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Sparta at War, Scott M. Rusch. A study of
the rise, dominance and fall of Sparta, the most famous military power in the
Classical Greek world. Sparta dominated land warfare for two centuries, before
suffering a series of defeats that broke its power. The author examines the
reasons for that success, and for Sparta's failure to bounce back from defeat.
[read full review]
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In the battle of Apollonia Sparta's ally Derdas of Elimia defeated an
Olynthian cavalry raid that had entered the territory of Apollonia. In 382 the
Spartans had received two embassies asking for help against Olynthus, a rising
power in Chalcidice, and had decided to send an army north to aid Amyntas III
of Macedon and the Chalcidian cities of Acanthus and Apollonia. Their first
army was sent in two waves, of which only the first reached Thrace, where it
soon bogged down. The second wave ended up seizing power in Thebes. The
Spartans responded by sending a second army to Thrace, this time commanded by
Teleutias, the half
brother of King Agesilaus II. On his way north
Teleutias took care to gather allies, amongst them the Thracian king Derdas of
Elimia. Soon after arriving in the area Teleutias led his army to Olynthus,
where he was saved from defeat by Derdas (battle of Olynthus, 382). Although
Teleutias claimed this had been a victory, over the winter of 382-38 the
Olynthians carried out a series of raids into the territory of Sparta's allies
in the area. In the spring of 381 the Olynthians sent a force of six hundred
cavalry to raid Apollonia, north of Olynthus. By noon on the day of the raid
the Olynthian cavalry was quite widely spread, plundering the local area.
Unluckily for the Olynthians, on the same day Derdas had arrived in Apollonia
with his cavalry. Derdas waited until the raiders were approaching the city
walls of Apollonia before he unleashed his own cavalry. This caught the
Olynthians by surprise, disorganised, and probably separated into smaller
groups in the suburbs of Apollonia. In contrast Derdas's men were well
concentrated, and they quickly forced the raiders to flee. The Olynthians were
pursued all the way back to their city walls, losing eighty dead during the
fighting. This was the high point for Teleutias. Later in 381 he launched
another raid into Olynthian territory, but he was caught by the Olynthian
cavalry, which had clearly not been too badly damaged at Apollonia, defeated,
and killed (battle of Olynthus, 381). This didn't end the bad news for Sparta -
a fresh army, commanded by King
Agesipolis, was sent
north, but didn't achieve much before the king died of a fever in the summer of
380.
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