Pleistarchus

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Pleistarchus
King of Sparta
Reign480 – 459 BC
PredecessorLeonidas I
SuccessorPleistoanax
Diedc. 458 BC
FatherLeonidas I[1]
MotherGorgo

Pleistarchus or Plistarch (Ancient Greek: Πλείσταρχος Pleistarkhos; died c. 458 BC) was the Agiad King of Sparta from 480 to 458 BC.[2]

Family[]

Pleistarchus was born as a prince, likely the only son of King Leonidas I and Queen Gorgo.

His grandparents were Kings Anaxandridas II and Cleomenes I.[3] He was born from an avunculate marriage – his parents were uncle and niece.[4]

His uncle Cleombrotus was his tutor.[5]

It is unknown whether Pleistarchus was married.

Biography[]

Pleistarchus' father King Leonidas perished in 480 BC at the Battle of Thermopylae. For the early part of Pleistarchus's reign, his uncle Cleombrotus acted as regent; after Cleombrotus's death in 479 BC, Pleistarchus's cousin Pausanias was regent.[6]

The successor of Pleistarchus was Pleistoanax, son of Pausanias.

Ancestry[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Pleistarchus 1.
  2. ^ Jona Lendering (2006-03-31). "Eurypontids and Agiads". Livius.org. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  3. ^ Herodotus; Histories, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  4. ^ "Gorgo of Sparta". Ancienthistory.about.com. 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  5. ^ Herodotus, The Greek-Persian War (Osiris, Budapest, 2000) ISBN 963-379-309-2
  6. ^ The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Leonidas I
Agiad King of Sparta
480 – 458 BC
Succeeded by
Pleistoanax
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