Pleistoanax

Pleistoanax, also spelled Plistoanax, (Greek: Πλειστοάναξ) was Agiad king of Sparta from 458 to 409 BC. He was the leader of the peace party in Sparta at a time of violent confrontations against Athens for the hegemony over Greece.

The son of Pausanias, Pleistoanax was still a minor in 458 BC, so his uncle Nicomedes acted as regent. His first recorded action was the invasion of Athens in 446 BC as part of the First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC), but he chose instead to negotiate with Pericles a settlement that became the Thirty Years' Peace. However, Pleistoanax was sued in Sparta for his failure to take Athens and went into exile in Arcadia to avoid punishment. He lived on the sacred ground of Zeus in Mt. Lykaion for the next 18 years.

The death of the rival king Archidamus II in 427 enabled his return to Sparta, while the city was again at war against Athens in the Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). Pleistoanax renewed his efforts to make peace with Athens, which was finally concluded in 421 (as the Peace of Nicias).