Pausanias of Sparta
Encyclopedia
Pausanias King of Sparta
from 409 BC
. He was in frequent conflict with the Ephors. Aristotle said that he tried to overthrow them. Army leader Lysander
sent a letter to him, requesting help against Thebes, but it was intercepted. In 395
, Pausanias failed to join forces with Lysander, and for this was condemned to death and replaced as king by his son Agesipolis I
.
Pausanias escaped execution and left Sparta
to live in exile in Tegea
. He wrote his book in Tegea. No fragments of the book survived and its contents or purposes are very uncertain.
Pausanias is one of the first three writers to make an appearance in Sparta apart from poets at the very start of the 4th century BC. Lysander was also one of these three writers. Scholars are certain that he and Pausanias knew each other and attempted to communicate via letters.
After the Peloponnesian War Pausanias helped restore democracy in Athens.
He was also the father of Cleombrotus I
.
Kings of Sparta
Sparta was an important Greek city-state in the Peloponnesus. It was unusual among Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it had two kings simultaneously, coming from two separate lines...
from 409 BC
409 BC
Year 409 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cossus and Medullinus...
. He was in frequent conflict with the Ephors. Aristotle said that he tried to overthrow them. Army leader Lysander
Lysander
Lysander was a Spartan general who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC...
sent a letter to him, requesting help against Thebes, but it was intercepted. In 395
395 BC
Year 395 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Cossus, Medullinus, Scipio, Fidenas, Ambustus and Lactucinus...
, Pausanias failed to join forces with Lysander, and for this was condemned to death and replaced as king by his son Agesipolis I
Agesipolis I
Agesipolis I was the twenty-first of the kings of the Agiad dynasty in ancient Sparta.Agesipolis succeeded his father Pausanias, while still a minor, in 394 BC, and reigned fourteen years. Upon the death of Pausanias, Agesipolis and his brother, Cleombrotus I, were both placed under the...
.
Pausanias escaped execution and left Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
to live in exile in Tegea
Tegea
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat was the village Stadio....
. He wrote his book in Tegea. No fragments of the book survived and its contents or purposes are very uncertain.
Pausanias is one of the first three writers to make an appearance in Sparta apart from poets at the very start of the 4th century BC. Lysander was also one of these three writers. Scholars are certain that he and Pausanias knew each other and attempted to communicate via letters.
After the Peloponnesian War Pausanias helped restore democracy in Athens.
He was also the father of Cleombrotus I
Cleombrotus I
Cleombrotus I was a Spartan king of the Agiad line, reigning from 380 BC until 371 BC. Little is known of Cleombrotus' early life. Son of Pausanias, he became king of Sparta after the death of his brother Agesipolis I in 380 BC, and led the allied Spartan-Peloponnesian army against the Thebans...
.