Queen of Sparta, Archidamia (Ἀρχιδαμία, circa – 340 / – 241) leads the resistance of the women of Sparta during the siege of the city by Pyrrhus I st in -272.
Queen of Sparta
Little is known about Archidamia's life. Born into a wealthy family around -340, she was the wife of the Eurypontid king of Sparta Eudamidas I st . Since the reform of Lycurgus in the VII th century BC, in fact, Sparta, a Greek city in the Peloponnese, was ruled by two kings representing the family of the Agiades and that of the Eurypontids. They will have two children:the future Archidomas IV and Agesistrata.
Eudamidas I st dies around -300 and his son succeeds him for a reign marked by military campaigns; he dies in -275, perhaps at war. His own son and grandson of Archidamia, Eudamidas II, takes over. Eudamidas II marries his aunt Agesistrata, making their son Agis IV both grandson and great-grandson of Archidamia.
The Attack of Pyrrhus I st
The first accounts of the existence of Archidamia date from the siege of Sparta by Pyrrhus I st in -272. King of the Molossians and an ambitious conqueror, Pyrrhus won many victories over the Roman Empire before he was finally defeated. He then decides to conquer Macedonia, which he entrusts to his son Ptolemy, and Thessaly.
In -272, the Spartan Cléonyme asks Pyrrhus to attack Sparta and put it in power. Youngest son of King Cleomenes II, he was indeed removed from power on the death of his father in favor of the son of his elder brother. Pyrrhus accepts, with the idea of reclaiming control of the Peloponnese for himself. Within a few months, he arrived in Sparta with 27,000 men, including 2,000 horsemen and about twenty elephants.
The siege of Sparta
The gerontes, an assembly of 28 men over the age of 60, plan to send the women of Sparta to Crete to ensure their safety. The women disagree. In his Parallel Lives of Illustrious Men, Plutarch describes the scene in these terms:
“When night came, the Lacedaemonians took counsel among themselves and decided to send their wives and children secretly to Crete. They opposed it and one of them, named Archidamia, left in full council with an army to carry the word of all women. She says the men did them great harm if they thought the women were cowardly enough to want to survive the destruction of Sparta. »
This issue resolved, the Spartans embark on the construction of a defensive trench, with the ends of the wagons buried up to the hub of the wheels to prevent the elephants from passing. With their dresses raised or in simple tunics, the women joined in the work and carried out a third of it. Then they arm the combatants themselves, provide supplies during the battle and extract the wounded from the battlefield.
"For it is sweet, they said, to triumph under the eyes of one's country, glorious to die in the arms of a mother, a sister, a death worthy of Sparta. »
The impressive defensive trench, the unexpected resistance of Sparta and the arrival of reinforcements put Pyrrhus in check. Wounded in battle, he must lift the siege.
The murder of an old woman
Archidamia is mentioned again by Plutarch three decades later, when she is over 90 years old. His grandson and great-grandson Agis IV, who ascended the throne in -244, attempted to restore the laws of Lycurgus and to carry out major reforms legally and peacefully, including the abolition of debts and a division of wars. He is supported by his mother Agesistrasa and his ancestor Archidamia, the two richest people in Sparta whose fortune earns him support. They are the first, after Agis, to agree to pool their property and land, for a fair redistribution.
A war forces Agis to leave Sparta and, in his absence, his enemies bringing to power his main adversary, Leonidas II. On his return, he tries to hide but, betrayed, he is arrested. Immediately, Archidamia and Agesistrasa go to his prison:
“As soon as we learn of the arrest of Agis, (…) his mother and his grandmother go there shouting, begging that the king of the Spartans has the right to be heard and judged by his fellow citizens. »
For fear of a crowd coming to defend the king, his condemnation and execution are accelerated. Archidamia and Agesistrasa immediately assassinate him. "Since you had the same ideas as your son, said the executioner to Agesistrasa,you will suffer the same ordeal".