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Diodorus 15.60.5, under the year 370 BC, informs us that the Agiad Kleomenes II became king of Sparta at that date and reigned for 34 years (i.e. to 336/5). At 20.29.1, under the year 309, he records his death and tells us that he reigned for 60 years and ten months. To die once may be counted a misfortune; to die twice looks very much like carelessness on the part of Diodorus.
All that is known about this singularly obscure king1 can be found in the brief entry under his name in RE XI (1921) 702, lines 9-22, by Lenschau, who refers the reader to Beloch (Gr. Gesch. III.2. 113),2 adding that Diodorus' 34 years is an inexplicable error ('so liegt hier ein Irrtum vor, dessen Entstehung freilich nicht zu erklären ist'). The purpose of this note is to suggest a possible explanation.
The earliest event in the reign of Kleomenes' far from obscure namesake, Kleomenes I, is his 'happening to be in the neighbourhood when the Plataeans sought protection' in 519 (Hdt. 6.108, with Thuc. 3.68.5 for the date).3 The latest event in the reign of his father and predecessor Anaxandridas is the Spartan expedition to Samos c.525.4 Kleomenes fled from Sparta in about 490,5 and committed suicide (or was murdered)6 some time thereafter. There is thus a certain amount of chronological fuzziness at both ends of his...