Acrotatus ( el, Ἀκρότατος; died 262 BC) was an

Agiad The Agiad dynasty was one of the two royal families of Sparta, a powerful city-state of Ancient Greece. The Agiads were seniors to the other royal house, the Eurypontids, with whom they had an enduring rivalry. Their hypothetical founder was Agis I ...

King of Sparta For most of its history, the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta in the Peloponnese was ruled by kings. Sparta was unusual among the Greek city-states in that it maintained its kingship past the Archaic age. It was even more unusual in that it had ...

from 265 to 262 BC. He was the son of

Areus I Areus I ( grc-gre, Ἀρεύς; c. 320 or 312 – 265 BC) was Agiad King of Sparta from 309 to 265 BC. His reign is noted for his attempts to transform Sparta into an Hellenistic period, Hellenistic kingdom and to recover its former pre-eminence i ...

, and grandson of Acrotatus. He had unlawful intercourse with Chilonis, the young wife of Cleonymus, uncle of his father Areus. It was this, together with the disappointment of not obtaining the throne, which led Cleonymus to invite Pyrrhus to Sparta in 272. Areus was then absent in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, and the safety of Sparta was mainly owing to the valor of Acrotatus who successfully held off the

Siege of Sparta The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, ( 297–272 BC) and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I ( 309–265 BC) and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon. ...

. He succeeded his father in 265, but was killed shortly thereafter (possibly in the same year) in battle against Aristodemus the Good, the tyrant of

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, in speaking of his death, calls him the son of Cleonymus, but he has mistaken him for his grandfather, mentioned above. Areus and Acrotatus are accused by

Phylarchus Phylarchus ( el, Φύλαρχoς, ''Phylarkhos''; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Greek historical writer whose works have been lost, but not before having been considerably used by other historians whose works have survived. Life Phylarchus was a cont ...

of having corrupted the simplicity of Spartan manners.

, ''ap. Athen.'' iv. p. 142, b He was succeeded by his son

Areus II Areus II ( grc, Ἀρεύς Β΄) was Agiad King of Sparta from 262 to 254 BC. He never reigned as he was still a child when he died. He was succeeded by his cousin Leonidas II, who had served as regent. Life Areus was the son of Acrotatus ( ...

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References

* 262 BC deaths 3rd-century BC rulers 3rd-century BC Spartans Agiad kings of Sparta Pyrrhus of Epirus Year of birth unknown Monarchs killed in action Ancient Greeks killed in battle {{AncientGreece-bio-stub