Battle of Mount Lycaeum

Last updated
Battle of Mount Lycaeum
Part of the Cleomenean War
Map Cleomenean War-en.svg
A map of depicting the location of the Battle of Mount Lycaeum.
Date227 BC
Location
Mount Lycaeum, border of Elis and Arcadia
Result Spartan victory
Belligerents
Sparta Achaean League
Commanders and leaders
Cleomenes III Aratus of Sicyon
Casualties and losses
Light Heavy

The Battle of Mount Lycaeum was fought between Sparta led by Cleomenes III and the Achaean League commanded by Aratus. It was the first major battle of the Cleomenean War. The battle occurred at Mount Lycaeum on the border of Elis and Arcadia and ended in a Spartan victory.

Contents

Prelude

In 229 BC, Cleomenes III, King of Sparta, initiated a campaign with the aim of extending the regional power of his kingdom. [1] This was opposed by the major power in the Peloponnese, the Achaean League. In an attempt to curtail the resurgent power of Sparta, the Achaeans led by their strategos, Aratus, unsuccessfully attempted to re-capture the cities of Tegea and Orchomenus. [2] This failure was made worse when a vastly numerically superior Achaean army commanded by Aristomachos of Argos declined to offer battle to the army of Cleomenes. [1]

Though these failures were offset to some extent by the occupation of Caphyae, a city that had previously been taken over by Cleomenes, the Spartan ascendancy in the war was becoming apparent. Ptolemy III of Egypt, who had been supporting the Achaean campaign against Macedon, shifted his financial backing from the Achaean League to Sparta. Ptolemy based this on the assumption that Sparta would be a more useful ally in counterbalancing Macedon. [3]

Battle

Aratus was re-elected strategos in 227 BC and then launched an invasion of Elis, a Spartan ally. The Elians, unable to defeat the Achaeans, asked Sparta for assistance. The Spartan response was to dispatch Cleomenes with an army to aid their allies. [4] As the Achaeans were returning from Elis, Cleomenes launched an attack on the Achaeans near Mount Lycaeum, on the border of Elis and Arcadia. [4] The Achaeans, who were unprepared for battle, fled in disarray from the combat. The Spartans scored a comprehensive victory, routing the opposing army. [4] They managed to capture a great part of the Achaean army as well as inflicting massive casualties. [4] The victory was so complete that it was initially thought that Aratus had been slain in the midst of battle. [4]

Aftermath

Aratus was able to use the confusion in the aftermath of the battle to his advantage. He seized the city of Mantinea from the Spartans and secured it. [4] This success was short-lived as the Achaeans were decisively defeated by Cleomenes at the Battle of Ladoceia later in 227 BC [5] and again at the Battle of Dyme in 226 BC. [6] These victories established Spartan dominance over the Peloponnese.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Plutarch. Life of Cleomenes, 4
  2. Polybius. The Rise of the Roman Empire, 2.46; Plutarch. Life of Cleomenes, 4; Hammond & Walbank 2001 , p. 342.
  3. Polybius. The Rise of the Roman Empire, 2.51; Green 1990 , p. 249; Hammond & Walbank 2001 , p. 347.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Plutarch. Life of Cleomenes, 5
  5. Plutarch. Life of Cleomenes, 6; Smith 1873
  6. Plutarch. Life of Cleomenes, 14; Green 1990 , p. 258; Hammond & Walbank 2001 , p. 347.

Related Research Articles

This article concerns the period 229 BC – 220 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleomenes III</span> 3rd century BCE King of Sparta, Agiad dynasty

Cleomenes III was one of the two kings of Sparta from 235 to 222 BC. He was a member of the Agiad dynasty and succeeded his father, Leonidas II. He is known for his attempts to reform the Spartan state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achaean League</span> Confederation of ancient Greek city-states (280–146 BC)

The Achaean League was a Hellenistic-era confederation of Greek city-states on the northern and central Peloponnese. The league was named after the region of Achaea in the northwestern Peloponnese, which formed its original core. The first league was formed in the fifth century BC. The second Achaean League was established in 280 BC. As a rival of Antigonid Macedon and an ally of the Roman Republic, the league played a major role in the expansion of Rome into Greece. This process eventually led to the League's conquest and dissolution by the Romans in 146 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabis of Sparta</span> Last king of Sparta from 207 to 192 BC

Nabis was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous "War against Nabis", i.e. against him. After taking the throne by executing two claimants, he began rebuilding Sparta's power. During the Second Macedonian War, Nabis sided with King Philip V of Macedon and in return he received the city of Argos. However, when the war began to turn against the Macedonians, he defected to Rome. After the war, the Romans, urged by the Achaean League, attacked Nabis and defeated him. He then was assassinated in 192 BC by the Aetolian League. He represented the last phase of Sparta's reformist period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellenistic Greece</span> Historical period of Greece following Classical Greece

Hellenistic Greece is the historical period of the country following Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek Achaean League heartlands by the Roman Republic. This culminated at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC, a crushing Roman victory in the Peloponnese that led to the destruction of Corinth and ushered in the period of Roman Greece. Hellenistic Greece's definitive end was with the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, when the future emperor Augustus defeated Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony, the next year taking over Alexandria, the last great center of Hellenistic Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonus III Doson</span> King of Macedon, Antigonid Dynasty

Antigonus III Doson was king of Macedon from 229 BC to 221 BC. He was a member of the Antigonid dynasty. He was called Euergetes, Soter and Guardian (ἐπίτροπος) as he was the guardian of Philip V of Macedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philopoemen</span> Ancient Greek general

Philopoemen was a skilled Greek general and statesman, who was Achaean strategos on eight occasions.

Demetrius of Pharos was a ruler of Pharos involved in the First Illyrian War, after which he ruled a portion of the Illyrian Adriatic coast on behalf of the Romans, as a client king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Sellasia</span> 222 BCE battle between a Macedonian-Achaean alliance and Sparta

The Battle of Sellasia took place during the summer of 222 BC between Macedon and the Achaean League, led by Antigonus III Doson, and Sparta under the command of King Cleomenes III. The battle was fought at Sellasia on the northern frontier of Laconia and ended in a Macedonian-Achaean victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aratus of Sicyon</span> Greek statesman, general and Achaean League strategos (271–213 BC)

Aratus of Sicyon was a politician and military commander of Hellenistic Greece. He was elected strategos of the Achaean League 17 times, leading the League through numerous military campaigns including the Cleomenean War and the Social War.

Phylarchus was a Greek historical writer whose works have been lost, but not before having been considerably used by other historians whose works have survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Dyme</span>

The Battle of Dyme or Dymae was fought by the Achaean League under the command of their Strategos, Hyperbatas, and a Spartan army under the command of King Cleomenes III, and was part of the Cleomenean War. The battle took in place near Dyme in north-west Achaea and was fought in 226 BC.

Lydiadas of Megalopolis or Lydiades (Λυδιάδης) was an ancient Greek tyrant of his city Megalopolis in Arcadia. He came to power around the year 245 BC, but after ten years he decided to step down, leading his city to join the Achaean League. As a reward the Achaeans elected him to the post of strategos, that is of the League, for three terms in 234/33, 232/31 and 230/29 BC. In 227 BC he lost the elections against Aratus of Sicyon, but was chosen as hipparch, in this position he fell at the gates of his city during a cavalry charge against the Spartan king Cleomenes III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War against Nabis</span> War in 195 BC in Greece

The Laconian War of 195 BC was fought between the Greek city-state of Sparta and a coalition composed of Rome, the Achaean League, Pergamum, Rhodes, and Macedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleomenean War</span> Spartan war (229/228–222 BCE)

The Cleomenean War was fought between Sparta and the Achaean League for the control of the Peloponnese. Under the leadership of king Cleomenes III, Sparta initially had the upper hand, which forced the Achaean League to call for help the Macedonian king Antigonos Doson, who decisively defeated Cleomenes in the battle of Sellasia in 222.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Sparta</span> Failed Epirote siege of Sparta

The siege of Sparta took place in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus, led by King Pyrrhus, and an alliance consisting of Sparta, under the command of King Areus I and his heir Acrotatus, and Macedon. The battle was fought at Sparta and ended in a Spartan-Macedonian victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social War (220–217 BC)</span> Ancient Greek war from 220 to 217 BC

The Social War, also War of the Allies and the Aetolian War, was fought from 220 BC to 217 BC between the Hellenic League under Philip V of Macedon and the Aetolian League, Sparta and Elis. It was ended with the Peace of Naupactus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigonid Macedonian army</span> Army of the Kingdom of Macedonia during the Antigonid dynasty (276-168 BC)

The Antigonid Macedonian army was the army that evolved from the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia in the period when it was ruled by the Antigonid dynasty from 276 BC to 168 BC. It was seen as one of the principal Hellenistic fighting forces until its ultimate defeat at Roman hands at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. However, there was a brief resurgence in 150-148 during the revolt of Andriscus, a supposed heir to Perseus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese</span> Pyrrhus campaigns in the Peloponnese

Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese in 272 BC was an invasion of south Greece by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. He was opposed by Macedon and a coalition of Greek city-states (poleis), most notably Sparta. The war ended in a joint victory by Macedonia and Sparta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Leontion</span> Battle of the Social War

The Battle of Leontion in 217 BC was the last battle of the Social War, fought between the Achaean League and the Aetolian League. The battle is mentioned by the historian Polybius and by the Achaean poet Damagetus, who calls it the "Battle at the Achaean Trench".

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

37°27′25″N21°58′30″E / 37.45694°N 21.97500°E / 37.45694; 21.97500