Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 27: The Story of Sparta

“Diobetes, are you truly a Spartan?!” Lysander sneered. “Don’t forget Demaratus!” The elders erupted in uproar—Demaratus. That name was Sparta’s lasting shame.

Though Spartan warriors revered bloodshed and despised pleasure, they were not immune to beautiful women. While the foremost criterion for judging a future wife was fertility, a Spartan woman’s beauty also served as an immediate measure of her moral worth as the mother of future children. Raised alongside boys from childhood and trained in physical exercise, Spartan women possessed a unique beauty: long golden hair, athletic bodies, and graceful calves. Giving birth to an ugly daughter would dismay her parents, but there was a chance for change—by visiting an ancient sanctuary beside Helen’s tomb and praying to her bronze statue, it was said the child could grow beautiful.

A hundred years ago, a Spartan couple prayed to Helen for their ugly daughter. The hideous priestess in charge of the sanctuary grabbed the child’s long hair, examined her face, and made a prophecy: “She will become the most beautiful woman in Lacedaemon.” Time passed, and the girl indeed grew into a renowned beauty. Her charms so enchanted the King of Sparta that he used his royal prerogative to seize her from her husband. Barely seven months later, the new queen bore a son. Was the father the king or the commoner? The Spartans did not pry. The child grew up and eventually succeeded to the throne—that was Demaratus.

When Demaratus became king, the other Spartan king, Cleomenes, had already reigned for five years. Cleomenes’ own accession had been far more difficult. His father had been unable to impregnate his wife, and the ephors enforcing the law demanded he divorce her and remarry. After much hesitation, he chose bigamy. Soon after his second wife bore him three sons, his first wife also gave birth to Cleomenes. But the king had grown deeply attached to his second wife and naturally favored her children. Cleomenes never won his father’s affection, while his half-brother Dorieus was groomed by the king and designated the legitimate heir. Everyone considered Dorieus the most outstanding of his generation. However, when the king suddenly fell in battle, the tradition-bound Spartans decided Cleomenes, as the son of the first wife, had the prior right to the throne. After his accession, Cleomenes first sent Dorieus to colonize the western Mediterranean, then systematically exiled his other brothers.

Cleomenes was sharp-witted, decisive, ambitious, and power-hungry. The newly enthroned Demaratus was no match for him and was soon reduced to a figurehead. Cleomenes held sole power in Sparta for over twenty years: he defeated Argos, controlled Arcadia, meddled in Delphi, intervened in Athenian politics—Spartan influence expanded into northern Greece. Then the Persian king Xerxes prepared to invade Greece again. Learning from Darius, he sent spies to divide and alienate the Greek city-states. Aegina, an island polis not far from the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, offered earth and water to Persia. Cleomenes raged against this treachery and resolved to punish Aegina.

The Aeginetans hastily appealed to the other Spartan king, Demaratus. Delighted to create trouble for his political rival, Demaratus secretly allied with elders in the Council of Elders who were unwilling to go to war with Persia and actively provided support. This infuriated Cleomenes. He decided to eliminate this unbearable co-ruler once and for all. At a meeting of the Council of Elders he convened, he challenged Demaratus’ lineage. Not only did he win over Demaratus’ own relatives and most of the elders, but he also bribed the priests at Delphi so that the oracle’s response was unfavorable to Demaratus. As a result, Demaratus—king for twenty-four years—was deposed and fled to Xerxes, becoming a traitor and guide.

But the victorious Cleomenes did not long enjoy his triumph. His bribery of Delphi was exposed, and the Spartans were furious. He was found guilty, first fleeing Sparta, then returning, but was stripped of power. He took to drunkenness, violence, and raving—everyone said he was mad. His half-brothers Leonidas and Cleombrotus declared him insane and locked him in a temple. The next day, he was found dead, his flesh sliced off piece by piece, a knife lying by his hand.

This caused an uproar! Everyone spread word that Cleomenes had been punished for defiling the gods, and the public widely accepted it as suicide. Soon, Leonidas became king. But privately, rumors occasionally whispered that Cleomenes had been killed by his two brothers.

Leonidas led the three hundred royal guards to Thermopylae to hold the Persian army partly out of necessity, but also with a hidden intent to prove his own innocence to the Spartans.

That was a turbulent chapter in Spartan history—one could even call it Sparta’s shame. For a moment, the assembly fell into silence.

The presiding officer, Kleostidas, declared bluntly: “Begin the election of the new king!”

Both Agesilaus and Leotychides had their flaws and their supporters. The debate centered on winning over the neutral elders… and the final vote went to Agesilaus.

Leotychides, tears of humiliation in his eyes, cast a venomous glance at the elders congratulating Agesilaus, then silently departed.

Presiding officer Kleostidas then had the guards usher in the five ephors who had been waiting outside the Council Chamber and announced the election results to them.

Thus the ephors came before Agesilaus. With a solemn expression, he stood as they proclaimed loudly: “By great Zeus above! Based on the election result of the Council of Elders, we declare Agesilaus, of the bloodline of sacred Heracles, King of Sparta!”

Agesilaus could no longer maintain his composure. With a trembling voice, he swore: “I swear by Zeus! I, Agesilaus, will govern and rule Sparta according to the city’s existing laws!”

The ephors responded in unison: “As long as you uphold your oath, we shall ensure your kingship endures forever!”

In February 398 BC, Agesilaus became King of Sparta.

At the southeastern tip of Sicily, Dionysius led Syracuse’s 80,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and over 400 warships accompanying them by sea, marching in a grand procession along Sicily’s southern coast westward.

As he easily liberated the city of Camarina, which had been forced to pay tribute to Carthage, Dionysius received news that “Daonia had defeated Croton.” He paused for a moment, then said to the attendant beside him: “Write immediately to Philistos. Tell him I agree to Locri’s demands. Send them reinforcements as soon as possible!”

Then he ordered the herald to urge the army, which had planned to rest for a day, to continue its westward march.

“Croton has sued for peace with Daonia!” When the Tarentine magistrate Eumachus received the news relayed from Croton, he exclaimed in surprise: “Who would have thought! A year ago, Daonia was a small polis that needed our protection to survive. Now it has rapidly grown into a powerful alliance in Magna Graecia!”

The former magistrate, now senator of the Senate, Dexithemas, sighed: “Fortunately, we are allies with Daonia!”

“Tarentum’s security cannot rely on others’ promises!” Eumachus shook his head, his tone resolute. “We should accelerate the conquest of the Messapians and quickly strengthen Tarentum’s power. Only then can we speak with a strong voice in front of Daonia!”

“Capturing Manduria has already cost our citizens many casualties! And now you want to attack Brundisium? That will cost even more Tarentine lives! How can the Senate agree to such radical actions?” Dexithemas accused angrily.

Eumachus looked at Dexithemas with a hint of contempt: “Dexithemas, my friend, haven’t you figured it out yet? This is not only the will of the majority of senators in the Senate—it is the will of the people! Spurred by Daonia’s rapid rise, the citizens are tired of the Senate’s decades of inaction! They hate enduring Messapian raids every year! They demand change! True, some citizens have died, but we have taken Manduria. It will be far harder for the Messapians to invade our territory now! Lord Diomilas is about to return to Tarentum, and Archytas will continue leading the troops to attack Brundisium. I believe that once Archytas learns of Croton being forced to sue for peace with Daonia, he will intensify the attack on Brundisium without us even having to urge him.”

Dexithemas fell silent. After a moment, he said hesitantly: “I worry that such a large-scale offensive will provoke the Peucetii to the north. They are of the same race as the Messapians…”

“Would they not hate us even if we didn’t attack?!” Eumachus retorted. “If we seize Brundisium, we can cut off the Messapians’ northern connection and open trade with the Adriatic Sea. There are many benefits… And if, as you say, the Peucetii see our city undefended and attack, then we can always—”

Eumachus looked at Dexithemas, who understood his meaning and sighed: “Call on our ally Daonia for help.”

Despite Lysias’s vigorous defense of Myron, the Assembly still passed the sentence: “Myron is exiled and forbidden to return for ten years.”