Editing Eurysthenes

{{Short description|Mythical king of Sparta}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Eurysthenes
| title        = Basileus (king) of Sparta
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| reign        = {{circa}} 1104 – 1066 BC
| image_size   = 
| burial_place = <!-- <br /> {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| predecessor  = [[Aristodemus]]?
| successor    = [[Agis I]]
| queen        = Lathria
| issue        = 
| royal house  = [[Heracleidae|Heraclids]]
| dynasty      = 
| father       = [[Aristodemus]]
| mother       = [[Argia (mythology)|Argia]]
| religion     = 
}}
'''Eurysthenes''' ({{langx|el|Εὐρυσθένης}}, "widely ruling"<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|1830|loc=Section I.5.16}}.</ref>) was king of [[Sparta]] and one of the [[Heracleidae]] in [[Greek mythology]]. He was a son of [[Aristodemus]] and [[Argia (mythology)|Argia]], daughter of [[Autesion]]. He had a twin brother, [[Procles]]. Together they received the land of [[Lacedaemon]] after [[Cresphontes]], [[Temenus]] and [[Aristodemus]] defeated [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], the last Achaean king of the [[Peloponnesus]]. Eurysthenes married Lathria, daughter of [[Thersander]], King of Kleonae, sister of his sister-in-law Anaxandra, and was the father of his successor, [[Agis I]], founder of the [[Agiad dynasty]] of the Kings of Sparta.<ref name=smitheur>{{cite encyclopedia  | last = Clough  | first = Arthur Hugh  | author-link = Arthur Hugh Clough  | title = Eurysthenes  | editor = William Smith  | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer)  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | page = 113  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | location = Boston  | year = 1867  | url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1221.html  | url-status = usurped  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110912033741/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1221.html  | archive-date = 2011-09-12  }}</ref>

The title of ''archēgetēs'', "founding magistrate," was explicitly denied to Eurysthenes and Procles by the later Spartan government on the grounds that they were not founders of a state, but were maintained in their offices by parties of foreigners. Instead the honor was granted to their son and grandson, for which reason the two lines were called the Agiads and the Eurypontids.<ref>{{cite book | title=Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean | url=https://archive.org/details/mythterritoryspa00malk | url-access=limited | first=Irad | last=Malkin | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/mythterritoryspa00malk/page/n67 110]–111}}</ref>

==Legend of the double kingship==
The story of the double kingship of Sparta begins with the invasion of the Peloponnesus by the [[Dorians]], and the [[Aetolia]]n allies, under three Heraclid commanders, [[Temenus]], [[Cresphontes]] and [[Aristodemus]], the three sons of [[Aristomachus (Heracleidae)|Aristomachus]]. [[Karl Otfried Müller]] collected and evaluated the various fragments of the story from classical authors. According to Müller, the state of [[Ancient Elis|Elis]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], allies of the Aetolians, provided a guide ([[Oxylus]]) for passage through Arcadia after crossing the [[Gulf of Corinth]] from [[Naupactus]]. Arcadia gave them a central point from which to attack anywhere else in the Peloponnesus. Their presence was contested by a united Peloponnesian Achaean army (except for Arcadia) under [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], an Atreid. The Achaeans lost. They were commanded to evacuate to Athens, but many did not; furthermore, much of the region remained unconquered.<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|1830|loc=Sections I.3.9 through I.3.12}}</ref>

Nevertheless, the three commanders divided that which they did not yet possess, Peloponnesus. Following the signs of the gods, Aristodemus received Sparta. There is a question as to whether he ever was actually in possession there. One tradition says that he was and was therefore the first king of Sparta. A second asserts that he died before taking possession and that the Dorians brought his infant twin sons to Sparta as kings under a regent.<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|1830|loc=Section I.5.11}}</ref> Aristodemus was assassinated at Delphi by the Atreids. He had not even had time to designate a successor. The mother did not know which was the elder. The [[oracle at Delphi]] resolved the problem by suggesting that they both be made kings, which is the origin of the dual monarchy. Theras, Argeia's brother, was made regent. There was still a necessity of designating the elder. They chose the one the mother fed and cleaned first, Eurysthenes.<ref name=smitheur/>

==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.

==See also==
* [[List of kings of Sparta]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | title=The history and antiquities of the Doric race | first=Karl Otfried | last=Müller | translator1=George Cornewall Lewis| translator2= Henry Tufnell | location=London | publisher=J. Murray | year=1830 | volume=I}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Aristodemus]]?}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of kings of Sparta|King of Sparta]]|years=c. 1104 – c. 1066 B.C.}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Agis I]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Kings of Sparta}}

[[Category:Heracleidae]]
[[Category:Mythological kings of Sparta]]
[[Category:Agiad kings of Sparta]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:11th-century BC monarchs]]
[[Category:11th-century BC Greek people]]
[[Category:12th-century BC monarchs]]
[[Category:12th-century BC Greek people]]