Агис III: Спарта патшасы және Македонияға қарсы күресі

King of Sparta from 338 to 331 BC

Agis III (Greek: Ἄγις, died 331 BC) was the eldest son of Archidamus III, and the 21st Eurypontid king of Sparta between 338 and 331 BC. He tried to lead a revolt against Macedonian hegemony over Greece, but was defeated by Antipater—Alexander the Great's regent in Greece—at the Battle of Megalopolis in 331 BC, where he died.

Agis was the son of King Archidamus III ( BC) and the grandson of Agesilaus II ( BC), who belonged to the Eurypontid dynasty, one of the two royal families of Sparta (the other being the Agiads). Following its defeat at Leuctra against Thebes in 371 BC, Sparta lost its great power status within the Greek world, as well as a number of territories. In 351 BC, Archidamus and Agis waged a war in the Peloponnese to recover these territories, notably against Megalopolis, a city established by the Thebans on its northwestern border in order to pose a permanent threat to Sparta. There were operations against Argos as well, which had received support from Theban troops. Despite the support of 3,000 mercenaries from Phocis, the campaign was fruitless. At the beginning of 338 BC, Archidamus III left Greece to serve as a mercenary commander for Taras, a city founded by Sparta in Magna Graecia. Several states were at the time struggling for hegemony over Greece: the kingdom of Macedonia and the city states led by Athens and Thebes. The fact that Archidamus left while the decisive battle was about to take place shows that he did not think that the Greeks had a chance to win. Archidamus III died fighting the Lucanians the same day as the Second Battle of Chaeronea, on 2 August 338 BC, when king Philip II decisively defeated the Greeks. Agis, who had hitherto been regent in the absence of his father, became king once his death was known, probably at the end of August. After his victory at Chaeronea, Philip II founded the League of Corinth, a coalition of Macedonia and all the Greek city states. Agis is likely behind the Spartan decision to reject joining the Corinthian League, which prompted Philip to campaign in Laconia in autumn 338 BC. Polybius tells that Philip was brought into the Peloponnese by the Messenians and the Arcadians, but the exact concatenation of events is not known. Philip therefore gave several territories that belonged to Sparta to its neighbours and enemies: Denthaliates to Messene, Aygitis and Belminatis to Megalopolis, Skiritis to Tegea, and Thyreatis to Argos. It seems that he used a Panhellenic tribunal, perhaps the League of Corinth itself, to ratify his land transfers. Because of the failure of Archidamus' campaign and the punitive operation of Philip, Agis III preferred to take the time for Sparta to recover its losses and wait for a good opportunity, rather than opposing Macedonia directly. Thus Sparta remained completely quiet for five years after Chaeronea. It did not join the revolt of Thebes against the new Macedonian king Alexander III in 335 BC. Agis' first move came in 333 BC, when the Persian king Darius III launched a counter offensive after Alexander went into Asia in a bid to conquer Persia. He sent a Spartan named Euthycles to Darius' court in Susa. This man had connections in this city; he was a relative to—or perhaps the same man as—another envoy to the Persian king at Susa in 367 BC, also named Euthycles. In 333 BC, Agis went with a single trireme to the Persian commanders in the Aegean Sea, Pharnabazus III and Autophradates, to request money and armaments for carrying on hostile operations against Alexander the Great in Greece. The satraps agreed to support Agis; however, they could only spare for him 30 talents and 10 ships. The news of the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, however, put a check upon their plans. He sent his brother Agesilaus with instructions to sail with them to Crete, that he might secure that island for the Spartan interest. In this he seems in a great measure to have succeeded.