Eurydamide

The father of Euridamides was the reformer king Agis IV , and his mother was Agathidis , daughter of Gilippos.

When in 241 BC e. Agis, accused of striving for tyranny , was executed by order of the Ephors , Euridamide was just born. Opponent of Agis, king Leonid II, by force forced Agathidis to marry his son Cleomenes III , since, according to Plutarch , “she should have inherited her father’s wealth, by her beauty and dignity she had no equal among the Greek women, possessing, in addition, good disposition and meek. "

The guardians of Eurydamides were the named kings from the Agid clan: first Leonid II, and then the stepfather Cleomenes. According to the testimony of ancient authors, the latter, “not satisfied with the established laws”, “having begun to imitate Pausanias in the pursuit of absolute power”, ordered to poison his ward.

After these events, the throne along the line of the Euripontides clan passed at the behest of Cleomenes to Uncle Euridamides - Archidam V.

Primary sources

• Pausanias . Description of Hellas (II.9.1, III.10.6.)

• Plutarch . Comparative biographies . Cleomenes (1)

Research

• Pechatnova L.G. Part I. Spartan kings // Political structures of ancient Sparta. - St. Petersburg, 2006.