Agis IV

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Agis IV bigraphy, stories - King of Sparta

Agis IV : biography

Agis IV (Gr.: ‘, c. 265 BC – 241 BC), the elder son of Eudamidas II, was the 24th king of the Eurypontid dynasty of Sparta. Posterity has reckoned him an idealistic but impractical monarch.

Agis IV in Fiction

Agis is the main character in the book Krol Agis (King Agis) by the Polish writer Halina Rudnicka. He is also mentioned in the two following books by the same author Syn Heraklesa (Heracles’ son) and Heros w okowach (Hero in manackles). Moreover, he is the main character in the book Αγις (Agis) by the Greek writer Lili Mavrokefalou.

He also appears in the play Agis.

Succession

Agis succeeded his father as king in 245 BC, at around the age of 20, and reigned four years. In 243 BC, after the liberation of Corinth by Aratus, the general of the Achaean League, Agis led an army against him.Pausanias, Description of Greece ii. 8. § 4 The interest of his reign, however, is derived his reaction to the domestic crisis of Sparta at the time of his succession. Through the influx of wealth and luxury, with their concomitant vices, the Spartans had greatly degenerated from the ancient simplicity and severity of manners, and arrived at an extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth and property. Fewer than 700 families of the genuine Spartan stock (i.e. full citizenship) remained, and in consequence of the innovation introduced by Epitadeus, who procured a repeal of the law which secured to every Spartan head of a family an equal portion of land, the landed property had passed into the hands of very few individuals, so that fewer than 100 Spartan families held estates, while the poor were greatly burdened with debt.

Loss of support

Soon afterwards, however, Lysander’s term of office expired, and the ephors of the following year were opposed to Agis, and looked to restore Leonidas. They brought an accusation against Lysander and Mandrocleides, of attempting to violate the laws. Alarmed at the turn events were taking, these two convinced the king to take the unprecedented step of deposing the ephors by force and to appoint others in their stead. Leonidas, who had returned to the city, fled again, to Tegea, protected from Agis by Agesilaus, who persuaded Agis and Lysander that the most effective way to secure the consent of the wealthy to the distribution of their lands, would be to begin by cancelling the debts. Accordingly the debts were cancelled, and all bonds, registers, and securities were piled up in the market place and burned.

Agesilaus, having achieved his goal, contrived various pretexts for delaying the division of the lands. Meanwhile the Achaeans applied to Sparta for assistance against the Aetolians. Agis was accordingly sent at the head of an army. The cautious movements of Aratus gave Agis no opportunity to distinguish himself in battle, but he gained great credit by the excellent discipline he preserved among his troops. During his absence Agesilaus so angered the poorer classes by the continued postponement of the division of the lands, that they made no opposition when the enemies of Agis openly brought back Leonidas II and set him on the throne. Agis and Cleombrotus fled for sanctuary, the former to the temple of Athena Chalcioecus in Sparta, the latter to the temple of Poseidon (or Apollo) at Taenarum.

Reforms

Agis, who from his earliest youth had shown his attachment to the ancient discipline, undertook to reform these abuses, and re-establish the institutions of Lycurgus. To this end he proposed the abolition of all debts and a new partition of the lands. Another part of his plan was to give landed estates to the Perioeci. His schemes were warmly seconded by the poorer classes and the young men, and as strenuously opposed by the wealthy. He succeeded, however, in gaining over three very influential persons: his uncle Agesilaus (a man of large property, but who, being deeply involved in debt, hoped to profit by the innovations of Agis), Lysander (a descendant of the victor of Aegospotami) and Mandrocleides. Having arranged for Lysander to be elected one of the ephors, he laid his plans before the senate. He proposed that the Spartan territory should be divided into two portions, one to consist of 4500 equal lots, to be divided amongst the Spartans, whose ranks were to be filled up by the admission of the most respectable of the Perioeci and strangers; the other to contain 15,000 equal lots, to be divided amongst the remaining Perioeci.