This article concerns the period 229 BC – 220 BC.
Year 219 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paullus and Salinator. The denomination 219 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Ptolemy III Euergetes was the third pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt from 246 to 222 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom reached the height of its military and economic power during his kingship, as initiated by his father Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
Ptolemy IV Philopator was the fourth pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 221 to 204 BC.
Cleomenes III was one of the two kings of Sparta from 235 to 222 BC. He was a member of the Agiad dynasty and succeeded his father, Leonidas II. He is known for his attempts to reform the Spartan state.
The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.
Areus I was Agiad King of Sparta from 309 to 265 BC. His reign is noted for his attempts to transform Sparta into a Hellenistic kingdom and to recover its former pre-eminence in Greece, notably against the kings Antigonos Gonatas of Macedonia and Pyrrhus of Epirus.
Leonidas II was the 28th Agiad King of Sparta from 254 to 242 BC and from 241 to 235 BC.
The Battle of Sellasia took place during the summer of 222 BC between Macedon and the Achaean League, led by Antigonus III Doson, and Sparta under the command of King Cleomenes III. The battle was fought at Sellasia on the northern frontier of Laconia and ended in a Macedonian-Achaean victory.
Sosibius was the chief minister of Ptolemy IV Philopator, king of Egypt. Nothing is known of his origin or parentage, though he may have been a son of Sosibius of Tarentum; nor is there any account of how he rose to power. He is first attested immediately after the accession of Ptolemy IV in 221 BC, exercising great influence over the 22-year old king alongside Agathocles, the brother of Ptolemy IV's mistress Agathoclea. He remained a major force throughout the reign and helped ensure the smooth succession of Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 204 BC. After that he disappears from the record.
Imogen Rhia Herrad is a German historian, translator, writer and broadcaster. She was born in 1967 and brought up in Germany, she has also lived in Wales, London and in Argentina. She has learnt Welsh and writes in both German and English.
The Cleomenean War was fought between Sparta and the Achaean League for the control of the Peloponnese. Under the leadership of king Cleomenes III, Sparta initially had the upper hand, which forced the Achaean League to call for help the Macedonian king Antigonos Doson, who decisively defeated Cleomenes in the battle of Sellasia in 222.
The Agiad dynasty was one of the two royal families of the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. They ruled jointly along with the Eurypontid dynasty, possibly from the 8th century BC onwards, being the senior of the two houses. The hypothetical founder of the dynasty was Agis I, possibly the first king of Sparta at the end of the 10th century BC, who subsequently gave his name to the dynasty. The two lines, who maintained an enduring rivalry, were, according to tradition, respectively descended from the twins Eurysthenes and Procles, both descendants of Heracles. The most famous member of the Agiad dynasty was Leonidas I, known for his heroic death at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The last Agiad king was Agesipolis III, deposed by the Eurypontid Lycurgus in 215 BC.
Agesipolis III was the 32nd and last of the kings of the Agiad dynasty in ancient Sparta.
The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon. The battle was fought at Sparta and ended in a Spartan-Macedonian victory.
The Battle of Mount Lycaeum was fought between Sparta led by Cleomenes III and the Achaean League commanded by Aratus. It was the first major battle of the Cleomenean War. The battle occurred at Mount Lycaeum on the border of Elis and Arcadia and ended in a Spartan victory.
Cleombrotus II was a Spartan king of the Agiad dynasty. He married into the royal family via the daughter of Leonidas II, Chilonis. Chilonis's mother was a Persian/Seleucid woman, and Cleombrotus II's wife was therefore not fully Spartan. This created friction between Cleombrotus II's father-in-law and then co-regent Agis IV when it came to succession. Cleombrotus II nevertheless succeeded Leonidas II when the latter fled to avoid trial after clashing with co-regent's reforms, and reigned from 242 BC to 241 BC before Leonidas II returned and once more took the throne. He then sent Cleombrotus II and Chilonis into exile. Cleomenes III, Leonidas II's son, eventually succeeded his father at his death.
Chilonis was a Spartan princess and queen: daughter, wife, sister and grandmother of four different Spartan kings: Leonidas II, Cleombrotus II, Cleomenes III and Agesipolis III respectively.
"In Sparta" is a Greek poem by Constantine P. Cavafy. It was published on 17 April 1928. This both can be recognised as both a historical and political poem in Cavafy’s anthology.
