Sparta was a diarchy, having two kings at the same time, an Agiad and a Eurypontid. Theopompus was the son and successor to the Eurypontid king Nicander.
To our king beloved of the gods, Theopompus, through whom we took Messene with wide dancing-grounds.
Pausanias writes that Theopompus was succeeded by his grandson Zeuxidamas or great-grandson Anaxidamus, Theopompus' son Archidamus having predeceased him,[2] though there is some evidence[clarification needed] that his successor was Anaxandridas I, father of Zeuxidamus.
Plutarch, in his Parallel Lives, stated that it was in Theopompus' reign that the ephors were introduced in Sparta.[3] Plutarch also recorded a tradition in Messenia that Theopompus had fallen in battle, being slain by Aristomenes. Sparta denied the truth of this latter story, claiming that Theopompus had been only wounded.[4]
References
↑Pausanias, tr. W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod (1918). Description of Greece. Robert Hale Ltd., London, Book 4, VI, 5.
↑Pausanias, tr. W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod (1918). Description of Greece. Robert Hale Ltd., London, Book 3, VII, 5-6.