Based on 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 in turn 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 la-conica (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 331/0. 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 as a consolidated biographical datum in Spartan memory. Therefore, a different and more likely scenario is here advanced: in 371, when he ascended the throne, Agesipolis II was still a child and this explains his absence from the historiographical tradition during the sixties and fifties of the 4th century; later, be-tween the late forties and early thirties, 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.

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

LUPI
2019

Abstract

Based on 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 in turn 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 la-conica (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 331/0. 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 as a consolidated biographical datum in Spartan memory. Therefore, a different and more likely scenario is here advanced: in 371, when he ascended the throne, Agesipolis II was still a child and this explains his absence from the historiographical tradition during the sixties and fifties of the 4th century; later, be-tween the late forties and early thirties, 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.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11591/396674
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