Eurysthenes

• son of Aristodemus, king of Sparta, brother of Procles, Nep. Ages. 1, 2; Cic. Div. 2, 43, 191.

(Εὐρυσθένης), and PROCLES (Προκλῆς), the twin sons of Aristodemus, were born, according to the common account before, but, according to the genuine Spartan story, after their father's return to Peloponnesus and occupation of his allotment of Laconia. He died immediately after the birth of his children and had not even time to decide which of the two should succeed him. The mother professed to be unable to name the elder, and the Lacedaemonians in embarrassment applied to Delphi, and were instructed to make them both kings, but give the greater honour to the elder. The difficulty thus remaining was at last removed at the suggestion of Panites, a Messenian by watching which of the children was first washed and fed by the mother; and the first rank was accordingly given to Eurysthenes and retained by his descendants. (Hdt. 6.51, 52.) The mother's name was Argeia, and her brother Theras was, during their minority, their joint-guardian and regent. (Hdt. 4.147.) They were married to two sisters, twins like themselves, the daughters of Thersander, the Heracleid king of Cleonae, by name Lathria and Anaxandra, whose tombs were to be seen at Sparta in the time of Pausanias (3.16.5). The two brothers are said to have united with the son of Temenus to restore Aepytus, the son of Cresphontes, to Messenia. Otherwise, they were, according to both Pausanias and Herodotus, in continual strife, which perhaps may give a meaning to the strange story related in Polyaenus (1.10), that Procles and Temenus attacked the Eurystheidae then in occupation of Sparta, and were successful through the good order preserved by the flute, the benefit of which on this occasion was the origin of the well-known Spartan practice. Ephorus in Strabo (viii. p.366) states, that they maintained themselves by taking foreigners into their service, and these Clinton understands by the name Eurystheidae; but Müller considers it to be one of the transfers made by Ephorus in ancient times of the customs of his own. Cicero (de Div. 2.43) tells us, that Procles died one year before his brother, and was much the more famous for his achievements. (Compare Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 333; Müller, Dor. 1.5. §§ 13, 14.) [A.H.C]

(Εὐρυσθένης). A son of Aristodemus, who reigned conjointly with his twin-brother Procles at Sparta. It was not known which of the two was born first; the mother, who wished to see both her sons raised on the throne, refused to declare it; and they were both appointed kings of Sparta by order of the oracle of Delphi, B.C. 1102. After the death of the two brothers, the Lacedaemonians, who knew not to what family the right of seniority and succession belonged, permitted two kings to sit on the throne, one of each family. The descendants of Eurysthenes were called Eurysthenidae, and those of Procles, Proclidae. It was inconsistent with the laws of Sparta for two kings of the same family to ascend the throne together, yet that law was sometimes violated by oppression and tyranny. Eurysthenes had a son called Agis , who succeeded him. His descendants were called Agidae. There sat on the throne of Sparta thirty-one kings of the family of Eurysthenes, and only twenty-four of the Proclidae. The former were the more illustrious (Herod.iv. 147, vi. 52; Pausan. iii. 1).

• founder of the senior of the two royal families: Hdt. 4.147, Hdt. 5.39, Hdt. 6.51, Hdt. 7.204
• son of Aristodemus, ancestor of Agids, one of the royal houses of Sparta: Paus. 3.1.5-9, Paus. 3.2.1, Paus. 3.6.7, Paus. 3.7.1, Apollod. 2.8.2
• with his brother Procles gets Lacedaemon by lot: Apollod. 2.8.3