The Agiad dynasty ( Ancient Greek : Ἀγιάδαι , Agiádai ) was one of the two royal families of the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta . They ruled jointly along with the Eurypontid dynasty , possibly from the 8th century BC onwards, being the senior of the two houses. The hypothetical founder of the dynasty was Agis I , possibly the first king of Sparta at the end of the 10th century BC, who subsequently gave his name to the dynasty. The two lines, who maintained an enduring rivalry, were, according to tradition, respectively descended from the twins Eurysthenes and Procles , both descendants of Heracles . The most famous member of the Agiad dynasty was Leonidas I , known for his heroic death at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The last Agiad king was Agesipolis III , deposed by the Eurypontid Lycurgus in 215 BC.
15-553: In order to explain the peculiarity of the Spartan two kings, the Spartans elaborated a legend saying that Aristodemos —the first king of Sparta—had twins, Eurysthenes and Prokles . Since the Spartans did not know who was born first, they opted for a diarchy , a college of two kings with the same power; Eurysthenes being the first Agiad, Prokles the first Eurypontid. Modern scholars consider instead Agis I and Eurypon to be
30-625: Is a town in the suburbs of Patras and a former municipality in Achaea , West Greece , Greece . Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Patras , of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 98.983 km . The municipal unit had a population of 14,219 in 2021. The campus of the University of Patras and the Casino Rio is located in Rio. Rion
45-462: Is also known as Agios Georgios Riou . This is where the Rio railway station, on the line from Patras to Corinth, is located. The quarter Kastellokampos lies to the southwest of the centre. The ferry terminals, with services to Antirrio , are in the north, on both sides of the Rio–Antirrio bridge. There is a large fortress with bastions next to the bridge. The campus of the University of Patras and
60-674: Is the northernmost municipal unit of the Peloponnese peninsula. It stretches along the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Patras , about 7 km northeast of Patras city centre. The nearby Strait of Rio, crossed by the Rio–Antirrio bridge , separates the Gulf of Patras from the Gulf of Corinth to the east. The town is dominated by the Panachaiko mountain to the southeast. The town centre
75-443: The oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them; the oracle had told Hyllas to attack through the narrow passage when the third fruit was ripe. They received the answer that by the "third fruit" the "third generation" was meant, and that the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus of Corinth , but the straits of Rhium . They accordingly built a fleet at Naupactus , but before they set sail, Aristodemus
90-685: The oracle of Delphi , they destroyed and conquered Aigys , in the northwest of Sparta. The connection of the Spartan kings with Heracles likely dates of the same period, which also witnessed the construction of the Menelaion , a heroon to Menelaus . The genealogies given by the Greek writers Herodotus and Pausanias remain highly suspect before the 5th century, as it is not conceivably believable to have 16 direct successions (from father to son) from Eurystenes and Prokles. A lot of successions must have been collateral, especially when considering that of
105-459: The 26 successions that took place after 491, only 14 were from father to son. Moreover, ancient chronologies produce an average length of 40 years per reign, which is far too long and a consequence of the descent from Herakles myth. Paul Cartledge suggest an average length of 30 years per generation, thus giving a regnal date of c. 930–900 for Agis I, founder of the Agiads. These dates relate well with
120-495: The archaeological evidence. Spartan kings are shown in bold , all dates BC. Aristodemus In Greek mythology , Aristodemus ( Ancient Greek : Ἀριστόδημος) was one of the Heracleidae , son of Aristomachus and brother of Cresphontes and Temenus . He was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in the Peloponnese . Aristodemus and his brothers complained to
135-557: The founders of each dynasty, as they give their name to their descendants, not the mythical twins. The two dynasties were however not related until the Hellenistic era and the Eurypontids reached royal status much later than the Agiads. As a result, in order to balance the two royal lines, several names were inserted in the list of Eurypontid kings, such as Soos (meaning "stability"), Prytanis and Eunomos (said to have ruled at
150-599: The hospital lie in the southeast, across the Greek National Road 8A . There are sandy beaches along the coast, and a port north of town centre. The municipal unit Rio is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): The name Rio (and its older form Rhion ) derives from the Greek ῥίον ( rhion ), generally meaning "jutting part", perhaps from ῥίς ( rhis ), meaning "nose", but also "spur of land". The earliest attested form of
165-419: The same time as Lycurgus ). Thus, while the Agiads might have ruled from the end of the 10th century, the Eurypontids only received the kingship in the beginning of the 8th century at the earliest. It is probable that the two dynasties came to rule jointly under the kings Archelaus (Agiad) and Charilaus (Eurypontid) in the 8th century, as a result of the synoecism that created the polis of Sparta. The city
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#1732764796668180-498: The terminus of National Road 8 (Old National Road Athens-Corinth-Patras). The town is served by urban transport buses with lines 6 and 9 and the Patras Suburban Railway, via the "Rio" stop & the " Kastellokampos - University/Hospital" bus line . Rio Railway Station , opened as a station in 1887 and since 2010 served by the local trains to Agios Andreas and Patras by Suburban Railway of Patras . Rio Station
195-568: The word is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀪𐀍 , ri-jo , written in Linear B syllabic script. The site of Rio has been a strategic point since antiquity. Early 19th century, there stood an old Turkish castle (the " Castle of the Morea ") at the cape, with a small settlement outside its walls. The mayors of the municipality were: Highway 8 (Elefsina - Rio) passes through from Rio. It is also
210-555: Was composed of five villages ( Pitana , Mesoa , Limnai , Kynosoura , Amyklai ), the latter of which merged with the other four after the initial synoecism. The Agiads had their burial ground located in Pitana, while the Eurypontids were in Limnai, which suggest that the dual monarchy was created when the four villages merged. Archelaus and Charilaus are the first kings of Sparta that are considered together in ancient sources: following
225-588: Was struck by lightning (or shot by Apollo ) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer. His brothers were later able to conquer the Peloponnese. By his wife Argia , daughter of King Autesion of Thebes , he was the father of twin kings Eurysthenes and Procles , the ancestors of the two royal houses of Sparta . Rhium Rio ( Greek : Ρίο , Río , formerly Ῥίον , Rhíon ; Latin : Rhium )
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