A'GIS, the name of several kings of Sparta. Mention is made of a king A. as early as about 1000 years B.C., who subdued the old inhabitants of Sparta, and made the Helots vassals or slaves. Of the others, A. I. reigned during the greater part of the Peloponne sian war, from 420 to 397 B. C.-A. II. ascended the throne in 338 B.C. His hatred of the Macedonian supremacy led him to form alliances with several Persian satraps against Alexander the'great. A., after extending his conquests to almost all the cities of Pelo ponnesus, fell in battle 330 B. C.-A. III. came to the throne in 244 .n.c., when the state of Sparta had fallen into a ruinous condition through long-continued war. Though only twenty years old when he began to reign, he boldly resolved to restore the old institutions and severe manners of Sparta; but intrigues and self-interest in the higher classes frus trated his designs. The riches of the state were now in the hands of a few persons, while a great majority of the people were in extreme indigence. A.. therefore, in accord •
ante with the old laws of the state, proposed a redistribution of landed estates by hit tery. The new ephorus, Agesilaus, who was rich in landed property, but burdened with many debts, astutely proposed that first all debts should he canceled, and next the lands should be divided. The first part of this plan was soon effected; but great hindrances were opposed to the carrying out of the remainder. 3Icanwhile, the disappointed people were easily persuaded that A. had endeavored to introduce measures inimical to the wel 'fare of the state. Pursued by his enemies, he fled for refuge to a temple, but was be trayed by false friends into the hands of the magistrates, who immediately ordered him to be put to death by strangulation (240 B.C.). His mother and his grandmother, who had favored his measures, were barbarously executed in the same manner. Alfieri, the Italian poet, wrote a powerful tragedy on the fate of A. III.