Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία

1. Family

Antalcidas came from a prominent family of Sparta and his father was Leon, an Olympic winner. He was probably related by marriage to Agesilaos II, the king of Sparta.¹ He was an advocate of the conservative party and he was considered as one of the most powerful men during the Spartan hegemony.²

2. Actions

In 392 BC the Spartans sent Antalcidas to Sardis to undermine the Athenians by negotiating with Persian satrap Tiribazus and proposing a peace treaty. Even though his mission was initially successful for the Spartan interests – since Tiribazus arrested the Athenian admiral Conon-, his aim was not achieved.³

In 388 BC Antalcidas went to Susa and repeated the Spartan proposals for peace. Supported by the Persian satrap, he surmounted Artaxerxes’ II hesitations and convinced him to impose a general peace upon the terms which had been proposed at an earlier date. Thus, Sparta was once again favoured by the Great King.⁴

As admiral (nauarchos) he went to Abydus to take the lead of the Spartan fleet, which had been blockaded by the Athenian general Iphicrates. With Persian reinforcements and the assistance of the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius I, he blockaded the Athenians in the Hellespont and he forced the Athenian trade ships travelling from the Black Sea to Piraeus, to sail to the harbours of the Spartan alliance (387 BC).⁵ Thus, the Athenians and their allies were forced to negotiate and agree to the King’s Peace (or Peace of Antalcidas) in 387/386 BC.⁶ The text of the peace repeated the basic terms already discussed in 392 BC. The Greek cities of Asia Minor and Cyprus were placed under Persian control, whereas the other Greek cities would remain autonomous.⁷

Antalcidas was sent two more times as a Spartan representative to the King of Persia and he was honoured by his city for his role in the negotiations with the Persians.⁸ He went there in 372/371 BC with a request for Artaxerxes’ II interference for maintaining peace in Greece. Then, he undertook a second diplomatic mission to Susa in 367 BC,⁹ which failed, since the Persians had changed their policy and had turned to the victorious Thebans.

3. Death

The failure of his last mission, when the Persians gave him a cold reception at Susa, after the Spartan’s defeat in Leuctra (371 BC), as well as the contempt of the Spartans, invoked his suicide in 367 BC.¹⁰

1. He is considered as a rival of king Agesilaus II. Cf. Der Neue Pauly 1. 723-724 “Antalkidas” (K.W. Welwei). However, their enmity is debatable. Hornblower, S. - Spawforth, A. (eds), The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford - New York 1996), cf. “Antalcidas”, p. 100 (S. J. Hodkinson).

2. RE I.2 (1894), col. 2.344-2.345, cf. “Antalkidas” (W. Judeich).

3. RE I.2 (1894), col. 2.344-2.345, cf. “Antalkidas” (W. Judeich); Bury, J.B. - Meiggs, R., History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (London 1975), p. 343. Analytically cf. Devoto, J.G., “Agesilaus, Antalcidas and the Failed Peace of 392/91 of BC”, CPh 81 (1986), pp. 191-202.

4. Bury, J. B. - Meiggs, R., History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (London 1975), p. 344. H. Bengtson, however, has a different opinion, as he believes that during the negotiations the enemies of Sparta predominated. Cf. Bengtson, H., Ιστορία της Αρχαίας Ελλάδος, tr. Α. Γαβρίλης (Athens1991), pp. 230-231.

5. Cf. Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους Γ1 (Athens 1972), p. 380; RE I.2 (1894), cf. “Antalkidas”, col. 2.344-2.345 (W. Judeich); Bury, J.B. - Meiggs, R., History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (London 1975), p. 345.

6. The consequences of the Peace of Antalcidas were reflected on the fact that all peace treaties among the Greeks for the next 25 years were based on the King’s Peace.

7. X., Hell. 5.1.31-35. Isocrates (4.176) refers to the terms as “commands, not terms”.

8. In 370/369 he was elected ephor. Cf. RE I.2 (1894), cf. “Antalkidas”, col. 2.344-2.345 (W. Judeich); Hornblower, S. - Spawforth, A. (eds), The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford - New York 1996), cf. “Antalcidas”, p. 100 (S.J. Hodkinson).

9. Hornblower, S. - Spawforth, A. (eds), The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford - New York 1996), cf. “Antalcidas”, p. 100 (S.J. Hodkinson). The date 361 BC is also attested as a possible date for Antalcidas’ mission to Susa. Cf. Der Neue Pauly 1 (Stuttgart - Weimar 1996), cf. “Antalkidas”, col. 723.724 (K. W. Welwei).

10. Bengtson, H., Ιστορία της Αρχαίας Ελλάδος, tr. Α. Γαβρίλης (Athens 1991), p. 238.