Pausanias (king of Sparta)
Pausanias () was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 426 BC and again from 408 BC to 395 BC. First reign (c.445–427 BC). Pausanias belonged to the Agiad dynasty and was the son of king Pleistoanax, born during a period of conflict against the other Spartan authorities and the Eurypontids—the other Spartan dynasty. His father was forced to go into exile after his first military campaign against Athens in 446 because he was accused of having taken a bribe from Pericles and offered him a lenient  peace as a result. Pausanias was probably born around this time, perhaps even after his father's exile. The choice of his name is significant, as Pleistoanax gave him the name of his own father Pausanias the Regent, who was starved to death by the ephors in the temple of Athena in Sparta; thus showing Pleistoanax's defiance against the Spartan government. The regency for Pausanias was assumed by his uncle Cleomenes, second son of Pausanias the Regent. This period was dominated by the Eurypontid king Archidamus II, who prevented Pleistoanax from returning to Sparta, while Pausanias could not oppose  him as a child. Pleistoanax could only return in 427, after the death of Archidamus; he recovered his former position, with Pausanias as prince. During his second reign, Pleistoanax was the leader of the Peace faction in Sparta, in favour of negotiating a settlement with Athens to end the Peloponnesian War (ongoing since 431). His efforts were rewarded with the Peace of Nicias in 421, which nevertheless had only a short life. Pleistoanax finally died in 409 and Pausanias became king again; this time in full capacity. Second reign (409–395 BC). The later part of the Peloponnesian War was dominated  by Lysander, a talented general from the entourage of the Eurypontids. Thanks to his naval victories against Athens in the Aegean Sea, Lysander built a network of friendships with local oligarchies and even the Persian prince Cyrus, which overshadowed the Spartan kings. In 406, Pausanias likely supported the candidacy of Callicratidas to replace Lysander as navarch (commander of the navy), but the latter sabotaged the position of his successor, which led to the defeat of Arginusae and Lysander's return to command the following year. Pausanias' first known command was in 405, when he led the main force of the  Peloponnesian League to besiege Athens. Following the Spartan victory over Athens in the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, the Spartans were in a position to finally force Athens to capitulate. Pausanias laid siege to Athens' main city while the Spartan admiral Lysander's fleet blockaded the port of Piraeus. This action effectively closed the grain route to Athens through the Hellespont, thereby starving Athens. Realising the seriousness of the situation, the Athenian statesman, Theramenes, started negotiations with Lysander. These negotiations took three months, but in the end Lysander agreed to terms at Piraeus. With the capitulation of Athens the  Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC. Lysander then put in place a puppet government in Athens with the establishment of the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants under Critias which included Theramenes as a leading member. However, in 403 BC Pausanias was able to undermine Lysander's dominance of Athens after Pausanias gained the command of the Peloponnesian League expedition against the Athenian democrats then based in Piraeus. Despite opposition from Lysander, Pausanias took the opportunity to promote a reconciliation between the democratic party in Piraeus and the oligarchs controlling Athens' main city, thus allowing the re-establishment of democratic government  in Athens. Pausanias was able to restore democracy in Athens while bringing the Athenians, temporarily, into an alliance with Sparta. Pausanias's actions led to a major conflict with the Spartan ephors. Pausanias was prosecuted, but then acquitted. Corinthian War. Returning to Sparta in 395 BC, Lysander was instrumental in starting a war with Thebes and other Greek cities, which came to be known as the Corinthian War. The Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos (with the backing of the Persians). The Spartans arranged for two armies, one under  Lysander and the other under Pausanias, to rendezvous at and attack the city of Haliartus, Boeotia. Lysander arrived at the city while Pausanias's forces were still several days away. Not willing to wait for Pausanias, Lysander advanced to Haliartus with his troops. In the ensuing Battle of Haliartus, Lysander was killed after bringing his forces too near the walls of the city. Pausanias's army arrived after Lysander's defeat but then left the battle scene primarily due to Athenian military opposition. King Pausanias negotiated a cease of fighting so the bodies of the dead were able to be  collected for a proper burial. After, the Spartan army returned to Sparta. Because of his poor leadership at Haliartus, Pausanias was condemned to death by the Spartans and replaced as king by his young son Agesipolis I. However, Pausanias was able to escape execution and fled Sparta to live in exile in Tegea. Exile. While living in Tegea, Pausanias wrote a pamphlet. No fragments of the pamphlet have survived and its contents or purposes are not clear. However, it seems that he wrote the pamphlet to criticize his opponents in Sparta accusing them of violating traditional Spartan laws and advocating  the abolition of the ephors. Pausanias is believed to have outlived his son, Agesipolis I, according to an inscription found on a monument set up by Pausanias to the memory of his son in Delphi. The year of Pausanias's death is sometime after 380 BC. He was also the father of Cleombrotus I.