Leonidas I

Leonidas I (/lˈɒn..dəs/ lee-ON-i-dəs or /l.əˈn.dəs/; Doric: Λεωνίδας [leɔːnídas], Leōnidas; Ionic Greek: Λεωνίδης, Leōnidēs; died 480 BC), was a Greek warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta. He led the Spartan forces during the Second Persian War and is remembered for his death at the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas was the third son of Anaxandridas II of Sparta, and thus belonged to the Agiad dynasty, who claimed descent from the hero Heracles.

Life

According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was not only his father's wife but also his niece and had been barren for so long that the ephors, the five annually elected administrators of the Spartan constitution, tried to prevail upon King Anaxandridas to set her aside and take another wife. Anaxandridas refused, claiming his wife was blameless, whereupon the ephors agreed to allow him to take a second wife without setting aside his first. This second wife, a descendent of Chilon of Sparta (one of the Seven Sages of Greece), promptly bore a son, Cleomenes. However, one year after Cleomenes' birth, Anaxandridas' first wife also gave birth to a son, Dorieus. Leonidas was the second son of Anaxandridas' first wife, and either the elder brother or twin of Cleombrotus. Because Leonidas was not heir to the throne, he was not exempt from attending the agoge, the public school education which the sons of all Spartans had to complete in order to qualify for citizenship. Leonidas was thus one of the few Spartan kings to have ever undergone the notoriously harsh training of Spartan youth.

Leonidas (physician)

Leonidas, (Greek: Λεωνίδας), a Greek physician who was a native of Alexandria, and belonged to the sect of the Episynthetici. As he is quoted by Caelius Aurelianus, and himself quotes Galen, he probably lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Of his writings, which appear to have been chiefly related to surgical subjects, nothing now remains but some fragments preserved by Aëtius and Paul of Aegina, from which we may judge that he was a skillful practictioner.

Notes

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "article name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 
  • Leonidas (chocolate maker)

    Leonidas is a Belgian chocolate company that produces chocolate and other related products. The company was started in 1913 by Greek-American confectioner Leonidas Kestekides in Brussels although he first began producing his chocolate in the U.S. Even so, according to author and editor Mort Rosenblum, Leonidas chocolate is “real Belgian chocolate, fairly priced, and plenty of people like it.” Its maintenance has been passed down through Leonidas Kestelides’ descendants over the years. Leonidas has 350 shops in Belgium and nearly 1,250 stores in around 50 countries including 340 in France. Leonidas has become one of the highest producing, widespread chocolate companies in the world.

    History

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