10 Facts About Agesipolis I

Agesipolis I was the twenty-first of the kings of the Agiad dynasty in ancient Sparta.

Agesipolis I came to the crown just about the time that the confederacy, which was formed by Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, against Sparta, rendering it necessary to recall his colleague, Agesilaus II, from Asia; and the first military operation of his reign was the expedition to Corinth, where the forces of the confederates were assembled.

In 390 Agesipolis I, who had now come of age, was entrusted with the command of an army for the invasion of Argolis.

In 385 the Spartans, seizing upon some frivolous pretexts, sent an expedition against Mantineia, in which Agesipolis I undertook the command, after it had been declined by Agesilaus.

Agesipolis I took the town by diverting the river Ophis, so as to put the low ground at the foot of the city walls under water.

Agesipolis I set out in 381, but did not begin operations until the spring of 380.

Agesipolis I then acted with great vigor, and took Toroni by storm; but in the midst of his successes he was seized with a fever, which carried him off in seven days.

Agesipolis I died in the town of Aphytis, in the peninsula of Pallene.

Agesipolis I's body was immersed in honey and conveyed home to Sparta for burial.

Agesipolis I was succeeded as king by his brother Cleombrotus I Paul Cartledge suggests that Agesilaus' grief was partly due to the loss of a malleable "partner in crime".