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Sparta was an important Greek city-state in the Peloponnesus. It was unique among Greek city-states in that it maintained its Kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it had two kings simultaneously, coming from two separate lines. According to tradition, the two lines (the Agiads and Eurypontids) descended from the twins Eurysthenes (the Agiads) and Procles the descendants of Heracles who supposedly conquered Sparta two generations after the Trojan War. Although there are lists of the earlier purported Kings of Sparta, there is little evidence for the existence of any kings before the mid 6th Century BC or so Death of a Spartan King according to Herodotus (Book 6 ) Such are the honours which the Spartan people have allowed their kings during their lifetime; after they are dead other honours await them. Horsemen carry the news of their death through all Laconia, while in the city the women go hither and thither drumming upon a kettle. At this signal, in every house two free persons, a man and a woman, must put on mourning, or else be subject to a heavy fine. The Lacedaemonians have likewise a custom at the demise of their kings which is common to them with the barbarians of Asia—indeed with the greater number of the barbarians everywhere—namely, that when one of their kings dies, not only the Spartans, but a certain number of the country people from every part of Laconia are forced, whether they will or no, to attend the funeral. So these persons and the helots, and likewise the Spartans themselves, flock together to the number of several thousands, men and women intermingled; and all of them smite their foreheads violently, and weep and wall without stint, saying always that their last king was the best. If a king dies in battle, then they make a statue of him, and placing it upon a couch right bravely decked, so carry it to the grave. After the burial, by the space of ten days there is no assembly, nor do they elect magistrates, but continue mourning the whole time.
The two kings were priests of Zeus Lacedaemon and Zeus Ouranios ("Zeus the Sky"). Agiad Kings Eurysthenes ? - c.930 BC Eurypontid Kings Procles * Herodotus and Pausanias disagree on the reign order of Eunomus and Polydectes After Sellasia Following Cleomenes III's defeat at the Battle of Sellasia by Antigonus III Doson of Macedon and the Achaean League, the Spartan system began to break down. Sparta was a republic from 221 to 219 BC.
Agesipolis III (Agiad) 219 - 215 BC - the last Agiad King of Sparta. The Achaean League annexed Sparta in 192 BC. Livius, Eurypontids and Agiads by Jona Lendering
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