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The battle of
Haliartus in
395 was the first significant fighting during the
Corinthian War
(395-386) and was a Spartan defeat that saw the death of
Lysander, their victorious
leader from of the Great
Peloponnesian
War. At the end of the Great Peloponnesian War Sparta had alienated her
allies in Corinth and Thebes by refusing to allow them to share the spoils of
victory. They continued to anger the Thebans by establishing a presence in
Thessaly, an area that Thebes fell within her sphere of influence. In 401-400
they sided with the Persian rebel Cyrus the Younger, but he was defeated at
Cunaxa IN 400.
This left the Greek cities of Asia Minor exposed to Persian attack. The
Spartans decided to support them, triggering the Persian-Spartan War of
400-387. Thebes and Corinth refused to contribute troops for this campaign,
which was led by the Spartan king
Agesilaus II. At the
same time the Persians sent envoys to Greeks to try and stir up opposition to
Sparta at home. The almost inevitable war was triggered by an incident in
central Greece. The Thebans, who wanted a war, needed to find a way to force
the rest of Boeotia to join in. According to our sources they did this by
stirring up trouble between two of their western neighbours - Phocis and
Locris. The Thebans convinced the Locrians to levy a tax in a disputed border
area. The Phocians responded with an invasion of Western Locris. The Locrians
were allied with Boeotia, and called for assistance. The Boeotians responded by
planning an invasion of Phocis. In turn the Phocians asked for help from
Sparta. The Spartans demanded that the Boeotians cancelled their plans. When
the Boeotians refused to comply and raided into Phocis, the Spartans decided to
go to war.
The Spartans decided to conduct a two pronged invasion of Boeotia. The main
army was to concentrate at Tegea, under the command of King
Pausanias, and
then advance through Corinthian territory and invade Boeotian from the east.
Lysander, the key Spartan commander late in the Peloponnesian War, was sent to
Phocis to raise a local army and then attack Boeotia from the west. The two
forces were to meet at Haliertus, then on the southern shores of Lake Copais.
Lysander gathered a reasonably powerful army. He probably had a few hundred
Spartans, but the core of his army was made up of around 2,000 Phocians and
forces from Sparta's northern allies around Ainis, Malis and Mount Oeta (areas
just south of ancient Thessaly). After gathering his army Lysander advanced
into north-western Boeotia. His first success came at Orchomenus, on the
north-western shores of Lake Copais, where he was able to convince the locals
to switch sides. He then advanced down the western shores of the lake, where
his troops captured Lebadeia. He probably bypassed Coronea, on the
south-western shore of the lake, and advanced towards Haliartus. As Lysander
advanced, the Boeotians searched for allies. They found them in Athens, still
slowly recovering from her crushing defeat in 404 the civil strife that
followed. Even so the Athenians were willing to enter into an alliance with
Boeotia. As the Spartans were already actively campaign in Boeotia this new
alliance was immediately activated and the Athenians sent an army into Boeotia,
commanded by Thrasybulus. This Athenian
army quickly reached Thebes, and took over the defence of the city. This
allowed the main Theban army to move west to face Lysander. Xenophon, writing
not long after the battle, gives a brief description of events. Lysander
arrived outside Haliartus a few days before Pausanias with the main Spartan
army. Instead of waiting for Pausanias, Lysander decided to try and take the
town. He approached the walls and attempted to convince the inhabitants to
change sides, but the Thebans already had some troops inside the walls and this
failed. Lysander then attempted to attack the city. News of his activities
reached the main Theban army, which rushed to the scene. Xenophon wasn't sure
if Lysander had been ambushed, or if he had deliberately chosen to fight
outside the walls. Whichever was the case, the Thebans attacks and Lysander was
killed. A trophy to celebrate the victory was built just outside the gates. In
the aftermath of this defeat the rest of Lysander's men fled south towards the
mountains. The Thebans followed in hot pursuit, but suffered at least two
hundred dead in fighting in the mountains and were forced to retreat.
Plutarch's Life of Lysander provides a similar picture, although with some more
details and a few differences. In his account the Thebans discovered that the
Spartans planned to unite at Haliartus after capturing a messenger moving
between their two forces. The main Theban army arrived at Haliartus before
Lysander. They posted part of their army inside the walls and the rest
somewhere nearby. At first Lysander decided to camp on a nearby hill and wait
for Pausanias to arrive, but later in the day he became impatient and advanced
in a column towards the walls. The Theban troops left outside the city advanced
anti-clockwise around the walls and approached Lysander's men from the rear,
near a spring called Cissusa. The troops inside the walls waited until Lysander
and his soothsayer were isolated in front of their army and then attacked.
Lysander was killed in this initial attack (by Neochorus of Haliartus), and the
Spartan advance guard fled back towards the main force. The Thebans kept
coming, and the Spartan army fled into the mountains. Plutarch also reports the
Theban setback in the mountains, which he blamed on the desire of some Thebans
to clear their names after they were suspected of being pro-Sparta. According
to Plutarch the Spartans lost 1,000 dead and the Thebans 300. Both sources
agree on what happened next. By the time Pausanias arrived with the main
Spartan army the Athenians had arrived from Thebes. He briefly considered
fighting a second battle, but decided that it wasn't worth the risk. One major
factor was that Lysander's body was close to the city walls, and would thus
have been difficult to rescue. Pausanias asked for a truce to recover the
bodies, acknowledging the Spartan defeat. He then led his army west into
Phocis, where Lysander was buried. News of this defeat caused outrage in
Sparta. Pausanias was put on trial, accused of not moving fast enough to reach
Haliartus, failing to fight to try and recover Lysander's body, and for his
actions at the Piraeus a few years earlier, where he had allowed the Athenians
to restore their democracy. Pausanias wisely decided not to attend the trial
and instead fled to Tegea, spending the rest of his life in exile. He was
succeeded by his underage son Agesipolis. As a result the Spartans had lost two
experienced leaders in a short time and were forced to recall Agesilaus II from
his campaign against the Persians.
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The Spartan Supremacy 412-371 BC, Mike Roberts and Bob Bennett.
. Looks at the short spell between the end of the Great Peloponnesian War and
the battle of Leuctra where Sparta's political power matched her military
reputation. The authors look at how Sparta proved to be politically unequal to
her new position, and how this period of supremacy ended with Sparta's military
reputation in tatters and her political power fatally wounded.
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.
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