Archidamia

Later records of Archidamia date three decades later, with her assisting in the revolutionary designs of her grandson/great-grandson Agis IV, as he attempted to restore Lycurgan institutions to a Sparta then thoroughly corrupted by wealth and greed.[9] Because Archidamia and Agesistrata were the wealthiest two people in all of Lacedaemon,[10] Archidamia's support of Agis was instrumental in gaining support for the cause.[11] She was among those who first pledged to contribute their wealth to a common pool, which was then to be distributed equally amongst both old and new Spartan citizens.[12]

However, these revolutionary designs were foiled by the corruption of Agis's uncle and erstwhile supporter, Agesilaus,[13] and the machinations of a rival party, led by the Agiad King, Leonidas II.[14] Leonidas and the Ephors had Agis illegally imprisoned and executed, unbeknownst to a mob that had gathered out of concern and a possible desire to see him freed.[15] Archidamia and Agesistrata were subsequently lured into the prison on the premise that they were to see Agis; and there they too both met their ends at the hands of their political rivals.[16] Considering that she must have born her son Archidamus IV before 320 BC, at the time of her execution in 241 BC she was probably far in her nineties.

Queen Archidamia has been referenced in other forms of literature. The references include the German work Die grossmüthige Spartanerin, oder, Archidamia by composer Johann Adolf Hasse.[17] More recently Queen Archidamia was referenced in Professor Scott Romine's 'Belles and Poets; Intertextuality in the Civil War Diaries of White Southern Women'. According to Romine Kate Stone drew inspiration from the Queen's famous 'Are you worthy of the name' speech.[18]