v51_0147 - LACONIA - SPARTA Hemidrachme

LACONIA - SPARTA

(2nd - 1st century BC)

Sparta, the hereditary enemy of Athens did not know silver coinage until very late. Previously, the city had only resorted to iron coins and brooches. Historically, Sparta had an oligarchic type government headed by two kings. Leonidas died at Thermopylae with three hundred Spartans in 480 BC. -VS. before the capture of Athens and the battle of Salamis. The Peloponnesian War saw the two cities and their respective allies oppose each other (431-404 BC. -VS. ). Eventually Sparta prevailed over Athens and Lysander the Spartan general, was considered a liberator. Sparta emerged strengthened from this confrontation.. But its hegemony was contested in particular by Thebes, Corinth and Argos. The Corinthian War (395-387 BC). -VS. ) ended with the peace of the King or Antacildas in 387 BC. -VS. Thebes crushed Sparta at Leuctra in 371 BC. -VS. and imposed its hegemony on Greece. In 331 BC. -VS. , Agis III was killed fighting Antipater. After the death of Alexander the Great, Sparta's days were numbered. The Spartans had to fight against Macedonia and the Achaean league. Sparta was besieged and taken by the Romans in 195 BC. -VS. under King Nabis. Sparta was integrated into the Achaean league. During the war against Mithridates, Sparta supported Archealos, general of the king of Pontus. During the Civil Wars, Sparta chooses Caesar over Pompey. During the Proscriptions and the Perugia War (41-40 BC. -VS. Tiberius Claudius Nero, father of Tiberius and first husband of Livia, entrusted his family to the protection of the city.