Archidamus I

Archidamus I, also spelled Archidamos I (Ancient Greek: Ἀρχίδαμος Α΄), was a king of Sparta, 12th of the Eurypontids.

[2] Archidamus is the first Spartan king to bear the word damos in his name.

Previously, royal names of both dynasties often included the word laus.

These words already existed during the Mycenaean era, in which Laos meant people and damos designated a small community, but in the 7th century the latter word acquired a political meaning, that of the citizens as a whole.

As the Eurypontids were the junior of the Agiads, it seems that they tried to compensate their inferiority by courting citizens.