Cleomenes III

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Cleomenes III was the son of Leonidas II. In keeping with the Spartan agoge and the native pederastic tradition he was the hearer (aites) of Xenares and later the inspirer (eispnelos) of Panteus.^[1] He became King of Sparta in 235 BC.

He continued the reforms of Agis IV. Less squeamish than his predecessor, in 227 BC the opposition in Sparta were removed in a coup - four of the five ephors were killed and eighty opponents were exiled. He deposed (allegedly murdered, according to Polybius) his colleague Archidamus V and installed his brother Eucleidas as co-ruler. The Achaean general Aratus was checked in a series of rapid and bold campaigns. The land was redistributed into 4,000 lots and perioikoi and hypomeinones were allowed to participate. The army was reorganized on the Macedonian model and a small subsidy from Ptolemy III Euergetes was paid.

This social revolution provided Cleomenes with both the means to restore Spartan greatness, a general support in the rest of the Peloponnese and the reason for its eventual failure. A united Peloponnese under a reformed and revitalised Sparta could have been a power in the Hellenistic world and a challenge to Macedonia.

In 226 BC the new army continued to have success. Most of Arcadia, Corinth, Argos and the Argolid succumbed to him or joined him and the Achaeans were routed at the Battle of Dyme. The Achaeans under Aratus who had once cleared the Peloponnese of the Macedonians now appealed to Antigonus III Doson, king of Macedon, with Corinth as the price. Ptolemy III Euergetes now stood aside and stopped the subsidy, and Sparta stood alone. Inevitable it may have been but a Macedonian victory would not be simple. In 224 BC Cleomenes fortified the isthmus but his position was turned with the defection of Argos. Much of Arcadia was lost in 223 but Megalopolis was destroyed by Cleomenes. Short of money and men Cleomenes sold 6,000 helots their freedom and hired more mercenaries.

For his last campaign in 222 BC he faced 28,000 Macedonians with 10,000 Spartans at the Battle of Sellasia on the road to Tegea, but despite a well chosen position and skillful handling the Spartans were overwhelmed. Plutarch says that of the 6,000 Lacedaemonians present only 200 survived.

Cleomenes was deposed and was killed in exile in Egypt in 219 BC.

Preceded by: Leonidas II	Agiad King of Sparta 235–222 BC	Succeeded by: Agesipolis III

The Works of Plutarch
The Works	Parallel Lives \| The Moralia \| Pseudo-Plutarch
The Lives	Alcibiades and Coriolanus¹ • Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar • Aratus of Sicyon & Artaxerxes and Galba & Otho² • Aristides and Cato the Elder¹ Crassus and Nicias¹ • Demetrius and Antony¹ • Demosthenes and Cicero¹ • Dion and Brutus¹ • Fabius and Pericles¹ • Lucullus and Cimon¹ Lysander and Sulla¹ • Numa and Lycurgus¹ • Pelopidas and Marcellus¹ • Philopoemen and Flamininus¹ • Phocion and Cato the Younger Pompey and Agesilaus¹ • Poplicola and Solon¹ • Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius • Romulus and Theseus¹ • Sertorius and Eumenes¹ Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus and Agis & Cleomenes¹ • Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus¹ • Themistocles and Camillus
The Translators	John Dryden \| Thomas North \| Jacques Amyot \| Philemon Holland \| Arthur Hugh Clough
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