Spartas Kings

Product Description

In ancient Greece Sparta was unique in having a dual kingship
- two kings from different clans the Agiads & the Eurypontids reigning simultaneously. The institution was already well-developed by the 8th century BC when Theopompos of the Eurypontid clan emerges as the first recorded Spartan king. At least fifty-seven men held office as Spartan king between Theopompos & the Agiad Kleomenes III who died in 222 BC. For almost all this period the Spartan kingship was primarily a military office & thus the kings embody much of the military history of Sparta. Wherever Spartas main battles took place there the kings were. Naturally the character of the particular king would often determine the outcome of a battle or campaign. Leonidas I at Thermopylai was one example. At the other end of the scale the young & unwarlike Pleistoanax twice declined an encounter with the Athenians when sent against that city. John Carr offers a chronological account of the kings & their accomplishments (or lack thereof) from the founding Herakleidai clan to Kleomenes III & his successor the dictator Nabis & the Roman conquest in the middle of the 2nd century BC. The book is not intended to be a complete history of Sparta. It will be a human interest & war story focusing attention on the kings personal qualities as well as their (or their generals) military accomplishments & where applicable their politics as well.