyrelata, 1980, 82 F…

[German version] Spartan olympic champion; died in 403 BC during a skirmish in Piraeus against resistance fighters who freed Athens from the rule of the ‘Thirty’ ( Triakonta) (Xen. Hell. 2,4,33). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum)

(Ζευξίδαμος/ Zeuxídamos). [German version] [1] King of Sparta, c. 700 BC Was considered a Spartan king of the house of the Eurypontids and a son of Archidamus, is supposed to have been the successor to his grandfather Theopompus [1] towards the end of the 8th cent. BC, but is not mentioned in Hdt. 8,131, appearing only in Pausanias' list of Spartan kings (3,7,6; 4,15,3) into which he was probably inserted only in the 4th cent. BC [1. 97; 2. 344 f.]. Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) [German version] [2] Son of Leotychidas [2] II Eurypontid, son of the Spartan king Leotychidas [2] II (…

(πόλις, πτόλις/ pólis, ptólis; pl. πόλεις/ póleis; 'city state'). [German version] I. Topographical background and early development Depending on the particular context, p olis may have topographical, personal or legal-political connotations: a) a fortified settlement on a height, Homeric pólis akrḗ or akrotátē (Hom. Il. 6,88; 20,52), synonymous with the Acropolis in Athens until the late 5th cent. (Thuc. 2,15,3-6); b) an urban settlement; c) an urban settlement including environs, 'state territory'; d) municipal community, community of polîtai (see below II.). In the sense …

(Μέλανθος/ Mélanthos). [German version] [1] From Messenia, descendant of Neleus of Pylos M. of Messenia, descendant of Neleus of Pylus (Hdt. 1,147; 5,65), son of Andropompus and Henoche (Paus. 1,3,3; 19,5; 2,187ff.; 7,1,9), father of Codrus (ibid. 8,18,7). Expelled from Messenia, he went to Attica (Eleusis), where he fought a duel on behalf of the king Thymoetes with Xanthus, the king of Boeotia. With the aid of Dionysus Melanaigis and by his own cunning he gained the victory. Dionysus received a sanctuary in reward, and M. became king of Athens. Käppel, Lutz (Kiel) [German version] [2] P…

(Ἀγησίπολις; Agēsípolis). [German version] [1] I., Spartan king (395-380 BC) A. I, Agiad, son of the Spartan king Pausanias and older brother of Cleombrotus I, became king when his father had to go into exile after the battle at Haliartus 395 BC (Diod. Sic. 14,89; Paus. 3,5,7). First under the guardianship of his relative Aristodemus [3] (Xen. Hell. 4,2,9), he achieved already in 388/87 successes against the Argives (Xen. Hell. 4,7,2-7) and forced the polis of Mantinea under specious pretences to dioikismos into four villages in 385/84 (Xen. Hell. 5,2,3-7; Paus. 8,8,7-9). Af…

[German version] (Μέγιλλος/ Mégillos). Spartan, one of three members of a legation which negotiated the release of prisoners of war in Athens in 408/7 BC (Androtion FGrH 324 F 44; [1. 50; 2. 395]). He was probably identical with a homonymous member of a legation sent by Agesilaus [2] II to Tissaphernes in 396 (Xen. Hell. 3,4,6), and with an interlocutor in Plato (Epin. passim and Leg. 642b), described there as a guest of the Athenians. Peloponnesian War Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) Bibliography 1 D. J. Mosley, Envoys and Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 1973 2 B. Bleckmann, Athens Weg in die…