Agis II

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Agis II
Eurypontid
FatherArchidamus II

Agis II (

Agiad co-monarch Pausanias.[3]

Life

Agis succeeded his father

Lacedaemon set out and marched to the frontier city of Leuctra. No one, Thucydides tells us, knew the purpose of this expedition. It was probably to make a diversion in favour of Epidaurus.[6]

At Leuctra the unfavourable outcome of various sacrifices deterred Agis from proceeding. He therefore led his troops back, and sent around a notice to the allies to be ready for an expedition at the end of the sacred month of the Carneia festival. When the Argives repeated their attack on Epidaurus, the Spartans again marched to the frontier town, Caryae, and again turned back, supposedly on account of the aspect of the victims. In the middle of the following summer of 418 BC the Epidaurians, being still hard-pressed by the Argives, the Lacedaemonians with their whole force and some allies, under the command of Agis, invaded Argolis. By a skilful manoeuvre he succeeded in intercepting the Argives, and posted his army advantageously between them and the city. But just as the battle was about to begin, the Argive generals Thrasyllus and Alciphron met with Agis and prevailed on him to conclude a truce for four months.

Agis, without disclosing his motives, pulled his army back. On his return he was severely censured in Sparta for having thus thrown away the opportunity of reducing Argos, especially as the Argives had seized the opportunity afforded by his return and taken Orchomenus. It was proposed to pull down his house, and inflict on him a fine of 100,000 drachmas. But on his earnest entreaty they contented themselves with appointing a council of war, consisting of 10 Spartans, who needed to be present before he could lead an army out of the city.[7] Shortly afterwards they received intelligence from Tegea, that, if not promptly reinforced, the party favourable to Sparta in that city would be compelled to surrender. The Spartans immediately sent their whole force under the command of Agis. He restored stability at Tegea, and then marched to Mantineia. By turning the waters to flood the lands of Mantineia, he succeeded in drawing the army of the Mantineans and Athenians down to the level ground. A battle ensued, in which the Spartans were victorious. The Battle of Mantinea was reckoned one of the most important battles ever fought between the Grecian states.[8]

In 417 BC, when the news reached Sparta of the counter-revolution at Argos, in which the

the Four Hundred, he made an unsuccessful attempt on Athens itself.[12] Afterwards the focus of the Peloponnesian War shifted to Asia Minor, and Lysander assumed a greater role in the siege of Athens. After victory was secured, Agis voted to charge his Agiad co-monarch Pausanias with treason, but Pausanias was acquitted.[13]

In 401 BC, the command of

Arcadia, and died a few days after he reached Sparta.[14] He was buried in Sparta, with unparalleled solemnity and pomp.[3]

Agis left a son, Leotychides. However, he was excluded from the throne, as there was some suspicion with regard to his legitimacy. A common legend states that while Alcibiades was in Sparta, Agis II suspected that Alcibiades had slept with his queen, Timaea (and that Alcibiades had fathered Leotychides).[15][16][17][18] It was probably at the suggestion of Agis that orders were sent out to Astyochus to put him to death. Alcibiades, however, received warning (according to some accounts from Timaea herself), and evaded the Spartans.[19] However, others claim that, judging from the sources, Leotychides was a man at the time of Agis' death, and Alcibiades as his father was a later replacement for a now unknown lover.[20]

References

  1. ^ McQueen & Rowe, p. 11.
  2. ^ Mason, Charles Peter (1867), "Agis (2)", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 72, archived from the original on 2013-10-29, retrieved 2008-05-23
  3. ^ a b c Agis II Archived 2014-01-14 at the Wayback Machine from Livius.Org Archived 2001-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Thucydides, iii. 89
  5. ^ Thucydides, iv. 2, 6
  6. ^ Connop Thirlwall, vol. iii. p. 342
  7. ^ Thucydides v. 54, 57, &c.
  8. ^ Thucydides v. 71–73
  9. ^ Thucydides v. 83
  10. ^ Thucydides vii. 19, 27
  11. ^ Thucydides viii. 3, 5
  12. ^ Thucydides viii. 71
  13. ^ Cartledge, Paul Anthony (1996), "Agis II", in Hornblower, Simon (ed.), Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. Hellenica
    iii. 2. § 21, &c. 3. § 1–4
  15. ^ Justin, v. 2
  16. ^ Plutarch. "Alcibiades". Parallel Lives. p. 23.7–8.
  17. ^ Plutarch. "Lysander". Parallel Lives. p. 22.3–6.
  18. ^ Plutarch. "Agesilaus". Parallel Lives. p. 3.
  19. ^ Thucydides viii. 12, 45
  20. ISBN 5-93762-008-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )

Sources

External links

  • Quotations related to Agis II at Wikiquote
Preceded by King of Sparta (Eurypontid)
427/6–400/399 BC 		Succeeded by
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