Cicero writes in De Natura Deorum that the Spartan ephors would sleep at the shrine of Pasiphaë, seeking prophetic dreams to aid them in governance.

According to Plutarch, Spartan society twice underwent major upheavals sparked by ephors ' dreams at the shrine during the Hellenistic era.

Nonetheless, in accord with Spartan tradition, he wished to transfer this fortune to the ephors at Sparta.

Every autumn, according to Plutarch ( Life of Lycurgus, 28, 3 – 7 ), the Spartan ephors would pro forma declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood or guilt ( crypteia ).

Subsequently appointed by the ephors to settle the political dissensions then rife at Byzantium and to protect the city and the neighbouring Greek colonies from Thracian attacks, he made himself tyrant of Byzantium, and, when declared an outlaw and driven thence by a Spartan force, he fled to Cyrus, leaving the garrison to Helixus of Megara ( see Coeratadas ).

According to Herodotus, Leonidas ' mother was his father's niece and had been barren for so long that the ephors, the five annually elected administrators of the Spartan constitution, tried to prevail upon King Anaxandridas to set aside his wife and take another.

One of the messengers that Xerxes and Pausanias had been using to communicate provided written evidence to the Spartan ephors that they needed to formally prosecute Pausanias.

The ephors ( Greek ) ( from the Greek epi, " on " or " over ", and horaō, " to see ", i. e. " one who oversees ") were leaders of ancient Sparta and shared power with the Spartan kings.

According to Plutarch, every autumn, at the crypteia, the ephors would pro forma declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood guilt.

Every autumn, according to Plutarch ( Life of Lycurgus, 28, 3 – 7 ), the Spartan ephors ( classical Greek ) would pro forma declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood guilt.

Aristotle has a long passage ( Politics II, 6 ) criticizing the Spartans: the helots keep rebelling ; the Spartan women are luxurious ; the magistrates ( and especially the ephors ) are irresponsible ; reaching decisions by the loudest yell in the apella is silly ; the wealth of the citizens is unequal ( so that too many are losing the resources necessary to be a citizen and a hoplite ); and the Spartiates let each other evade taxes, so the city is poor and the individual citizens greedy.

In Spartan government, the political power was divided between four bodies: two Spartan Kings ( monarchy ), gerousia ( Council of Gerontes ( Elders ), including the two kings ), the ephors ( representatives who oversaw the Kings ) and the apella ( assembly of Spartans ).

With the ephors vanquished, Cleomenes was able to initiate his social, economical and military reforms, which included land reforms, cancellation of debts and the conversion of the Spartan military into a Macedonian-styled army.

" According to both accounts, the Spartan ephors sent back a one word reply: " If " ( αἴκα ).

As part of the move, the Coliseum remodeled a floor into a Spartan " home floor " and completely renovated a massive locker room space for the team, complete with training room, meeting facilities, coaches offices and a players ' lounge.

However, the Spartan king Archidamus was alerted to this move by an informant, probably a Cretan runner, and Epaminondas arrived to find the city well-defended.

Squadrons commanded by Thrasybulus and Theramenes move in behind the Spartan ships, to cut off their line of retreat, trapping the Spartans between three groups of Athenian warships ; a much larger force than they had initially expected to engage.

The plan was for the new version of the San Jose Earthquakes to play in Spartan Stadium during the 2008 MLS season, then move into the new stadium in 2009.

Squadrons commanded by Thrasybulus and Theramenes move in behind the Spartan ships, to cut off their line of retreat, trapping the Spartans between three groups of Athenian warships ; a much larger force than they had initially expected to engage.

The Spartan fleet could now move freely in the Aegean, and took advantage of its newfound superiority by lifting the blockade of Chios and bottling up the Athenians ' Aegean fleet at Samos.

First, the Athenian fleet was divided into eight autonomous divisions, each commanded by one of the generals ; second, they arranged their fleet in a double line instead of the traditional single line in order to prevent the Spartans from using the maneuver known as the diekplous, in which a trireme raced into a gap between two enemy ships and then wheeled to strike one of them in the side ; if the Spartans attempted this against a double line, a ship from the second line could move up to attack the Spartan ship.

Upon reaching the tomb of Achilles, the Spartan is once more confronted by Sejanus, who makes him fight his Nemesis, an exact copy of him who has the same abilities, and who knows the Spartan's every move and thought.

However, while Alcibiades is away seeking supplies, the Athenian squadron is placed under the command of Antiochus, his helmsman, who is routed by the Spartan fleet ( with the help of the Persians under Cyrus ) in the Battle of Notium ( or Ephesus ).

The government of Thebes is placed in the hands of the pro-Spartan party, backed by a Spartan garrison based in the Cadmeia.

He took part in the battle of Cnidus of 394 BC which he provided most of the resources for and in which the Spartan fleet was defeated thanks to his efforts, and for this service his statue was placed by the Athenians side by side with that of Conon in the Ceramicus.

Harlow was placed in Division One of the Spartan League, after playing previously in the Division Two Eastern League.

He was placed on the throne by a Spartan king and lost a conflict with the Persians, who then overtook Egypt.

* Agis I ( died 900 BC ), a Spartan king

* Agis II ( died 401 BC ), a Spartan king

* Agis III ( died 331 BC ), a Spartan king

* Agis IV ( 265 BC – 241 BC ), a Spartan king ; Plutarch included a chapter on him in his Parallel Lives

Early Spartan attempts to break up the coalition failed, and the leadership of the Spartan king Agis was called into question.

* Archidamus V, son of the Spartan King, Eudamidas II, and grandson of Archidamus IV, flees to Messenia after the murder of his brother Agis IV.

During Alexander's campaigns in the east, the Spartan king, Agis III sent a force to Crete in 333 BC with the aim of securing the island for Sparta.

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

* Archidamus V, brother of the murdered Spartan King Agis IV, is called back to Sparta by the Agiad King Cleomenes III, who has no counterpart on the throne by then.

* Drawing upon the tradition of the Spartan lawgiver, Lycurgus, the young Eurypontid king of Sparta, Agis IV, seeks to reform a system that distributes the land and wealth unequally and burden the poor with debt.

Agis III is killed, and Spartan resistance is broken.

King Agis II leads the Spartan force that occupies Decelea in Attica.

Blockaded by land and sea, with their food supplies running low, the Athenians sent ambassadors to the Spartan king Agis, whose army was camped outside their walls, offering to join the Spartan alliance if they were allowed to keep their walls and port ; Agis, claiming that he had no power to negotiate, sent the ambassadors on to Sparta, but there they were told that, if they really wanted peace, they should bring the Spartans better proposals.

He quotes sources which suggest that Hephaestion had been approached by Aristion of Athens to effect a reconciliation between Alexander and Demosthenes, and certainly, Athens ' inaction during the revolt of the Spartan king, Agis, would seem to support the idea.

* editions of Isaeus ( 1831 ) and Plutarch's Agis and Cleomenes ( 1839, important for the Attic law of inheritance and the history of the Spartan constitution )

The establishment of an Athenian garrison in Spartan territory frightened the Spartan leadership, and the Spartan army, which had been ravaging Attica under the command of Agis, ended their expedition ( the expedition only lasted 15 days ) and marched home, and the Spartan fleet at Corcyra sailed to Pylos.

However, the Spartan king Agis ( son of Archidamus ) instead concluded the first campaign with a truce, without explaining his actions to the army or his allies ; the army thus returned home.