Archidamus III, King of Sparta, "Buried by Vesuvius" at the Getty Villa until October 28, 2019

Archidamus III, King of Sparta, "Buried by Vesuvius" at the Getty Villa until October 28, 2019.
Archidamus III, the son of Agesilaus II, was king of Sparta from 360 BCE to 338 BCE. Archidamus headed the force sent to aid the Spartan army after its defeat by the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. Four years later he captured Caryae, ravaged the territory of the Parrhasii and defeated the Arcadians, Argives and Messenians in the "tearless battle", so called because the victory did not cost the Spartans a single life. In 362 BCE, he showed great courage in the defense of Sparta against the Theban commander Epaminondas. In 343 BCE, the Spartan colony Tarentum asked for Sparta's help in the war against the Italic populations, notably the Lucanians and the Messapians. In 342 BCE Archidamus arrived in Italy with a fleet and mercenary army and fought against the barbarians. But in 338 BCE he was defeated and killed under the walls of Manduria.


Image: Bust of Archidamus III, King of Sparta, recovered from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Roman, 1st century BCE - 1st century CE courtesy of Allan Gluck.

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