Cleomenes I

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Cleomenes I

(klēŏm`ĭnēz), d. c.489 B.C., king of Sparta after 518 B.C. In accordance with Sparta's policy of helping oligarchies in other states at the expense of the tyrants or the people, Cleomenes joined the Athenians in ousting the tyrant Hippias, but to Cleomenes' dismay CleisthenesCleisthenes,
fl. 510 B.C., Athenian statesman. He was the head of his family, the Alcmaeonidae, after the exile of Hippias, and with Spartan help had made himself undisputed ruler of Athens by 506 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , the principal Athenian aristocrat, sided with the people and took the power (510 B.C.). Twice Cleomenes attacked democratic Athens. The first time he expelled Cleisthenes, who, however, quickly returned to power, thus halting Spartan influence. The second time Corinth checkmated Sparta by refusing to help in an attack that would have disturbed the balance of power. Cleomenes' reputation for ruthlessness is due chiefly to his attack (c.494 B.C.) on Argos, in which he slaughtered 6,000 Argives—an exploit that gave Sparta hegemony in S Greece for many years.

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The son of King Anaxandridas and his successor to the Agiad throne in Sparta after his half-brother Cleomenes I went mad (490); married Cleomenes' daughter Gorgo, and probably adopted Cleomenes' policies; placed in command of a small expeditionary force of 300 Spartan hoplites, he led a force of 6,000-7,000 Greeks north to hold the pass of Thermopylae and so delay Xerxes' invading Persian army (July?