Pausanias Analysis

Passage 1.13.5

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Passage 1.13.5: Spartan succession dispute between Areus and Cleonymus (Cleonymus invited Pyrrhus).

Historical Skeptical

Greek Text

Κλεομένει δὲ παῖδες γίνονται πρεσβύτερος μὲν Ἀκρότατος, νεώτερος δὲ Κλεώνυμος. Ἀκρότατον μὲν οὖν πρότερον κατέλαβεν ἡ τελευτή· Κλεομένους δὲ ἀποθανόντος ὕστερον ἐς ἀμφισβήτησιν κατέστη περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς Ἀρεὺς ὁ Ἀκροτάτου, καὶ Κλεώνυμος ὅτῳ δὴ τρόπῳ μετελθὼν ἐπάγει Πύρρον ἐς τὴν χώραν. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ πρὸ μὲν τοῦ ἐν Λεύκτροις οὐδὲν ἐγεγόνει πταῖσμα, ὥστε οὐδὲ συνεχώρουν ἀγῶνί πω κεκρατῆσθαι πεζῷ· Λεωνίδᾳ μὲν γὰρ νικῶντι οὐκ ἔφασαν τοὺς ἑπομένους ἐς τελέαν ἐξαρκέσαι φθορὰν τῶν Μήδων, τὸ δὲ Ἀθηναίων καὶ Δημοσθένους ἔργον πρὸς τῇ νήσῳ Σφακτηρίᾳ κλοπὴν εἶναι πολέμου καὶ οὐ νίκην.

English Translation

Cleomenes had two sons, the elder named Acrotatus, the younger Cleonymus. Acrotatus died first, and after Cleomenes himself passed away, a dispute arose over the kingship between Areus, the son of Acrotatus, and Cleonymus, who attempted by various means and eventually brought Pyrrhus into the country. Before the battle at Leuctra, the Lacedaemonians had never faced defeat and did not even concede that their infantry had ever been bested in battle. They asserted that the companions of Leonidas, though victorious, were insufficient to bring about the complete destruction of the Medes, while the exploit of the Athenians and Demosthenes at the island of Sphacteria was merely a stratagem in war, not a genuine victory.

Proper Nouns

Demosthenes (Δημοσθένης) person Q504986
Cleomenes (Κλεομένης) person
Cleonymus (Κλεώνυμος) person
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Leonidas (Λεωνίδας) person
Medes (Μῆδοι) person
Pyrrhus (Πύρρος) person
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) person
Acrotatus (Ἀκρότατος) person
Areus (Ἀρεύς) person
Leuctra (Λεῦκτρα) place Q56761602
Sphacteria (Σφακτηρία) place Q1303524
← 1.13.4 1.13.6 →