Battle of Nemea
Battle of Nemea | |||||||
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Part of the Corinthian War | |||||||
The Athenian cavalryman Dexileos fighting an hoplite.[1] Dexileos was killed in action near Corinth in the summer of 394 BC during the Corinthian War. Dexileos probably died in the Battle of Nemea itself,[1] or in a proximate engagement.[2] Grave Stele of Dexileos, early 4th century BC. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Sparta Peloponnesian League | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Aristodemus | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
18,000 hoplites |
24,000 hoplites 600 cavalrymen[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1,100 dead or wounded | 2,800 dead or wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Nemea (394 BC), also known in ancient Athens as the Battle of Corinth,
Prelude
Hostilities in the Corinthian War began in 395 BC with raiding in northwestern Greece, eventually leading to a clash between Sparta and Thebes at the Battle of Haliartus, a Theban victory. In the wake of this battle, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos joined together to form an anti-Spartan alliance, with its forces commanded by a council at Corinth.[5]
In 394 BC, the council gathered together its forces at Corinth. A Spartan army under Aristodemus, the guardian of the boy king Agesipolis, was sent north from Sparta to challenge the allies. The allied army, meanwhile, waited at Corinth, while the council debated over who should command it. Before a decision was reached, the Spartan army entered Corinthian territory, burning and plundering along the way. The allies marched out to meet the Spartans, and the two armies met each other near the dry bed of the Nemea river.[6]
The battle
The Spartan army was composed of some 18,000–19,000
slingers.Opposing the Spartans, the allied side consisted of about 24,000 hoplites, with associated light troops.
The Spartans and their allies lined up for battle with the Spartans on the right and the allies on the left. The opposing coalition was divided over how to arrange themselves; the Athenians wanted to line up on the right, but ultimately had acceded to the demand of the Boeotians that they take the left, while the Boeotians took the right. This meant that the Athenians were opposite the Spartans, while the Boeotians and other allies faced the Spartans' allies.
As the two
The Spartans then turned from their defeat of the Athenians to face the soldiers from the allied right wing who had rashly pursued the Spartans' allies. The Spartan phalanx took first the Argives, then the Corinthians, and then the Boeotians in the side, inflicting heavy losses on all three.[8] According to Diodoros of Sicily, Sparta and its allies had inflicted 2,800 casualties, while suffering only 1,100.[9] Xenophon tells that the Spartans only lost 8 men.[10][11]
The main source of the battle is the pro-Spartan historian Xenophon, who put most of the blame of the allies' defeat on the arrogance and indiscipline of the Thebans.[12]
Aftermath
Although the Spartans held the field at the end of the battle, they were unable to force their way past Corinth and enter central Greece. Accordingly, they returned home. The allied army, after several months of inactivity, saw action in a second major battle at Coronea later in the same year. These two battles marked the only traditional large-scale land fighting that would take place in the war, which lasted until 386 BC.[13]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 9781848322226.
- ^ "IGII2 6217 Epitaph of Dexileos, cavalryman killed in Corinthian war (394 BC)". www.atticinscriptions.com.
- ^ Dyer, Thomas Henry (1873). Ancient Athens: Its History, Topography, and Remains. Bell and Daldy. p. 496.
- ISBN 9780198152392.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library 14.82.1–3
- ^ Xenophon, Hellenica 4.2.9–15
- ^ Xenophon: A History of My Times (Hellenica) 4.2.17 197–198
- ^ Xenophon, Hellenica 4.2.16–23
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library 14.83.1–2
- ^ Xenophon, Hellenica iv.3 § 1
- ^ Pritchett, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography: Battlefields, p. 83.
- ^ Robin Seager, "The Corinthian War", in D. M. Lewis et al., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. VI, p. 102.
- ^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 549-50
Bibliography
- D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Simon Hornblower, M. Ostwald (editors), The Cambridge Ancient History, volume VI: The Fourth Century B. C., Cambridge University Press, 1994.
- Pritchett, W. Kendrick (1965). Studies in ancient Greek topography. Berkeley: University of California Press. OCLC 408298.
- Fine, John V.A. The Ancient Greeks: A critical history (Harvard University Press, 1983) ISBN 0-674-03314-0
- Diodorus Siculus, Library
- Xenophon (1890s) [original 4th century BC]. . Translated by Henry Graham Dakyns – via Wikisource.