Alcmenes

For other uses, see Alcamenes (disambiguation).
Alcmenes
King of Sparta
Reignc. 740 – 700 BC
PredecessorTeleclus
SuccessorPolydorus of Sparta

Alcmenes (Greek: Ἀλκμένης) or Alcamenes, Alkamenos, was the 9th king of Sparta of the Agiad dynasty, from c. 740 to c. 700 BC.[1]

According to Pausanias, he was a commander in the night-expedition against Ampheia, which began the First Messenian War, but died before its 4th year. In his reign Helos was taken, a place near the mouth of the Eurotas, the last independent hold of the old Achaean population, and the supposed origin of the term "helot".[2][3][4]

He succeeded his father Teleclus and was succeeded by his son Polydorus.

  1. ^ Clough, Arthur Hugh (1867). "Alcamenes". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 96. Archived from the original on 2011-01-11.
  2. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece iii. 2. § 7, iv. 4. § 3, 5. § 3
  3. ^ Herodotus, vii. 204
  4. ^ Plutarch, Apophth. Lac.