ABSTRACT
The reign of Areus is very poorly documented. Even if technically he acceded to the Agiad throne in 309/8, he cannot be said to have ruled before the late 280s. Nor did he attract the attention of biographers, like his Eurypontid predecessor Agesilaus II, or historians (of sorts) in the way that his Agiad successor Cleomenes III did. No less interesting than the fact of coinage is Areus’ choice of the types of Alexander the Great to represent his image, despite the consistent and pertinacious opposition of Sparta to Macedon. Equally impressive in its own way is the Athenian decree passed probably in 268/7 on the proposal of the leading anti-Macedonian politician Chremonides. It would not be entirely fanciful to associate a particular development with the new Hellenism of Areus I and the influx of funds from his potent ally Ptolemy II.
