Battle of Megara

Last updated
Battle of Megara
Part of the Peloponnesian War
Date424 BCE
Location
Megara, Greece
Result Inconclusive, essentially Spartan victory
Belligerents
Athens Megara
Peloponnesian league
Commanders and leaders
Hippocrates
Demosthenes
Brasidas
Strength
  • 600 Athenian hoplites under Hippocrates [1]
  • unknown number of light-armed Plataeans and Athenian hoplites under Demosthenes [1]
  • 4,000 Athenian hoplites and 600 cavalry in the second wave [2]

Megara

  • unknown number of Megarian militia


Brasidas' taskforce


Boeotian reinforcements

The Battle of Megara was fought in 424 BC between Athens and Megara, an ally of Sparta. Whilst the Athenian forces were initially successful against the Peloponnesian garrison there, a hasty arrival of Spartan forces under Brasidas saw a stalemate and eventual victory of the oligarchic party within the city of Megara and the withdrawal of Athenian forces.

Contents

Megara was in the country of Megarid, between central Greece and the Peloponnese. Megara, an ally of Sparta, consisted of farming villages, with flat plains and foothills, and hosted two harbors: Pagae (modern Alepochori-Corinthian Gulf) and Nisaia (Saronic Gulf), making it a prime focus of contention1.

Background

Attica had been under siege by the Peloponnesian army led by the Spartan king, Archidamus II. The land siege kept Athenians stuck in their city. However, with the Peloponnesian withdrawal, Athens began to attack. From as early as 431 BC, Megara was under consistent attack from Athens. During the first invasion, Athens brought 10,000 Athenians and numerous allies.

Athens then set up a fort on Salamis, near Nisaia, and created shipping blockades. The blockades delayed imports of food and supplies to Megara. Megarians still had control of Pagae, but Megara was effectively isolated from the western food supplies. Unable to produce normal proportions of food, the situation in Megara began to become dire.

Urged by the Megarian oligarchy in 429, the Peloponnesian fleet attacked the Athenian fort at Salamis. Unknown to the Peloponnesians, the attack was revealed to Athens by beacon lights. Athens dispatched a fleet from the Athenian port of Piraeus. The Peloponnesian attack was abandoned because the Megarian ships were in a state of disrepair.

Under the rule of the pro-Spartan and pro-Corinthian oligarchy, Megara lost the port city of Minoa to Athens in 427, was a contributing factor in more civil unrest. Megarian revolutions against the oligarchy began shortly after and Megara became democratic.

The oligarchy were exiled. Many exiles were permitted by Sparta to inhabit the Boeotian town of Plataea for a year2. Boeotia separated Megara and Athens with high mountains ranges in the north1. The Spartans were then able to prevent interactions between Megarian Democrats and Athenians on Minoa2.

The exiled Megarians in Plataea, began northern raids in Megarid and took Pagae. With oligarch sympathizers still in Megara, the oligarchs returned to Megara in 427 BC, and democracy collapsed.

It is suspected that Athens prevented food supplies to gain control of Megara and prevent further invasions of Attica by the Peloponnesians. However, Athens' capture of Pylos in 425 detained the Peloponnesian army in Messenia, which lessened the importance of Megara to Athenians. Athens had also successfully trapped hundreds of Spartans on Sphacteria. The Spartans removed all military forces from Messina and arranged a truce. Ambassadors were sent to Athens without consulting Spartan allies. Athens had extensive demands, and Sparta requested a private discussion.

Spartan allies were uneasy with the scenario. Megara had a distrust of the Spartans since the Revolution. Megarians feared that Sparta would turn over Nisaia to the Athenians. Meanwhile, within the walls of Megara, the Democrats planned to aid Athens in capturing the long walls of Nisaia. Athens then discredited the Spartan embassy because of its request for privacy and so the truce failed.

'Battle' in practice

During the night, Athenians and their allies approached Megara from Minoa and the road to Eleusis. The plan worked, and the Peloponnesian garrison was effectively isolated from the city. As morning came, Megarian Democrats pretended to be outraged by the captured walls. The Democrats encouraged Megarians to open the city gates and attack the Athenians and then decorated themselves with oil to be easily distinguished from other Megarians. At the crucial moment, the plot was uncovered by the Oligarchs, and the gate remained closed.

Athens sensed the change of plan and attacked the Nisaia garrison. Spartans were taken as prisoners and the Peloponnesians were allowed to ransom themselves. The Spartan commander, Brasidas, appeared with an army larger than the Athenians. The two cavalries fought under the walls of Megara.

The oligarchs opened the gate to Brasidas and their allies. The Athenians declined to battle with the Peloponnesians. Over time, Brasidas and Athens both left the city. The Peloponnesian armies stayed. Rhetorically, Brasidas was able to employ the memory of Athenian hesitance in Megara to great effect during his remaining campaigns.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megara</span> Municipality in Greece

Megara is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King Pandion II, of whom Nisos was the ruler of Megara. Megara was also a trade port, its people using their ships and wealth as a way to gain leverage on armies of neighboring poleis. Megara specialized in the exportation of wool and other animal products including livestock such as horses. It possessed two harbors, Pagae to the west on the Corinthian Gulf, and Nisaea to the east on the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peloponnesian War</span> War between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BC)

The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time, until the decisive intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet, built with Persian subsidies, finally defeated Athens and started a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.

This article concerns the period 439 BC – 430 BC.

This article concerns the period 429 BC – 420 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lysander</span> Spartan military and political leader (died 395 BC)

Lysander was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played a key role in Sparta's domination of Greece for the next decade until his death at the Battle of Haliartus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace of Nicias</span> 421 BC treaty between Athens and Sparta

The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty signed between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in March 421 BC that ended the first half of the Peloponnesian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brasidas</span> 5th Century BC Spartan general

Brasidas was the most distinguished Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He died during the Second Battle of Amphipolis while winning one of his most spectacular victories.

<i>History of the Peloponnesian War</i> 5th century BC history book by Thucydides

The History of the Peloponnesian War is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League. It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian historian who also served as an Athenian general during the war. His account of the conflict is widely considered to be a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history. The History is divided into eight books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Amphipolis</span> Military investment of Amphipolis by Sparta (422 BC)

The Battle of Amphipolis was fought in 422 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It was the culmination of events that began in 424 BC with the capture of Amphipolis by the Spartans.

Pleistoanax, also spelled Plistoanax, was Agiad king of Sparta from 458 to 409 BC. He was the leader of the peace party in Sparta at a time of violent confrontations against Athens for the hegemony over Greece.

The Megarian Decree was a set of economic sanctions levied upon Megara c. 432 BC by the Athenian Empire shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. This move is considered one of the first uses of economics as a foreign policy tool. The decree addressed the Megarians' supposed trespass on land sacred to Demeter known as the Hiera Orgas, the killing of the Athenian herald who was sent to their city to reproach them, and giving shelter to slaves who had fled from Athens. The Megarian decree effectively blocked Megara from trading in any port within the Delian League, isolating the city and greatly damaging its economy. The exact influence the Megarian Decree had on the beginning of the Peloponnesian War is a matter that is highly debated to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Walls</span> City wall in ancient Athens

Although long walls were built at several locations in ancient Greece, notably Corinth and Megara, the term Long Walls generally refers to the walls that connected Athens' main city to its ports at Piraeus and Phaleron.

Hagnon, son of Nikias was an Athenian general and statesman. In 437/6 BC, he led the settlers who founded the city of Amphipolis in Thrace; in the Peloponnesian War, he served as an Athenian general on several occasions, and was one of the signers of the Peace of Nicias and the alliance between Athens and Sparta. In 411 BC, during the oligarchic coup, he supported the oligarchy and was one of the ten commissioners (probouloi) appointed to draw up a new constitution.

The First Peloponnesian War was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy and concern felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire.

The Mytilenean revolt was an incident in the Peloponnesian War in which the city of Mytilene attempted to unify the island of Lesbos under its control and revolt from the Athenian Empire. In 428 BC, the Mytilenean government planned a rebellion in concert with Sparta, Boeotia, and certain other cities on the island, and began preparing to revolt by fortifying the city and laying in supplies for a prolonged war. These preparations were interrupted by the Athenian fleet, which had been notified of the plot, and the Mytileneans sent representatives to Athens to discuss a settlement, but simultaneously dispatched a secret embassy to Sparta to request support.

The Thirty Years' Peace was a treaty signed between the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in 446/445 BC. The treaty brought an end to the conflict commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c. 460 BC.

Pythion of Megara was a citizen of Megara who was commemorated for his courage in battle and for saving three Athenian tribes from death. His existence is known from an inscription on a commemorative stele found in the grave area outside the Acharnian Gate in Classical Athens. Pythion's actions are significant within the context of the campaigns in 446 BC that marked the closing stages of the First Peloponnesian War, and the stele as an object in itself is significant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cnemus</span> Spartan navarch from 430 to 429/428 BC

Cnemus was the Spartan fleet commander during the second and third years of the Archidamian War. During his command, Cnemus oversaw a series of operations that met with failure. As a result, the Spartans began to question Cnemus' leadership and sent several advisers to assist him in his command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisaea</span>

Nisaea or Nisaia was the Saronic port town of the ancient polis Megara. In Greek mythology, Nisaea was founded by one of Pandion II's sons, Nisos, who named the region given to him by his father Nisaea, after himself. Control of Nisaea slipped back and forth between Athens and Megara both before and during the Peloponessian War. Athenian allies of the Megarians built long walls which connected Nisaea to Megaris. According to Thucydides, the length of the walls that connected the port to Megara were eight Greek stadia, while Strabo claims the walls to have been 18 stadia in length. A temple of Demeter was located on the road near Nisaea, and a temple of Poseidon located within the port town. Nisaean Megara is thought to have been the birthplace of poet Theognis, but his birthplace is not known for certain The location of the ancient port town remains in debate by historians.

The Affair of Epidamnus, also known as the Epidamnian Affair, is cited by the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides as one of the major immediate causes for the Peloponnesian War. The conflict began as a minor coup by a democratic faction of the city-state of Epidamnus, but eventually escalated into a major conflict between the cities of Athens and Corcyra on one side and the city of Corinth on the other. The culminating Battle of Sybota subsequently led to the Potidaean Affair and the Megarian Decree, both also major contributors to the final outbreak of hostilities between Athens and Sparta, beginning the Peloponnesian War.

References

  1. 1 2 Kagan, The Archidamian War, p. 273.
  2. ↑ Kagan, The Archidamian War, p. 274.
  3. 1 2 3 Kagan, the Archidamian War, p. 275.
  4. 1 2 Kagan, The Archidamian War, p. 276.

1. Goete, Hans Rupprecht. Athens, Attica and the Megarid. New York:Routledge,1993./p>

2. Legon, Ronald P. Megara-The Political History of a Greek City-State. New York: Cornell University Press, 1981.

3. Kagan, Donald. The Archidamian War. Cornell University Press, 1984.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.