The Pride of Sparta

Abstract

After control of the mainland Greeks passed into Macedonian hands in 338, Sparta stayed aloof from the League of Corinth and the organizational structures put in place to keep the Greeks in order. This stance was prompted by the Spartans’ awareness of their proud history, but the reality was that Sparta was no longer as strong as it had been, and indeed was suffering from a severe decline in the number of its citizens, and therefore in the size of its army. After an armed rebellion led by their king Agis III in 330 was put down, Sparta took a back seat in international affairs, until its pride was somewhat revived in the 290s and 280s by the maverick Cleonymus, a member of one of the two Spartan royal families. Cleonymus allied himself with Pyrrhus of Epirus for an attempt to take Sparta for himself, but died in the process. By then the anti-Macedonian faction in Sparta had gained the upper hand, as in Areus I’s expedition against the Aetolians, Macedonian allies at the time, in 281. When Antigonus gained the Macedonian throne in the 270s, he knew he could expect trouble in the Peloponnese from the Spartans.