Why did Sparta have Two Kings?

Ancient Sparta is super famous for being a major military powerhouse.

Everyone knows about King Leonidas and the epic Battle of Thermopylae.

But here's something not everyone talks about—Leonidas wasn’t the only king of Sparta.

Yep, Sparta actually had two kings, each from a different royal family, sharing power equally.

So, why did Sparta end up with two kings, and what did they even do?

Well, the Spartans believed their royal dynasties, the Agiads and Eurypontids, started when King Aristodemus had twin sons.

Since no one could tell which one was older, the Spartans figured, "Why not have both be kings?"

But Historians think the real reason for two kings is that when Sparta was first getting started, it was made up of smaller settlements merging together.

The leaders of the two biggest settlements agreed to share the throne, and this system just stuck around—kind of like what happened in ancient Crete.

But the question of why Sparta had two kings isn’t just about how it started, but also why it kept this system for so long.

To understand that, you’ve got to know a bit about how Spartan politics worked.

Sparta had what’s called a "mixed constitution."

They had an elected assembly called the Apella, which chose the Gerousia, a council of