View source for Procles

{{Distinguish|Proclus}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Procles
| title        = Basileus (king) of Sparta
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| reign        = {{circa}} 1104 – 1062 BC
| coronation   = 
| image_size   = 
| predecessor  = 
| successor    = [[Soos (king of Sparta)|Soos]]
| queen        = Anaxandra
| spouse       = 
| issue        = [[Soos (king of Sparta)|Soos]]<br />Lyside (wife of [[Periander]])
| royal house  = [[Heracleidae|Heraclids]]
| dynasty      = 
| father       = [[Aristodemus]]
| mother       = [[Argia (mythology)|Argia]]
| religion     = 
| signature    = 
}}
In [[Greek mythology|Greek legends]], '''Procles''' ({{langx|el|Προκλῆς}}, "the renowned"<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|1830|loc=Section I.5.16}}.</ref>) was one of the [[Heracleidae]], a great-great-great-grandson of [[Heracles]], and a son of [[Aristodemus]] and [[Argia (mythology)|Argia]]. His twin was [[Eurysthenes]]. Together they received the land of [[Lacedaemon]] after [[Cresphontes]], [[Temenus]] and [[Aristodemus]] defeated [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], the last Achaean king of the [[Peloponnesus]]. Procles married Anaxandra, daughter of [[Thersander]], King of Kleonoe, sister of his sister-in-law Lathria, and was the father of [[Soos (king of Sparta)|Soos]] and the grandfather of [[Eurypon]], founder of the Eurypontid dynasty of the [[Kings of Sparta]].<ref name=smitheur>{{cite encyclopedia  | last = Mason  | first = Charles Peter  | title = Procles  | editor = William Smith  | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer)  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 3  | page = 532  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | location = Boston  | year = 1867  | url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2865.html  | url-status = usurped  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110805103540/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2865.html  | archive-date = 2011-08-05  }}</ref>

The title of ''archēgetēs'', "founding magistrate," was explicitly denied to Eurysthenes and Procles by the later Spartan government on the grounds that they were not founders of a state, but were maintained in their offices by parties of foreigners. Instead the honor was granted to their son and grandson, for which reason the two lines were called the Agiads and the Eurypontids.<ref>{{cite book | title=Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean | first=Irad | last=Malkin | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2003 | pages=110–111}}</ref>

==Legend of the double kingship==
{{main|Eurysthenes}}
After the death of Aristodemus the Spartans consulted the [[Pythia|oracle at Delphi]] concerning which of his twin sons should rule. The oracle advised them to set up a dual monarchy. Theras, Argeia's brother was made regent. There was still a necessity of designating the elder. They chose the one the mother fed and cleaned first, Eurysthenes.<ref name=smitheur/> Consequently, the Eurypontid line was the less senior in status and decision-making,

==Dates of the reigns of the first nine kings of the Eurypontid line==
The untimely death of Aristodemus with other events has served as some basis for dating the reigns of the first nine kings of Sparta in the line known by state definition as the Eurypontid. The [[Return of the Heracleidae]], which is the closest event to a [[Dorian Invasion]] available in legend, must coincide with the entry of Aristodemus and his brethren into [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], which, based on the chronology of [[Eratosthenes]], happened 328 years before the generally accepted date of the first year of the first [[Olympiad]], 776 BC. Eratosthenes' date is therefore 1104 BC.<ref>{{cite book | first=Carl W. | last=Blegen | title=Troy and Trojans | location=New York | publisher=Barnes & Noble | year=1995 | orig-year=1966 | page=162}}</ref> This must be the year of Aristodemus' military activity in Arcadia, his fatherhood and his assassination. Procles was therefore born in 1104 BC, which was the first year of his reign, if the regency of Theras is discounted.

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that the end of the [[First Messenian War]] was the first year of the 14th Olympiad.<ref>''Guide to Greece'', 4.13.7.</ref> The date must have been 724/723 BC if the first year of the first Olympiad was 776/775 BC. Kings [[Polydorus]] of the Agiads and [[Theopompus]] of the Eurypontids were reigning at that time, roughly in mid-reign. The end of the war must be 379 years from the return of the Heraclids.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Newton['s] revised history of ancient kingdoms: a complete chronology | first=Isaac | last=Newton | editor-first=Larry | editor-last=Pierce | editor2-first=Marion | editor2-last=Pierce | location=Green Forest, Ark. | publisher=Master Books | year=2008 | orig-year=1782 | pages=25–26}}</ref> According to [[Isaac Newton]], also a classical scholar, the nine kings reigned an average of 42 years each, which can be used as an estimator of the dates. The less senior line has a slightly lower mortality rate than the senior line. Procles' reign might be estimated at 1104–1062, except that some sources say he died one year before Eurysthenes.<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|1830|loc=Section I.5.14.}}</ref> Taking into account both pieces of information, the estimate would be 1104–1063. An alternative would be to accept the 1104-1062 and extend the estimate for Eurysthenes to 1104–1061. In either the case margin of error remains unknown, as much of the data is relatively uncertain.

==See also==
* [[List of kings of Sparta]]
* [[Twins in mythology]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | title=The history and antiquities of the Doric race | first=Karl Otfried | last=Müller |translator=George Cornewall Lewis |translator2=Henry Tufnell |location=London | publisher=J. Murray | year=1830 | volume=I}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Aristodemus?}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of kings of Sparta|King of Sparta]]|years=c. 1104 – c. 1062 B.C.}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Soos (king of Sparta)|Soos]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Kings of Sparta}}

[[Category:Heracleidae]]
[[Category:Mythological kings of Sparta]]
[[Category:Eurypontid kings of Sparta]]