Alcmenes

For others with this name, see Alcamenes (disambiguation).

Alcmenes (Greek: Ἀλκμένης) or Alcamenes, Alkamenos, was the king of Sparta, of the Agiad dynasty, from c. 740 to c. 700 BC. [1]

According to Pausanias, he was a commander in the night-expedition against Ampheia, which began the First Messenian War, but died before its 4th year. In his reign Helos was taken, a place near the mouth of the Eurotas, the last independent hold most likely of the old Achaean population, and the supposed origin of the term "helot".[2][3][4]

He succeeded his father Teleclus and was succeeded by his son Polydorus.

References

  1. ^ Clough, Arthur Hugh (1867). "Alcamenes". In William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 96. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0105.html. 
  2. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece iii. 2. § 7, iv. 4. § 3, 5. § 3
  3. ^ Herodotus, vii. 204
  4. ^ Plutarch, Apophth. Lac.
Preceded by
Teleclus		 Agiad King of Sparta
c. 740 BC-c. 700 BC		 Succeeded by
Polydorus