Editing Cleomenes I (section)

== Family background and accession ==
Cleomenes was the son of [[Anaxandridas II]], who belonged to the [[Agiad dynasty]], one of the two [[List of kings of Sparta|royal families of Sparta]] (the other being the [[Eurypontid]]s). As his father did not have a son from his first wife (who was also his niece), the ephors forced him to marry another woman, without divorcing his first wife—an unprecedented occurrence of [[bigamy]] in Sparta.<ref>Cartledge, ''Sparta and Lakonia'', p. 264.</ref> His new spouse likely came from the family of the ephor [[Chilon of Sparta|Chilon]], an important reformer, who held office in during the mid-6th-century.<ref name=":2">Ste. Croix, "Herodotus and King Cleomenes", p. 422.</ref><ref>Hodkinson, "Female property ownership", p. 10.</ref><ref>Cartledge, ''Sparta and Lakonia'', pp. 264, 265, points out that the ephors' concern about Anaxandridas' descent is the first indication of Sparta's manpower problems, which became dire in later centuries</ref> Cleomenes was born from this second marriage, but then his father returned to his first wife and had three further sons with her: [[Dorieus]], the future king [[Leonidas I|Leonidas]], and [[Cleombrotus (regent)|Cleombrotus]]—the latter two were possibly twins. The name Dorieus ("the [[Dorians|Dorian]]") explicitly refers to the Dorian ethnicity of Sparta, and might be a rejection of the ephor Chilon's policy of establishing an amicable relationship with the ethnically different [[Achaea|Achaia]] in the northern [[Peloponnese]].<ref>Forrest, ''History of Sparta'', pp. 76, 83.</ref><ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', p. 110.</ref> 

The family of Anaxandridas' second wife immediately contested the legitimacy of Dorieus even before his birth, as the ephors attended his birth in order to certify the authenticity of the pregnancy.<ref>Hodkinson, "Female property ownership", pp. 10, 11.</ref><ref name=":1">Griffith-Williams, "The Succession to the Spartan Kingship", p. 49.</ref> This shows that there were strong familial rivalries among Spartan royal circles; besides, at the same time, a cousin of Anaxandridas' second wife was also the bride of the future Eurypontid king [[Leotychidas]].<ref>Forrest, ''History of Sparta'', p. 83.</ref><ref>Hodkinson, "Inheritance, Marriage and Demography: Perspectives upon the Success and Decline of Classical Sparta", in Powell (ed.), Classical Sparta, p. 90–92.</ref> In turn, when his father died, Cleomenes' succession was contested by Dorieus, because of his superior "manly virtue".<ref name=":1">Griffith-Williams, "The Succession to the Spartan Kingship", p. 49.</ref> Perhaps this statement is related to a great performance during the [[agoge]]—the rigorous military training at Sparta—which Dorieus had to endure, while Cleomenes avoided it as heir-apparent (the only possible exemption).<ref>Cartledge, ''Agesilaos'', pp. 110, 111.</ref> Dorieus could have also contested Cleomenes' legitimacy on the ground that he was a son of the king's first wife, who was additionally of royal descent. As Cleomenes was the eldest son, his claim was nevertheless deemed stronger and he became king.<ref>Griffith-Williams, "The Succession to the Spartan Kingship", pp. 50, 51.</ref> It prompted the departure of Dorieus to colonial ventures in [[Libya]] and [[Sicily]], where he died in c.510.<ref>Fischer-Hansen, Nielsen, Ampolo, in Hansen (ed.), ''Inventory'', pp. 197.</ref>

The date of Cleomenes' accession had been debated among modern scholars for a long time,<ref>Carlier, "La vie politique", p. 68, "about 520".</ref><ref>L. H. Jefery, "Greece before the Persian Invasion", in Boardman et al., ''Cambridge Ancient History, vol. IV'', p. 356, "c. 521". </ref><ref>Cawkwell, "Cleomenes", p. 510 (note 8), "c. 520".</ref> until historian David Harvey found that the Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodoros of Sicily]] had confused the length of [[Cleomenes II]]'s reign (370–309) with that of his earlier namesake.  Putting aside Diodoros' error, Harvey states that as Cleomenes came to the throne "a few years earlier than the Plataia incident", he dates the start of his reign to 524–523.<ref>Diodorus, xix. 70, 71.</ref><ref>Harvey, "The Length of the Reigns of Kleomenes", pp. 356, 357.</ref>