The Old Spartan
War is a young man’s game, but like Jean Thurel, above, King Agesilaus II of Sparta (circa 442 – 358 BC) was an exception to the rule. A warrior to the literal end, he ended his days as a mercenary in Egypt, where he fought and led men into combat well into old age, in his eighties. Agesilaus was one of the longest-serving kings in Sparta’s history. Thanks to his friendship with the historian Xenophon, his reign is among the better documented ones from antiquity. He commanded his kingdom’s military throughout most of the period of Spartan supremacy in Greece from 404 to 370 BC. He was a great tactician, and embodied Sparta’s aggressive spirit. Too aggressive, as it turned out: his military skills were undermined by diplomatic deficiencies that ultimately proved harmful to Sparta.
Agesilaus was not a great monarch. Indeed, Sparta, once the ancient Greek world’s dominant power, went into terminal decline on his watch. However, whatever his shortcomings that contributed to that decline, lack of effort and energy were not among them. Agesilaus was born into the Eurypontid family, one of Sparta’s two royal lineages, circa 442 BC. He was the second son of King Archidamus II (reigned 477 – 426 BC), and the younger brother of King Agis II (reigned 426 – 400 BC). In the normal course of things, Agis II would have been succeeded by his son Leotychidas. Unfortunately for Leotychidas, he was considered to be a bastard: the biological son of the Athenian adventurer Alcibiades, who had spent time in Sparta as an exile, before he fled after he was caught in bed with Agis II’s wife.
