Agis IV (ca. 262-241 BC) was a Spartan king who tried with youthful idealism to return Sparta to the ancient laws of the country and paid for his failure with his life.

Agis, the son of Eudamidas II, was elected one of Sparta's dual kings in 244 B.C. At that time full Spartan citizenship depended on the possession of land and the ability to subscribe to the syssition, the daily group meal which constituted a civil and social occasion. The number of citizens had shrunk rapidly as the ownership of land became concentrated in the hands of a few families, and circulation of foreign money widened the gulf between rich and poor. Agis proposed that all land be redistributed to 4,500 men as citizens and to 15,000 noncitizens, or perioeci, who served in the military, and that all debts and mortgages be canceled.

To show his good faith, Agis surrendered...