Leotychides
Family: Eurypontidæ · Role: royal claimant · First appears: Book 3 · Chapter 4
In Book 3, Chapter 4, after Cleomenes returned from Ægina, he promoted Leotychides as a rival claimant against Demaratus, though Demaratus was deposed “not on just grounds.” Leotychides later went voluntarily into exile at Tegea to escape trial. His son Zeuxidamus had already died, and his grandson Archidamus succeeded him there.
In Chapter 8, Agis first questioned Leotychides’ legitimacy, then declared on his deathbed that he believed Leotychides was his son. After Agis died, Agesilaus drove Leotychides from the kingdom, citing Agis’ earlier words. Book 4, Chapter 15, records that Leotychides became king after Demaratus. At Mycale, he acted alongside Xanthippus against the Persian fleet.
Relationship record
Life events
- Cleomenes engineers Demaratus’s deposition and promotes Leotychides as a rival claimant.(Book 3 · Chapter 4 · 📍 Delphi)
- With: Cleomenes (son of Anaxandrides) Demaratus
- “Demaratus therefore was deposed from his kingdom by the hatred of Cleomenes and not on just grounds.”
- Leotychides went into exile, and his grandson Archidamus succeeded him after Zeuxidamus died.(Book 3 · Chapter 7 · 📍 Tegea)
- With: Zeuxidamus (son of Leotychides) Archidamus (grandson of Leotychides)
- “And being impeached at Lacedæmon he went voluntarily into exile to escape trial, and became a suppliant at Tegea at the temple of Alean Athene there, and as his son Zeuxidamus had previously died of some illness, his grandson Archidamus succeeded him, on his departure to Tegea.”
- Agis first questioned Leotychides’ legitimacy, then affirmed on his deathbed that Leotychides was his son.(Book 3 · Chapter 8)
- With: Agis (son of Archidamus)
- “He repented however of his speech afterwards, for when he was carried home sick from Arcadia and had got to Heræa, he solemnly declared before a multitude of witnesses that he did verily believe that Leotychides was his son”
- Agesilaus drove Leotychides from the kingdom after Agis died.(Book 3 · Chapter 8)
- With: Agesilaus
- “But after his death Agesilaus drove Leotychides from the kingdom, reminding the Lacedæmonians of Agis’ former speech”
- Leotychides became king after Demaratus.(Book 4 · Chapter 15 · 📍 Lacedæmon)
- Xanthippus and Leotychides destroyed the Persian fleet off Mycale.(Book 8 · Chapter 52 · 📍 Mycale)
- With: Xanthippus
- “Xanthippus the son of Ariphron, in conjunction with Leotychides king of Sparta, destroyed the Persian fleet off Mycale”
Book 3 · Chapter 4
- with Cleomenes (son of Anaxandrides) (interaction) “and also instigated Leotychides, one of the royal house and same family as Demaratus, to be a rival claimant for the kingdom.”
- rivals with Demaratus “and also instigated Leotychides, one of the royal house and same family as Demaratus, to be a rival claimant for the kingdom.”
Book 3 · Chapter 7
- with Xanthippus (They participated together in the action at Mycale.) “Leotychides, who became king in his place, shared with the Athenians and their General Xanthippus, the son of Ariphron, in the action at Mycale”
- child: Zeuxidamus (son of Leotychides) “as his son Zeuxidamus had previously died of some illness”
- younger kin: Archidamus (grandson of Leotychides) (Leotychides is explicitly identified as the grandfather of Archidamus.) “his grandson Archidamus succeeded him”
Book 3 · Chapter 8
- parent: Agis (son of Archidamus) “The hastiness of speech of Aristo about the legitimacy of his son Demaratus Agis also imitated in regard to his son Leotychides”
- rivals with Agesilaus “But after his death Agesilaus drove Leotychides from the kingdom, reminding the Lacedæmonians of Agis’ former speech”
Book 4 · Chapter 15
- with Demaratus (Leotychides succeeded Demaratus as king.) “And Leotychides clearly was king after Demaratus the son of Aristo”
Book 8 · Chapter 52
- with Xanthippus (They acted together in destroying the Persian fleet.) “And Xanthippus the son of Ariphron, in conjunction with Leotychides king of Sparta, destroyed the Persian fleet off Mycale”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.