Cleombrotus (4?? BC-371 BC) was a Spartan King who ruled from 380 BC to 371 BC.
Little is known of Cleombrtus's early life however he became king of Sparta after the death of his brother Aegisipolis II in 380 BC. Commanding the Spartan-Peloponesian army against the Thebans under Epaminondas at the Battle of Leuctra where he was killed leading the Spartan army of 700 soldiers in July371 BC.
Further Reading
J.K. Anderson, Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon, London, 1970
Leonidas, touched with compassion, withdrew a while to advise with his friends; then returning, bade Cleombrotus leave the sanctuary and go into banishment; Chilonis, he said, ought to stay with him it not being just she should forsake a father whose affection had granted to her intercession the life of her husband.
So that, in a word, if Cleombrotus were not utterly blinded by ambition, he must surely choose to be banished with so excellent a woman rather than without her to possess a kingdom.
Cleombrotus thus removed, Leonidas proceeded also to displace the ephors, and to choose others in their room; then he began to consider how he might entrap Agis.
In 389 he conducted a campaign in Acarnania, but two years later the Peace of Antalcidas, which was warmly supported by Agesilaus, put an end to hostilities.
When war broke out afresh with Thebes the king twice invaded Boeotia (378, 377), and it was on his advice that Cleombrotus was ordered to march against Thebes in 371.
In 370 Agesilaus tried to restore Spartan prestige by an invasion of Mantinean territory, and his prudence and heroism saved Sparta when her enemies, led by Epaminondas, penetrated Laconia that same year, and again in 362 when they all but succeeded in seizing the city by a rapid and unexpected march.
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