Agesilaus II, or Agesilaos II () ( 444 BC – 360 BC ) was a king of Sparta, of the Eurypontid dynasty, ruling from approximately 400 BC to 360 BC, during most of which time he was, in Plutarch's words, " as good as thought commander and king of all Greece ," and was for the whole of it greatly identified with his country's deeds and fortunes.

Therefore, Agesilaus was trained in the traditional curriculum of Sparta, the agoge.

But Leotychidas was ultimately set aside as illegitimate, contemporary rumors representing him as the son of Alcibiades, and Agesilaus became king around 401 BC, at the age of about forty.

In addition to questions of his nephew's paternity, Agesilaus ' succession was largely due to the intervention of his Spartan general, Lysander, who hoped to find in him a willing tool for the furtherance of his political designs.

Lysander and the young Agesilaus came to maintain an intimate relation ( see Pederasty in Ancient Greece ), as was common of the period.

On his arrival at Ephesus a three months ' truce was concluded with Tissaphernes, the satrap of Lydia and Caria, but negotiations conducted during that time proved fruitless, and on its termination Agesilaus raided Phrygia, where he easily won immense booty from the satrap Pharnabazus ; Tissaphernes could offer no assistance, as he had concentrated his troops in Caria.

An armistice was concluded between Tithraustes and Agesilaus, who left the southern satrapy and again invaded Phrygia, which he ravaged until the following spring.

Agesilaus, the former passive lover of Lysander, would have nothing of this, and reminded Lysander ( who was only a Spartan general ) who was king.

The Battle of Mantinea, in which Agesilaus took no part, was followed by a general peace: Sparta, however, stood aloof, hoping even yet to recover her supremacy.

Agesilaus was of small stature and unimpressive appearance, and was lame from birth.

The ancient historian Xenophon was a huge admirer and served under Agesilaus during the campaigns into Asia Minor.

Xenophon was later exiled from Athens, most likely because he fought under the Spartan king Agesilaus II against Athens at Coronea.

Though he spent much of his life in Athens, Xenophon's involvement in Spartan politics ( he was a close associate of King Agesilaus II ) has led to him being closely associated with the city.

He was able to persuade the Spartans to select Agesilaus II as the new Eurypontid Spartan king following the death of Agis II.

Following his death, an abortive scheme by Lysander to increase his power by making the Spartan kingships collective and that the Spartan king should not automatically be given the leadership of the army, was " discovered " by Agesilaus II.

The Spartan king Agesilaus II argues against punishing Phoebidas, on the grounds that his actions had benefited Sparta, and this was the only standard against which he ought to be judged.

Tissaphernes, who once again had recourse to subtle diplomacy, was beaten by Agesilaus II on the Pactolus near Sardis in 395 BC ; and at last the king yielded to the representations of Pharnabazus, strongly supported by the chiliarch ( vizier ) Tithraustes and by the queen-mother Parysatis, who hated Tissaphernes as the principal cause of the death of her favourite son Cyrus.

Another army under Agesilaus II was then dispatched to attack the Thebans.

Agesilaus II was one of the two kings of Sparta during Sparta ’ s hegemony.

Plutarch later wrote that Agesilaus was a king of the traditional Spartan ideals, often seen wearing his traditional cloak which was threadbare.

* Archelaus of Sparta, son of Agesilaus I ( died 886 BC )

* Archidamus III, son of Agesilaus II of Sparta, commands a Spartan army which scores a victory over the Arcadians.

His other son was Agesilaus II.

As the old King Agesilaus was still ill, his son, the Prince Archidamus III, was immediately put in the command of two morai.

Archidamus III ( Ancient Greek: Αρχίδαμος ), the son of Agesilaus II, was king of Sparta from 360 BC to 338 BC.

Following Agesilaus ’ death in 360 BC, Archidamus III became king and practiced a policy of non-conflict between Athens and the Second Naval Confederacy ( 357-355 BC ) Between 355 and 346 BC, they allied with Athens against Thebes and the Amphictyonic Council effectively pulling Theban attention away from the Peloponnese.

Agesilaus explicitly forced them to join the new expedition under Archidamus.

According to Xenophon, Agesilaus, in order to gain money for prosecuting the war, supported the satrap Ariobarzanes II in his revolt against Artaxerxes II in 364 BC ( Revolt of the Satraps ), and in 361 BC he went to Egypt at the head of a mercenary force to aid the king Nectanebo I and his regent Teos against Persia.

la: Agesilaus II ( rex Spartae )

His date of death is uncertain ; historians only know that he survived his patron Agesilaus II, for whom he wrote an encomium.

The Athenian mercenary commander Chabrias successfully faced off the larger army of Agesilaus II near Thebes.

* Agesilaus II – king

Hoping to restore the juntas of oligarchic partisans that he had put in place after the defeat of the Athenians in 404 BC, Lysander arranged for Agesilaus II, the Eurypontid Spartan king, to take command of the Greeks against Persia in 396 BC.

However, Agesilaus II had become resentful of Lysander's power and influence.

So Agesilaus II frustrated the plans of his former mentor and left Lysander in command of the troops in the Hellespont, far from Sparta and mainland Greece.

The Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos ( with the backing of the Achaemenid Empire ) and ordered Agesilaus II to return to Greece.

* King Agesilaus II

* Agesilaus II becomes king of Sparta on the death of his stepbrother Agis II.

* Agesilaus II, the King of Sparta, campaigns successfully in Asia Minor against the Persian satraps Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes and inflicts a major defeat on Tissaphernes at Sardis.

However, he is unsuccessful in achieving these reforms, and earns the disfavour of King Agesilaus II of Sparta.

* Called on by the Ionians to assist them against the Persian King Artaxerxes II, King Agesilaus II of Sparta launches an ambitious campaign in Asia Minor.