Un regno di un solo anno? Anomalie nella tradizione su Agesipoli II

Abstract

A one-year reign? Inconsistencies in the tradition on Agesipolis II On the base of two passages from Diodorus Siculus (XV 60.4 and XX 29.1), scholars generally assume that Agesipolis II, the eldest son of the Spartan king Kleombrotos, reigned for only one year after his father’s death in the battle of Leuktra; when he died in 370 bc, the Agiad throne passed to his brother Kleomenes II, who kept it until 309/8. Yet, the three sayings attributed to Agesipolis son of Kleombrotos in Plutarch’s Apophthegmata laconica (215b) imply that he was still alive forty years after his alleged death, when he was handed over as a hostage to Antipater, the Macedonian regent, following the Spartan defeat at Megalopolis in 331/330. Since the Plutarchean collection of apophthegms is considered of limited value as historical evidence, this source is mostly disregarded. This paper, however, aims to demonstrate the substantial reliability of the tradition reflected in Agesipolis’ three sayings. His role as hostage, in particular, appears a consolidated biographical datum in Spartan memory. For this reason, a different and more likely scenario is here reconstructed: in 371 Agesipolis II, when ascended the throne, was still a child; this would explain his absence from the historiographical tradition during the sixties and fifties of the 4th century. Later, between the late 40s and early 30s, he was deposed, thus yielding the kingdom to his younger brother; lastly, after Megalopolis, Agesipolis was one of the fifty most remarkable Spartans sent as hostages to Antipater.