Editing Archidamus II (section)

==Rule==
Archidamus gained the Spartan throne after his grandfather,  Leotychidas, was banished around 469 or 468 BC after being accused of [[bribery]].

Archidamus was one of the kings of Sparta in the years preceding the [[Peloponnesian War]]. His coolness and presence of mind are said to have saved the Spartan state from destruction on the occasion of the great [[464 BC Sparta earthquake|earthquake of 464&nbsp;BC]], but this story must be regarded as at least doubtful.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Archidamus|display=Archidamus s.v. 2|volume=2|page=367|first=Marcus Niebuhr|last=Tod}}</ref>

In 446 BC he reached agreement with [[Pericles]] on the [[Thirty Years' Peace]] between [[Athens]] and [[Sparta]], bringing an end to the [[First Peloponnesian War]], which had been raging since {{nowrap|c. 460 BC.}} (with the possible exception of a 5-years peace established in 451 BC).

During the negotiations that preceded the [[Peloponnesian War]], he did his best to prevent, or at least to postpone, the inevitable struggle, but was overruled by the war party. He invaded [[Attica, Greece|Attica]] at the head of the Peloponnesian forces in the summers of 431 BC, 430 BC and&nbsp;428 BC, and in 429 BC [[Siege of Plataea|conducted operations]] against [[Plataea]]. He died probably in 427&nbsp;BC, certainly before the summer of 426&nbsp;BC, and was succeeded on the Spartan throne by his son, [[Agis&nbsp;II]].<ref name="EB1911"/>