A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Τήλεκλος), king of Sparta, 8th of the Agids, and son of Archelaus. In his reign the Spartans subdued the Achaean towns of Amyclae, Pharis, and Geranthrae. Not long after these successes Teleclus was slain by the Messenians, in a temple of Artemis Limnatis, on the borders. According to the Spartan account, he had gone thither to offer sacrifice, with a company of maidens, and fell in an attempt to rescue them from the violence of the Messenians. The Messenian statement, however, was, that he had treacherously brought with him a body of Spartan youths, disguised as maidens, and with dangers hidden under their dress, for the purpose of mardering a number of the noblest Messenians at the festival, and that the objects of the plot had killed him and his associates in self-defence. (Hdt. 7.204; Aristot. apud Schol. ad Pind. Isthm. 7.18 ; Paus. 3.2, 4.4; Ephor. apud Strab. vi. p. 279 ; Clint. F. H. vol. i. pp. 129, 250, 337.)

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