Agis III

In 351 BC, Archidamus and Agis waged a war in the Peloponnese to recover these territories, notably against Megalopolis, a city established by the Thebans on its northwestern border in order to pose a permanent threat to Sparta.

[2] Archidamus III died fighting the Lucanians the same day as the Second Battle of Chaeronea, on 2 August 338 BC, when king Philip II decisively defeated the Greeks.

[8] Because of the failure of Archidamus' campaign and the punitive operation of Philip, Agis III preferred to take the time for Sparta to recover its losses and wait for a good opportunity, rather than opposing Macedonia directly.

[10][11] In 333 BC, Agis went with a single trireme to the Persian commanders in the Aegean Sea, Pharnabazus III and Autophradates, to request money and armaments for carrying on hostile operations against Alexander the Great in Greece.

[13] Two years after this Spartan success (331 BC), the Greek states which were in league against Alexander seized the opportunity that had risen from the military disaster of the Macedonian general Zopyrion's campaign against the Scythians, combined with the Thracian revolt, to declare war against Macedonia.

Agis was invested with the command and with his Spartan troops, and a body of 8,000 Greek mercenaries who had been present at the Battle of Issus, gained a decisive victory in the Peloponnese over a Macedonian army under Coragus.

Despairing of his own life, he ordered the rest to make their escape with all speed and to save themselves for the service of their country, but he himself armed and rising to his knees defended himself, killed some of the enemy and was himself slain by a javelin cast.