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Biographies: Cleomenes III of Sparta
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Cleomenes III of Sparta was the most energetic king in Spartan history. Following in the footsteps of his father’s co-king Agis IV, Cleomenes sought to reform the Spartan state and make it a superpower once again.
Cleomenes’ birth date is debated. Due to the obscurity of Spartan records the exact date of birth for Cleomenes III is unknown; it is generally believed to be somewhere around 260 B.C. His father was Leonidas II and his mother is unknown. Cleomenes’ beliefs were shaped early on by his tutor, Sphaerus, who was a believer in the utopian system. Sometime later, but before Cleomenes came to the throne his father had him marry the widow of Agis IV (her name is unrecorded), who had a big part in shaping the future actions of Cleomenes III.
Cleomenes came to the throne with the intention to reform from the start. In 235 B.C. Leonidas II died and Cleomenes became King Cleomenes III along with Archidamus V. Remembering that Agis IV had been assassinated for his reforms Cleomenes knew he had to get popular first and start slow. In 229 B.C. Cleomenes led Sparta to war against the powerful Achaean League and its Strategos, Aratus of Sicyon. By 227 the Achaeans were on the run as Cleomenes soundly defeated them at Mt. Lycaeum and Ladoceia (near Megalopolis). Knowing that with his popularity high that the time was right Cleomenes launched a coup, killing four out of the five ephors, disbanded the Assembly, and replaced Archidamus V with his (Cleomenes’) brother Eucleidas as co-king. It is supposed that Cleomenes III also at this time introduced the patronomoi (board of six elders). With the biggest threat to his reforms out of the way Cleomenes reinstated some of the old ways of classical Sparta (such as the training of youth) as well as the Lygurcan Constitution (a set of laws that among other things gave every citizen a kleros or lot big enough to support their family and equal wealth) and cancelled all of the debts in the land. Next Cleomenes decided to redistribute all of the land in Sparta into 4,000 lots, and made it so that everyone even those normally excluded (such as the perioikoi or free men with out citizenship and hypomeinones) could own a lot. The news of these social reforms spread quickly and all over the Peloponnese citizens began to demand the exact same thing from their own cities. This worried Aratus and the other League members because the people could very well rise up and join the Spartans. In 226 Cleomenes marched out of Sparta for the new campaign season with an army reformed along the Macedonian model.
Now with a reformed Spartan society and reformed army Cleomenes prepared to take Greece by storm. Soon after marching out the cities of Arcadia, Corinth, and Mantineia all fell to Cleomenes and his army and Aratus was defeated in battle at Hecatombaeum near Dyme. These victories earned Cleomenes so much fame that Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt began to pay him an annual subsidy. Meanwhile Aratus and the remaining members of the Achaean League began to plan on how to do away with Cleomenes when news reached them that Pellene, Phlius, Argos and others had fallen. Confronted with this news they appealed to their former enemy Antiogonus III Doson of Macedon for aid. Meanwhile the cities of the Peloponnese were learning that Cleomenes did not intend to spread his social revolution beyond Sparta, and that he was only interested in reviving Spartan power. In 224 B.C. Aratus finally convinced Antiogonus to come; he launched an attack on the fortified Isthmus of Corinth and was repulsed by Cleomenes. When news of the beginning of a war between Sparta and Macedon reached Egypt Ptolemy III stopped paying the subsidy and abandoned Cleomenes. Soon afterwards Argos rose in revolt and thus created a hole for the Achaean League forces and the Macedonians to get through. In 223 B.C. Arcadia fell to the Macedonians, in response Cleomenes destroyed the city of Megalopolis. Realizing that the destruction wouldn’t buy him much time Cleomenes sold 6,000 serfs their freedom and used the money to buy mercenaries to boost his forces. In 222 B.C. Antiogonus confronted Cleomenes in battle at Sellasia on the road to Tegea. Here at Sellasia Antiogonus had more troops but Cleomenes had the better position. Despite this and a skillful handing of formations Cleomenes lost to Antiogonus. Shortly thereafter Antiogonus entered Sparta and deposed Cleomenes III, then he repelled all of the social reforms, which was considered more dangerous then Cleomenes himself.
Now in exile Cleomenes III wandered before coming to an old friend. In 221 B.C. after wandering around the Mediterranean for a few months Cleomenes came to Egypt were he was welcomed by Ptolemy III and was well treated by him. But later that year Ptolemy died and his son Ptolemy IV Philopator came to the throne. Ptolemy IV was distrustful of Cleomenes and had him imprisoned in 220 B.C. In 219 Cleomenes, tired of prison tried to orchestra a revolt against Ptolemy, this failed and Cleomenes III, rather then be executed, committed suicide. So died Cleomenes III, the great reformer king of Sparta at the age of 41.
Cleomenes III left a mark on Greece, but not the mark he wanted. The most lasting legacy of Cleomenes was not his conquests nor his army but his social reforms. It was the perceived danger of the social reforms of Cleomenes III (citizenship for all, equal wealth and land for all) that scared Aratus and mobilized Antiogonus III. Interestingly enough Marx cites the system devised by the Lygurcan Constitution, Agis IV, and Cleomenes III as amongst his inspirations for Communism. |
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