| Eurysthenes | |
|---|---|
| Basileus (king) of Sparta | |
| Reign | c. 1104 – 1066 BC |
| Predecessor | Aristodemus? |
| Successor | Agis I |
| Consort | Lathria |
| House | Heraclids |
| Father | Aristodemus |
| Mother | Argia |
Eurysthenes (Greek:Εὐρυσθένης, "widely ruling"[1]) was king ofSparta and one of theHeracleidae inGreek mythology. He was a son ofAristodemus andArgia, daughter ofAutesion. He had a twin brother,Procles. Together they received the land ofLacedaemon afterCresphontes,Temenus andAristodemus defeatedTisamenus, the last Achaean king of thePeloponnesus. Eurysthenes married Lathria, daughter ofThersander, King of Kleonae, sister of his sister-in-law Anaxandra, and was the father of his successor,Agis I, founder of theAgiad dynasty of the Kings of Sparta.[2]
The title ofarchēgetēs, "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]
The story of the double kingship of Sparta begins with the invasion of the Peloponnesus by theDorians, and theAetolian allies, under three Heraclid commanders,Temenus,Cresphontes andAristodemus, the three sons ofAristomachus.Karl Otfried Müller collected and evaluated the various fragments of the story from classical authors. According to Müller, the state ofElis inArcadia, allies of the Aetolians, provided a guide (Oxylus) for passage through Arcadia after crossing theGulf of Corinth fromNaupactus. Arcadia gave them a central point from which to attack anywhere else in the Peloponnesus. Their presence was contested by a united Peloponnesian Achaean army (except for Arcadia) underTisamenus, an Atreid. The Achaeans lost. They were commanded to evacuate to Athens, but many did not; furthermore, much of the region remained unconquered.[4]
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.[5] Aristodemus was assassinated at Delphi by the Atreids. He had not even had time to designate a successor. The mother did not know which was the elder. Theoracle at Delphi resolved the problem by suggesting that they both be made kings, which is the origin of the dual monarchy. Theras, Argeia's brother, was made regent. There was still a necessity of designating the elder. They chose the one the mother fed and cleaned first, Eurysthenes.[2]
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. TheReturn of the Heracleidae, which is the closest event to aDorian Invasion available in legend, must coincide with the entry of Aristodemus and his brethren intoArcadia, which, based on the chronology ofEratosthenes, happened 328 years before the generally accepted date of the first year of the firstOlympiad, 776 BC. Eratosthenes' date is therefore 1104 BC.[6] This must be the year of Aristodemus' military activity in Arcadia, his fatherhood and his assassination. Eurysthenes was therefore born in 1104 BC, which was the first year of his reign, if the regency of Theras is discounted.
Pausanias states that the end of theFirst 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. KingsPolydorus of the Agiads andTheopompus 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 toIsaac 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.
| Preceded by | King of Sparta c. 1104 – c. 1066 B.C. | Succeeded by |
