Editing Eurysthenes (section)

==Dates of the reigns of the first ten kings of the Agiad line==
The untimely death of Aristodemus with other events has served as some basis for dating the reigns of the first ten kings of Sparta in the line known by state definition as the Agiad. The [[Return of the Heracleidae]], which is the closest event to a [[Dorian Invasion]] available in legend, must coincide with the entry of Aristodemus and his brethren into [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], which, based on the chronology of [[Eratosthenes]], happened 328 years before the generally accepted date of the first year of the first [[Olympiad]], 776 BC. Eratosthenes' date is therefore 1104 BC.<ref>{{cite book | first=Carl W. | last=Blegen | title=Troy and Trojans | location=New York | publisher=Barnes & Noble | year=1995 | orig-year=1966 | page=162}}</ref> This must be the year of Aristodemus' military activity in Arcadia, his fatherhood and his assassination. Eurysthenes was therefore born in 1104 BC, which was the first year of his reign, if the regency of Theras is discounted.

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that the end of the [[First Messenian War]] was the first year of the 14th Olympiad.<ref>''Guide to Greece'', 4.13.7.</ref> The date must have been 724/723 BC if the first year of the first Olympiad was 776/775 BC. Kings [[Polydorus]] of the Agiads and [[Theopompus]] of the Eurypontids were reigning at that time, roughly in mid-reign. The end of the war must be 379 years from the return of the Heraclids.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Newton['s] revised history of ancient kingdoms: a complete chronology | first=Isaac | last=Newton | editor-first=Larry | editor-last=Pierce | editor2-first=Marion | editor2-last=Pierce | location=Green Forest, Ark. | publisher=Master Books | year=2008 | orig-year=1782 | pages=25–26}}</ref> According to [[Isaac Newton]], also a classical scholar, the ten kings reigned an average of 38 years each, which can be used as an estimator of the dates. Eurysthenes would have ruled in 1104–1066 BC, with an unknown margin of error, as much of the data is relatively uncertain.