It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the United Company.

It portrays the reign of Cleomenes, the King of Sparta, inspired by Plutarch's history of the period.

Dryden's version is strongly Jacobite in drawing parallels from his overthrow to the recent Glorious Revolution in England.

[1] The original Drury Lane cast included Thomas Betterton as Cleomenes, Anthony Leigh as Cleonidas, John Verbruggen as Ptolomy, Samuel Sandford as Sosybius, William Mountfort as Cleanthes, Edward Kynaston as Pantheus, John Hodgson as Coenus, Mary Betterton as Cratisiclea, Anne Bracegirdle as Cleora and Elizabeth Barry as Cassandra.

[2] It was published by Jacob Tonson who had by this time secured exclusive rights to Dryden's work past and present.