Wikipedia

Archidamus IV

Archidamus IV(Greek:Ἀρχίδαμος Δ΄) wasEurypontid kingofSpartafrom c. 300 BC to c. 275 BC. An obscure king, Archidamus is only known for his defeat against theMacedoniankingDemetrius PoliorketesatMantineain 294, where he might have also died since nothing is heard of him afterwards. This defeat marks the beginning of a long eclipse for the Eurypontid kings, who are not mentioned again until the emergence ofAgis IV50 years later.

Life and reign

edit

Archidamus was the son ofEudamidas I(r. 331–c.300) and grandson ofArchidamus III(r. 360–338), who belonged to theEurypontid dynasty,one of the two royal families of Sparta (the other being the Agiads). He was also the probable brother ofArchidamia.[1]

In 294, Sparta went to war for the first time since 331 and theBattle of Megalopolis,where Archidamus' uncleAgis IIIdied. Indeed, after having takenAthens,the king ofMacedoniaDemetrios Poliorketes invaded thePeloponnesein order to fortify his hold of Greece before fighting the otherDiadochi,the former generals ofAlexander the Great.[2][3]Archidamus was appointed at the head of the army sent to meet Demetrios, perhaps because the other kingAreus Iwas still a minor, while the Agiad regentCleonymus—the most important Spartan commander at the time—was discredited by his failure in a mercenary expedition in Italy.[4][5]Few ancient sources mention this war: some briefs notes are found inPlutarchand the geographerPausanias,as well as two anecdotes fromPolyaenus,who all wrote four centuries after the event.[6][7][8]

Sparta was possibly allied with theArkadiancity ofMantinea,because the first battle took place near Mount Lyrceum in the north of this city, where Archidamus had moved to block Demetrios' incoming invasion.[9][10]The Macedonian king however won the battle thanks to a stratagem; he set the vegetation on fire, which the northern wind blew towards the Spartans and forced them to flee.[11][12][13]A second battle took place near Sparta, which ended with another victory for Demetrios, who made 500 prisoners and killed 200 Spartans.[14][5][15][16]Archidamus might have been among the dead, as he is never mentioned again.[17]The Spartans then restored the city walls that had been built during the reign of Archidamus' father in preparation for a siege, but Demetrios actually left the Peloponnese to fight his enemyLysimachosin northern Greece.[18][19]The Spartans still inflicted some casualties to Demetrios' rearguard while he retreated.[20][21]

This defeat, if it did not kill him, cost all of Archidamus' prestige, as well as that of the Eurypontid dynasty, which disappears from the records for 50 years, until the reign ofAgis IV(r. 244–241).[22]For example, the year after Archidamus' defeat (in 293), it is the Agiad prince Cleonymus who is mentioned operating inBoeotiaagainst Demetrios.[23]In addition, nothing is known of Archidamus' son Eudamidas II, not even his date of accession.[24]During this period, the Agiad kings, notablyAreus I,de factoruled as sole monarchs.[25][26]

The date of Archidamus' death—and the start date of his sonEudamidas II—is not known. The transition date is often arbitrarily set in 275, but opinions range between 294 (if he died on the battlefield) to 260.[27][17][28][29]

References

edit
  1. ^McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 169, 170, 181, rejects older literature which makes Archidamia the mother of Archidamus. As she is still mentioned playing an active political role in 241, she would have been close to a hundred years old by that date if she was the wife of Eudamidas I (and mother of Archidamus IV), which seems improbable.
  2. ^Cloché, "La politique extérieure", pp. 223, 224.
  3. ^Cartledge,Hellenistic and Roman Sparta,pp. 27, 28.
  4. ^Marasco,Sparta,p. 48.
  5. ^abMcQueen, "The Eurypontid House", p. 165.
  6. ^Plutarch,Demetrios,35.
  7. ^Pausanias, i. 13 § 6.
  8. ^Polyaenus, iv. 7 § 9, 10.
  9. ^Marasco,Sparta,p. 49.
  10. ^Wheatley & Dunn,Demetrius,p. 317.
  11. ^Cloché, "La politique extérieure", pp. 223, 225.
  12. ^Marasco,Sparta,p. 50.
  13. ^Wheatley & Dunn,Demetrius,p. 318.
  14. ^David,Sparta between Empire and Revolution,p. 124.
  15. ^Cartledge,Hellenistic and Roman Sparta,p. 28.
  16. ^Kralli,The Hellenistic Peloponnese,p. 103.
  17. ^abBradford,Prosopography,p. 75, thinks that Archidamus died in the battle of 294.
  18. ^David,Sparta between Empire and Revolution,pp. 116, 124.
  19. ^Kralli,The Hellenistic Peloponnese,p. 112 (note 80).
  20. ^Cloché, "La politique extérieure", p. 225.
  21. ^Marasco,Sparta,p. 51.
  22. ^David,Sparta between Empire and Revolution,p. 132.
  23. ^Marasco,Sparta,pp. 51–53.
  24. ^McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", pp. 165, 166.
  25. ^McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", p. 166.
  26. ^Walthall, "Becoming Kings", p. 136.
  27. ^Beloch,Griechische geschichte,IV-2, p. 166, gives c. 260.
  28. ^Marasco,Commento,p. 188, argues for c. 260.
  29. ^McQueen, "The Eurypontid House", p. 166, does not suggest a date, apart from dismissing that of 294.

Bibliography

edit

Ancient sources

edit

Modern sources

edit
  • Karl Julius Beloch,Griechische geschichte,Tome IV, book 2,Berlin/Leipzig, de Gruyter, 1927.
  • Alfred S. Bradford,A Prosopography of Lacedaemonians from the Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B. C., to the Sack of Sparta by Alaric, A. D. 396,Munich, Beck, 1977.ISBN3-406-04797-1
  • Paul Cartledge,Sparta and Lakonia, A Regional History 1300–362 BC,London, Routledge, 2001 (originally published in 1979).ISBN0-415-26276-3
  • Paul Cloché, "La politique extérieure de Lacédémone depuis la mort d'Agis III jusqu'à celle d'Acrotatos, fils d'Areus Ier",Revue des Études Anciennes,1945 47 n°3-4, pp. 219–242.
  • Ephraim David,Sparta between Empire and Revolution (404-243 B.C.), Internal Problems and Their Impact on Contemporary Greek Consciousness,New York, 1981.
  • Ioanna Kralli,The Hellenistic Peloponnese: Interstate Relations, A Narrative and Analytic History, from the Fourth Century to 146 BC,Swansea, The Classical Press of Wales, 2017.ISBN978-1-910589-60-1
  • Gabriele Marasco,Sparta agli inizi dell'età ellenistica, il regno di Areo I (309/8-265/4 a.C.),Firenze, 1980.
  • ——,Commento alle Biografie plutarchee di Agide e di Cleomene,Rome, Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 1983.
  • E. I. McQueen, "The Eurypontid House in Hellenistic Sparta",Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte,Bd. 39, H. 2 (1990), pp. 163–181.
  • Pat Wheatley & Charlotte Dunn,Demetrius the Besieger,Oxford University Press, 2020.ISBN978-0-19-883604-9
Preceded by Eurypontid King of Sparta
c. 300 BC – c. 275 BC 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archidamus_IV&oldid=1253096514"