Gorgopas (2nd century BC)

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Gorgopas was one of the joint Spartan garrison commanders at Gythium. During the Roman-Spartan War, the Romans and their allies started besieging Gythium. After a few days of fighting, Gorgopas' joint commander, Dexagoridas, told a Roman legate that he was willing to surrender the city. When Gorgopas found out, he slew Dexagoridas with his own hands. Gorgopas continued to command the city but when the Roman commander-in-chief Titus Quinctius Flaminius arrived with reinforcements, Gorgopas surrendered on the condition that he and the garrison could returned to Sparta unharmed. Nothing more is heard of him.

Ancient Rome History of Rome from the 8th-century BC to the 5th-century

In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire. The civilization began as an Italic settlement in the Italian Peninsula, conventionally founded in 753 BC, that grew into the city of Rome and which subsequently gave its name to the empire over which it ruled and to the widespread civilisation the empire developed. The Roman Empire expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world, though still ruled from the city, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants and covering 5.0 million square kilometres at its height in AD 117.

Dexagoridas was the joint Spartan commander of the port of Gythium. During the Roman-Spartan War, the Romans and their allies besieged Gythium. After a few days of fighting, Dexagoridas sent word to a Roman legate saying he was willing to surrender the city. But when the other commander of the garrison, Gorgopas, found out, he slew Dexagoridas with his own hands. The garrison managed to hold out for a few days but when the Roman commander-in-chief, Titus Quinctius Flamininus, arrived with reinforcements, Gorgopas surrendered on the condition that he could returned with the garrison unharmed to Sparta.

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Gorgopas can refer to:

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References

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