Leotychides

Family: Spartan · Role: king · First appears: Book 6 · §58–65

Leotychides was betrothed to Percalos, but Demaratos took her and married her, depriving Leotychides of the marriage. With Cleomenes’s support, he challenged Demaratos’s right to rule, claiming he was not Ariston’s son; after Demaratos was deposed, Leotychides succeeded him as king. He later sent an attendant to mock and insult Demaratos about holding public office after being king.

Zeuxidemos, Leotychides’s son, died before him, leaving a son, Archidemos. After Zeuxidemos’s death, Leotychides married Eurydame, and they had a daughter, Lampito, but no male issue; he gave Lampito in marriage to Archidemos. While campaigning in Thessaly, he accepted a large bribe, was caught, tried, and banished from Sparta. His house was razed, and he died in exile at Tegea. At the Hellespont, he resolved that the Peloponnesians should sail back to Hellas.