Cleomenes II

King of Sparta (r. 370-c. 309 b. c.e.)

Born: Date unknown; Sparta, Greece Died: c. 309 b. c.e.; Sparta, Greece Category: Government and politics; military

Life A year before Cleomenes II (klee-AHM-uh-neez) ascended the throne in 370 b. c.e., the great city-state of Sparta was brutally defeated at the Battle of Leuctra in Boeotia. What was once the most feared of cities had been reduced to a seemingly benign town. Under Cleomenes II, Sparta did not try to expand so much as to defend the territory it still had.

In 362 b. c.e., Thebes threatened the peninsula. After some initial successes in relieving Sparta of some of its possessions, the Theban threat encouraged Spartans to form a new coalition with their neighbors to fight their common enemy. Sparta was defeated during the ensuing battle, but Theban armies lost their leader and, with him, the will to continue.

Significance Afterward, negotiations over the reunification of the peninsula continued. After years of arguing and contending for power, Sparta rejoined the Achaean League in 332 b. c.e. Cleomenes II reigned during a time of great trouble, and perhaps his greatest accomplishment was to have held the defeated city together and thus prepare it for a resurgence of power.

Further Reading

Boardman, John, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray, eds. The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Forrest, W. G. A History of Sparta, 950-192 B. C. 2d ed. London: Duckworth, 1980.

Grimal, Pierre. Hellenism and the Rise of Rome. New York: Delacorte Press, 1968.

Huxley, G. L. Early Sparta. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970.

Walbank, F. W. The Hellenistic World. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993.

Leslie A. Strieker

See also: Achaean League; Leuctra, Battle of.