Agis IV (; c. 265 BC – 241 BC), the elder son of Eudamidas II, was the 25th king of the Eurypontid dynasty of Sparta. Posterity has reckoned him an idealistic but impractical monarch.
Family background and accession
Agis was the son of Eudamidas II () and grandson of Archidamus IV (), who belonged to the Eurypontid dynasty, one of the two royal families of Sparta (the other being the Agiads). The reign of Agis marks a re-emergence of the Eurypontids, who had disappeared from the records since the defeat of Archidamus IV against Demetrios Poliorketes in 294. His father is indeed the most obscure of all the Spartan kings, perhaps due to a mental or physical disability. Eudamidas II's dates of reign are therefore very conjectural. The traditional year of his death is c.245, but he may have died earlier (up to 263), in which case a regent was appointed during Agis' minority, as he was born c.265. The most likely candidate is his uncle Agesilaus, who played an important role during Agis' reign.
Agis' mother was Agesistrata, daughter of Archidamia (also mother of Agesilaus) who played an important role during the siege of Sparta by Pyrrhus in 272. Plutarch tells that they were the richest people in Sparta. Agis also had a younger brother named Archidamus.
Reforms
Agis succeeded his father as king in 245 BC, at around the age of 20, and reigned four years. The interest of his reign, however, derived from the domestic crisis of Sparta at the time of his succession.
- redistribution of land: civic lands were redistributed in equal shares between Spartan citizens, former citizens who had lost their status because they could not afford the syssitia, periokoi, and even foreigners—probably mercenaries living in Laconia. In total, Agis created 4500 new lots of land for his new civic body: 700 for the remaining citizens, about 2000 for the degraded citizens, and the rest between periokoi and mercenaries.
- restoration of the agoge, the rigorous military education in Sparta, which had disappeared after the late 270s.
- restoration of the original syssitia, the collective messes, which had evolved into lavish banquets.
Agis, who from his earliest youth had shown his attachment to the ancient discipline, undertook to reform these abuses, and re-establish the institutions of Lycurgus. To this end he proposed the abolition of all debts and a new partition of the lands. Another part of his plan was to give landed estates to the Perioikoi capable of bearing the arms, and to the Metic women, "who had a beautiful appearance and were in prime of their life". His schemes were warmly seconded by the poorer classes and the young men, and as strenuously opposed by the wealthy. He succeeded, however, in gaining over three very influential persons: his uncle Agesilaus (a man of large property, but who, being deeply involved in debt, hoped to profit by the innovations of Agis), Lysander (a descendant of the victor of Aegospotami) and Mandrocleides. Having arranged for Lysander to be elected one of the six ephors, he laid his plans before the senate. He proposed that the Spartan territory should be divided into two portions, one to consist of 4500 equal lots, to be divided amongst the Spartans, whose ranks were to be filled up by the admission of the most respectable of the Perioikoi and resident aliens; the other to contain 15,000 equal lots, to be divided amongst the remaining Perioikoi. His widow Agiatis was forcibly married by Leonidas to his son Cleomenes III, but nevertheless the two developed for each other a mutual affection and esteem.
Considered by many writers too weak and good-natured to cope with the problems which confronted him, Agis was characterized by a sincerity of purpose and a blend of youthful modesty with royal dignity, which render him perhaps the most attractive figure in the whole of Spartan history. His life and death caught the romantic imagination of several ancient writers. He is the subject of a lost biography by Phylarchus, which was apparently very heavily relied upon by Plutarch when he wrote his own biography of the king.