1183: Arachidamia
Spartan Warrior Queen
Born: c.340 BC, Sparta (Present-day Sparta, Greece)
Died: c.241 BC, Sparta (Present-day Sparta, Greece)
Also Spelled: Archidamia
Arachidamia led the Spartan women against Pyrrhus during the siege of Lacedaemon. At the time, most of Sparta’s warriors were off fighting a war, leaving the city itself relatively undefended.
Evidently the Spartan elders had decided to send the women and children to Crete, which should have been out of the way and safe. Arachidamia had other ideas and stormed into the meeting with the elders with a sword in hand. Arachidamia vowed that the Spartan women and children would aid in the defense of their city—and they did. The women alone dug a third of a trench that the Spartan defense forces decided they needed around the city.
She was married to Eudamidas I and possibly had one son and one daughter (the sources differ on this—one says she had a single son and another a single daughter). By the time of the Siege of Sparta, for which she is most well-known, Arachidamia’s grandson was on the throne.
Later in life, Arachidamia used her own considerable wealth to donate to Sparta’s less fortunate. This made her a target for political rivals. Her great-grandson, Agis IV, was ruling Sparta at the time. Agis IV and Arachidamia were trying to root out the Spartan corruption and greed that had overtaken the city, and this made them targets. Both Agis and Arachidamia were eventually executed by their political rivals. By then, Arachidamia had to be in her nineties, making her exceptionally old for her day as well.
Unfortunately, very little of what we know about Arachidamia is complete. The sources all have slightly different details included, but we do know she was a real historical person because her story dates back to Antiquity, with authors like Plutarch including her story in their writings.
Sources:
https://www.historynaked.com/arachidamia-of-sparta/
http://emilykq.weebly.com/blog/archidamia-queen-of-sparta