Leonidas I (Doric and Modern Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnidas; Ionic Greek: Λεωνίδης, Leōnidēs; "son of the lion"; died 9 August 480 BCE) was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the latter's strength and bravery. Leonidas I is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae.
According to Herodot...
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Leonidas I (Doric and Modern Greek: Λεωνίδας, Leōnidas; Ionic Greek: Λεωνίδης, Leōnidēs; "son of the lion"; died 9 August 480 BCE) was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, one of the sons of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta, who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles, possessing much of the latter's strength and bravery. Leonidas I is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae.
According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was his father's niece and had been barren for so long that the ephors, the five annually elected administrators of the Spartan constitution, tried to prevail upon King Anaxandridas to set aside his wife and take another. Anaxandridas refused, claiming his wife was blameless, whereupon the ephors agreed to allow him to take a second wife without setting aside his first. This second wife, a descendent of Chilon the Wise, promptly bore a son, Cleomenes. However, one year after Cleomenes' birth, Anaxandridas' first wife also...
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