Agesilaus

This dominating move by Agesilaus earned the respect of his men-at-arms and of Lysander himself, who remained emotionally close with Agesilaus.

Agesilaus, the former passive lover of Lysander, would have nothing of this, and reminded Lysander (who was only a Spartan general) who was king.

Decline When war broke out afresh with Thebes, Agesilaus twice invaded Boeotia (in 378 BC and 377 BC), although he spent the next five years largely out of action due to an unspecified but apparently grave illness.

During these campaigns, Lysander attempted to manipulate Agesilaus into ceding his authority.

Exile and death Upon his return to Greece proper, Xenophon continued to associate with the Spartans, even so far as to fight under the Spartan king Agesilaus II against his native Athens in the Battle of Coronea in 394 BC.

Following his death, an abortive scheme by Lysander to increase his power by making the Spartan kingships collective and that the Spartan king should not automatically be given the leadership of the army, was "discovered" by Agesilaus II.

Hoping to restore the juntas of oligarchic partisans that he had put in place after the defeat of the Athenians in 404 BC, Lysander arranged for Agesilaus II, the Eurypontid Spartan king, to take command of the Greeks against Persia in 396 BC.

However, Agesilaus II had become resentful of Lysander's power and influence.

However, Leotychidas was ultimately set aside as illegitimate (contemporary rumors representing him as the son of Alcibiades ) and Agesilaus became king around 401 BC, at the age of about forty.

In the previous invasion of Asia Minor by the Spartan king Agesilaus, the Persians had pinned him in Asia Minor while fomenting rebellion in Greece.

In these campaigns Agesilaus also benefited from the aid of the Ten Thousand (a mercenary army), who marched through miles of Persian territory to reach the Black Sea.

Legacy Agesilaus was of small stature and unimpressive appearance, and was lame from birth.

Other historical accounts paint Agesilaus as a prototype for the ideal leader.

Plutarch includes among his 78 essays and speeches comprising the apophthegmata Agesilaus' letter to the ephors on his recall: We have reduced most of Asia, driven back the barbarians, made arms abundant in Ionia.

Their unique relationship would serve an important role during Agesilaus' later campaigns in Asia Minor.

The Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos (with the backing of the Achaemenid Empire) and ordered Agesilaus II to return to Greece.