Leonidas

Family: Sparta · Role: king · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 9

Leonidas, son of Anaxandrides and Cleonymus, was the brother of Dorieus and Cleombrotus, and half-brother of Cleomenes. When Cleomenes died without male children, the kingdom passed to Leonidas. In his reign, Xerxes’s forces circled the Greek flank under Hydarnes and defeated him at Thermopylæ, passing into Greece over his dead body. Maro and Alpheus, who fought there, were reckoned the most valiant after Leonidas.

After the young Areus died, Leonidas became king again as the family’s only surviving male. Lysander and his son-in-law Cleombrotus brought charges against him, and Cleombrotus took the throne. Leonidas went into exile in Arcadia, but the Spartans later recalled him and made him king for a second time. His sons included Cleomenes and Epiclidas, who was killed in battle; Plistarchus was also his son, and Pausanias served as regent for him during his minority. Forty years after Leonidas’s death, Pausanias removed his remains from Thermopylæ.