Cleomenes and the Burning of Argos
Flames licked at the sanctuary as Argive women hid inside—while a Spartan king circled with torches and a grim smile.
Exekias — "Terracotta neck-amphora (jar) with lid and knob (27.16)" (ca. 540 BCE), public domain
A sanctuary becomes a trap.
After the Spartan victory at Sepeia (494 BC), hundreds of Argive survivors, most of them women, fled to a sacred grove for refuge. King Cleomenes of Sparta ordered his men to pile brushwood around the temple. Then, with chilling precision, he set it alight.
Even the gods look away.
As flames consumed the sanctuary, those inside perished—by fire or by sword as they fled. Herodotus claims Cleomenes later faced madness and exile, his cruelty a warning that not all victories go unpunished.
During Sparta’s war on Argos, King Cleomenes ordered a sanctuary set ablaze—hundreds died inside, many of them women. In his quest for victory, he crossed a sacred line, and even his own allies recoiled.
