Eurysthenes
Eurysthenes | |
---|---|
Basileus (king) of Sparta | |
Reign | c. 1104 – 1066 BC |
Predecessor | Aristodemus? |
Successor | Agis I |
Consort | Lathria |
House | Heraclids |
Father | Aristodemus |
Mother | Argia |
Eurysthenes (
The title of archēgetēs, "founding magistrate," was explicitly denied to Eurysthenes and Procles by the later Spartan government on the grounds that they were not founders of a state, but were maintained in their offices by parties of foreigners. Instead the honor was granted to their son and grandson, for which reason the two lines were called the Agiads and the Eurypontids.[3]
Legend of the double kingship
The story of the double kingship of Sparta begins with the invasion of the Peloponnesus by the
Nevertheless, the three commanders divided that which they did not yet possess, Peloponnesus. Following the signs of the gods, Aristodemus received Sparta. There is a question as to whether he ever was actually in possession there. One tradition says that he was and was therefore the first king of Sparta. A second asserts that he died before taking possession and that the Dorians brought his infant twin sons to Sparta as kings under a regent.
Dates of the reigns of the first ten kings of the Agiad line
The untimely death of Aristodemus with other events has served as some basis for dating the reigns of the first ten kings of Sparta in the line known by state definition as the Agiad. The
Pausanias states that the end of the First Messenian War was the first year of the 14th Olympiad.[7] The date must have been 724/723 BC if the first year of the first Olympiad was 776/775 BC. Kings Polydorus of the Agiads and Theopompus of the Eurypontids were reigning at that time, roughly in mid-reign. The end of the war must be 379 years from the return of the Heraclids.[8] According to Isaac Newton, also a classical scholar, the ten kings reigned an average of 38 years each, which can be used as an estimator of the dates. Eurysthenes would have ruled in 1104–1066 BC, with an unknown margin of error, as much of the data is relatively uncertain.
See also
References
- ^ Müller 1830, Section I.5.16.
- ^ a b Clough, Arthur Hugh (1867). "Eurysthenes". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 113. Archived from the original on 2011-09-12.
- ^ Malkin, Irad (2003). Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 110–111.
- ^ Müller 1830, Sections I.3.9 through I.3.12
- ^ Müller 1830, Section I.5.11
- ^ Blegen, Carl W. (1995) [1966]. Troy and Trojans. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. 162.
- ^ Guide to Greece, 4.13.7.
- ^ Newton, Isaac (2008) [1782]. Pierce, Larry; Pierce, Marion (eds.). Newton['s] revised history of ancient kingdoms: a complete chronology. Green Forest, Ark.: Master Books. pp. 25–26.
Bibliography
- Müller, Karl Otfried (1830). The history and antiquities of the Doric race. Vol. I. Translated by George Cornewall Lewis; Henry Tufnell. London: J. Murray.