- Agis III
Agis III (Gr. polytonic|Ἄγις), son of
Archidamus III , was the 20thEurypontid king ofSparta . He succeeded his father in338 BC , on the very day of thebattle of Chaeronea . His reign was short, but eventful, coming as it did during a low period for Sparta, after it had lost significant borderlands toPhilip II of Macedon , father ofAlexander the Great .Citation | last = Bosworth | first = Albert Brian | author-link = | contribution = Agis III | editor-last = Hornblower | editor-first = Simon | title =Oxford Classical Dictionary | volume = | pages = | publisher =Oxford University Press | place = Oxford | year = 1996 | contribution-url = ] In 333 BC, we find him going with a singletrireme to the Persian commanders in the Aegean, Pharnabazus andAutophradates , to request money and armaments for carrying on hostile operations againstAlexander the Great in Greece.Citation | last = Mason | first = Charles Peter | author-link = | contribution = Agis (3) | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | volume = 1 | pages = 72-73 | publisher =Little, Brown and Company | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0081.html ]The news of the
battle of Issus in 333 BC, however, put a check upon their plans. He sent his brother Agesilaus (unrelated to the Spartan monarchs of the same name) with instructions to sail with them toCrete , that he might secure that island for the Spartan interest. In this he seems in a great measure to have succeeded. [http://www.livius.org/ag-ai/agis/agis_iii.html Agis III] from [http://www.livius.org Livius.Org] ]Two years afterwards (331 BC), the Greek states which were in league against Alexander seized the opportunity of the disaster of
Zopyrion and the revolt of the Thracians, to declare war againstMacedonia . Agis was invested with the command, and with theLacedaemon ian troops, and a body of 8000 Greek mercenaries, who had been present at the battle of Issus, gained a decisive victory in thePeloponnese over a Macedonian army underCoragus . Having been joined by the other forces of the league (Elis ,Achaea exceptPellene , andArcadia , although, fatefully,Athens declined) he laid siege to Megalopolis. The city held out untilAntipater came to its relief, when a battle ensued, in which Agis was defeated and killed, a good Spartan death, but one that left Sparta almost irretrievably weakened. This happened about the time of thebattle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. [Arrian , ii. 13] [Diodorus Siculus , xvi. 63, 68, xvii. 62] [Aesch. "c. Ctesiph." p. 77] [Curt. vi. 1] [Justin, xii. 1]References
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