Androcleides ( grc, Ἀνδροκλείδης) was a politician of ancient Thebes. In the 390s BCE, Thebes was a city divided between factions desiring an alliance with Sparta, and factions desiring an alliance with Athens, and Androcleides led the Athenian faction, along with

Ismenias Ismenias (Ancient Greek: Ἰσμηνίας) was an ancient Theban politician of the 4th century BC. He rose to power in the years after the Peloponnesian War and pursued an anti-Spartan policy, which included harboring exiles fleeing the Thirty T ...

. Androcleides was bribed by Timocrates, the emissary of

Tissaphernes Tissaphernes ( peo, *Ciçafarnāʰ; grc-gre, Τισσαφέρνης; xlc, 𐊋𐊆𐊈𐊈𐊀𐊓𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thuc ...

, in 395, in order to induce the Thebans to make war upon the

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

ns and thus bring back

Agesilaus Agesilaus II (; grc-gre, Ἀγησίλαος ; c. 442 – 358 BC) was king of Sparta from c. 399 to 358 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony ...

from Asia. In 382, the Spartan commander

Phoebidas Phoebidas ( el, Φοιβίδας) was a Spartan general who, in 382 BC, seized the Theban acropolis, thus giving Sparta control over Thebes. To punish his unauthorized action, Phoebidas was relieved of command. Nevertheless, the Spartans continued ...

, stationed at

Thespiae Thespiae ( ; grc, Θεσπιαί, Thespiaí) was an ancient Greek city (''polis'') in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which run eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, near modern Thespies. Histo ...

, urged the Spartan faction of Thebes to take over the citadel of Thebes known as the

Cadmeia The Cadmea, or Cadmeia (Greek: Καδμεία, ''Kadmía''), was the citadel of ancient Thebes, Greece, which was named after Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes. The area is thought to have been settled since at least the early Bronze Age, ...

. The democratic leaders of the Theban faction, Androcleides and Pherenicus, escaped to Athens as exiles. One of leaders of the Spartan faction of Thebes,

Leontiades Leontiades of Thebes, son of Eurymachus, and apparently a grandson of the Theban commander Leontiades in the Battle of Thermopylae. Plutarch calls him, throughout, "Leontidas". He was one of the polemarchs at Thebes, in 382 BC, when the Spartan c ...

, later had Androcleides assassinated during his exile.

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies of ...

, ''

Hellenica ''Hellenica'' ( grc, Ἑλληνικά) simply means writings on Greek (Hellenic) subjects. Several histories of 4th-century Greece, written in the mould of Thucydides or straying from it, have borne the conventional Latin title ''Hellenica''. Th ...

'' v. 2. § 31

Notes

4th-century BC Greek people Ancient Thebans {{AncientGreece-bio-stub