Agis IV

Agis IV
Agis IV
King of Sparta
	Eurypontid
Father	Eudamidas II
Mother	Agesistrata

Agis IV (

Eurypontid dynasty of Sparta.^[1] Posterity has reckoned him an idealistic but impractical monarch.^[2]

Family background and accession

Agis was the son of

Agesilaus, who played an important role during Agis' reign.^[6]

Agis' mother was Agesistrata, daughter of Archidamia (also mother of Agesilaus) who played an important role during the siege of Sparta by Pyrrhus in 272.^[7] Plutarch tells that they were the richest people in Sparta.^[8] Agis also had a younger brother named Archidamus.

Reforms

Agis succeeded his father as king in 245 BC, at around the age of 20, and reigned four years. The interest of his reign, however, derived from the domestic crisis of Sparta at the time of his succession.

homoioi) remained, and in consequence of the innovation introduced by Epitadeus, who procured a repeal of the law which secured to every Spartan head of a family an equal portion of land, the landed property had passed into the hands of very few individuals, so that fewer than 100 Spartan families held estates, while the poor were greatly burdened with debt.^[1]

Agis' program was in four points:

cancellation of debts: or more precisely, mortgages taken out on citizens' klaros (plot of land), as citizens often got into debts to pay for their contribution to the syssitia, and many had lost their status when the burden became too high.^[9]
redistribution of land: civic lands were redistributed in equal shares between Spartan citizens, former citizens who had lost their status because they could not afford the syssitia, periokoi, and even foreigners—probably mercenaries living in Laconia. In total, Agis created 4500 new lots of land for his new civic body: 700 for the remaining citizens, about 2000 for the degraded citizens, and the rest between periokoi and mercenaries.^[10]
restoration of the agoge, the rigorous military education in Sparta, which had disappeared after the late 270s.^[11]
restoration of the original syssitia, the collective messes, which had evolved into lavish banquets.^[11]

Agis, who from his earliest youth had shown his attachment to the ancient discipline, undertook to reform these abuses, and re-establish the institutions of

Agesilaus (a man of large property, but who, being deeply involved in debt, hoped to profit by the innovations of Agis), Lysander (a descendant of the victor of Aegospotami) and Mandrocleides. Having arranged for Lysander to be elected one of the six ephors, he laid his plans before the senate. He proposed that the Spartan territory should be divided into two portions, one to consist of 4500 equal lots, to be divided amongst the Spartans, whose ranks were to be filled up by the admission of the most respectable of the Perioikoi and resident aliens; the other to contain 15,000 equal lots, to be divided amongst the remaining Perioikoi.^[1]

The senate could not at first come to a decision on the matter. Lysander, therefore, convened the assembly of the people, to whom Agis submitted his measure, and offered to make the first sacrifice, by giving up his own lands and money, telling them that his mother, Agesistrate, and grandmother, who were both possessed of great wealth, with all his relations and friends, would follow his example. His generosity drew the applause of the multitude. The opposite party, however, headed by Leonidas II, Agis' Agiad co-monarch, who had formed his habits at the luxurious court of Seleucus II Callinicus, got the senate to reject the measure, though only by one vote. Agis decided to rid himself of Leonidas. Lysander accordingly accused him of having violated the laws by marrying a stranger and living in a foreign land. Leonidas was deposed, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Cleombrotus, who cooperated with Agis.

Loss of support

Soon afterwards, however, Lysander's term of office expired, and the ephors of the following year were opposed to Agis, and looked to restore Leonidas. They brought an accusation against Lysander and Mandrocleides, of attempting to violate the laws. Alarmed at the turn events were taking, these two convinced the king to take the unprecedented step of deposing the ephors by force and to appoint others in their stead.^[2] Leonidas, who had returned to the city, fled again, to Tegea, protected from Agis by Agesilaus, who persuaded Agis and Lysander that the most effective way to secure the consent of the wealthy to the distribution of their lands, would be to begin by cancelling the debts. Accordingly, the debts were cancelled, and all bonds, registers, and securities were piled up in the market place and burned.^[1]

Taenarum

.

Execution and legacy

Cleombrotus was allowed to go into exile; he escaped death only because of the influence of his wife, Leonidas' daughter Chilonis. While Agis was campaigning against the Aetolian Alliance, the oligarchs succeeded in restoring Leonidas to power and canceling the reforms that Agis had implemented. In 241 Agis was betrayed by some friends and thrown into prison. Leonidas immediately came with a band of mercenaries and secured the prison, while the ephors entered it and went through the mockery of a trial. When asked if he did not repent of what he had attempted, Agis replied that he should never repent of so great a design, even in the face of death. He was accused of seeking tyranny, and quickly executed by strangulation, the ephors fearing a rescue, as a great crowd of people had assembled around the prison gates.

Agis, observing that one of his executioners was moved to tears, said, "Weep not for me: suffering, as I do, unjustly, I am in a happier case than my murderers." His mother Agesistrate and his grandmother Archidameia were strangled on his body. Agis was the first king of Sparta to have been put to death by the ephors. Pausanias, who, however, is undoubtedly wrong, says that he fell in battle.^[12] His widow Agiatis was forcibly married by Leonidas to his son Cleomenes III, but nevertheless the two developed for each other a mutual affection and esteem.^[13]^[14]

Considered by many writers too weak and good-natured to cope with the problems which confronted him, Agis was characterized by a sincerity of purpose and a blend of youthful modesty with royal dignity, which render him perhaps the most attractive figure in the whole of Spartan history. His life and death caught the romantic imagination of several ancient writers. He is the subject of a lost biography by Phylarchus, which was apparently very heavily relied upon by Plutarch when he wrote his own biography of the king.^[2]

Agis was succeeded by his son Eudamidas III.

Agis IV in fiction

Agis is the main character in the book Król Agis (King Agis) by the Polish writer Halina Rudnicka. He is also mentioned in the two other books by Halina Rudnicka: Syn Heraklesa (Heracles' son) and Heros w okowach (Hero in manacles). Moreover, he is the main character in the book Αγις (Agis) by the Greek writer Lili Mavrokefalou.

Agis also appears in the play Agis, a blank verse tragedy by the Scottish dramatist John Home.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mason, Charles Peter (1867), "Agis (4)", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 73, archived from the original on 2009-04-12, retrieved 2008-05-23
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cartledge, Paul Anthony (1996), "Agis IV", in Hornblower, Simon (ed.), Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
^ McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 165, 166.
^ Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, p. 38, even considers that Agis IV was the first significant Eurypontid since Agis III (who died in 331).
^ McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", p. 167.
^ McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 174–177.
^ McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 168–170.
^ Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, p. 40.
^ Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 39, 41.
^ Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 39, 41, 42.
^ ^a ^b Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 38, 42.
^ Pausanias, Description of Greece viii. 10. § 4, 27. § 9
^ Plutarch, Agis, Cleomenes, Aratus
^ Pausanias, Description of Greece vii. 7. § 2

Bibliography

ISBN 0-415-26276-3

E. I. McQueen, "The Eurypontid House in Hellenistic Sparta", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Bd. 39, H. 2 (1990), pp. 163–181.

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Agis (4)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Preceded by Eudamidas II	Eurypontid King of Sparta c. 245 BC – 241 BC	Succeeded by Eudamidas III

[DGRBM-1] Mason, Charles Peter (1867), "Agis (4)", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 73, archived from the original on 2009-04-12, retrieved 2008-05-23

[OCD-2] Cartledge, Paul Anthony (1996), "Agis IV", in Hornblower, Simon (ed.), Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press

[3] McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 165, 166.

[4] Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, p. 38, even considers that Agis IV was the first significant Eurypontid since Agis III (who died in 331).

[5] McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", p. 167.

[6] McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 174–177.

[7] McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 168–170.

[8] Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, p. 40.

[9] Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 39, 41.

[10] Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 39, 41, 42.

[:0-11] Cartledge, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, pp. 38, 42.

[12] Pausanias, Description of Greece viii. 10. § 4, 27. § 9

[13] Plutarch, Agis, Cleomenes, Aratus

[14] Pausanias, Description of Greece vii. 7. § 2

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v t e Kings of Sparta
Lelegids	Lelex Myles Eurotas
Lacedaemonids	Lacedaemon Amyclas Argalus Cynortas Perieres Oebalus Tyndareus Hippocoon
Atreids	Menelaus Orestes Tisamenus Dion
Early Heraclids	Aristodemus Theras (regent)
Heraclids Agiad dynasty	Eurysthenes Agis I Echestratus Labotas Doryssus Agesilaus I Archelaus Teleclus Alcmenes Polydorus Eurycrates Anaxander Eurycratides Leon Anaxandridas II Cleomenes I Leonidas I Cleombrotus (regent) Pausanias (regent) Pleistarchus Nicomedes (regent) Pleistoanax Pausanias Agesipolis I Cleombrotus I Agesipolis II Cleomenes II Cleonymus (regent) Areus I Acrotatus Areus II Leonidas II Cleombrotus II Cleomenes III Eucleidas Agesipolis III
Heraclids Eurypontid dynasty	Procles Soos Eurypon Prytanis Polydectes Eunomus Charilaus Nicander Theopompus Anaxandridas I Zeuxidamus Anaxidamus Archidamus I Anaxilas Leotychidas I Hippocratidas Agasicles Ariston Demaratus Leotychidas II Archidamus II Agis II Agesilaus II Archidamus III Agis III Eudamidas I Archidamus IV Eudamidas II Agis IV Eudamidas III Archidamus V Lycurgus Pelops Machanidas (regent) Nabis Laconicus

v t e Works of Plutarch
Works	Parallel Lives Moralia "De genio Socratis" "On the Malice of Herodotus" Pseudo-Plutarch
Lives	Alcibiades and Coriolanus¹ Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar (life) Artaxerxes and Galba / Otho ² Aristides and Cato the Elder¹ Crassus and Nicias¹ Demetrius and Antony¹ Demosthenes and Cicero¹ Dion and Brutus¹ Fabius and Pericles¹ Lucullus and Cimon¹ Lysander and Sulla¹ Lycurgus ¹ Pelopidas and Marcellus¹ Philopoemen and Flamininus¹ Phocion and Cato the Younger Pompey and Agesilaus¹ Poplicola and Solon¹ Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius Romulus and Theseus¹ Sertorius and Eumenes¹ Agis / Cleomenes¹ and Tiberius Gracchus / Gaius Gracchus Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus¹ Themistocles and Camillus
Translators and editors	Jacques Amyot Arthur Hugh Clough John Dryden Philemon Holland Thomas North
¹ Comparison extant ² Four unpaired Lives

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