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The battle of Mantinea in 418 was a Spartan victory over an alliance of
Peloponnesian states led by Argos and supported by Athens. The alliance
survived into the following year, but the threat that it originally posed to
Sparta was gone. The Peace of Nicias in 421
ended the first phase of the
Peloponnesian War
, but this treaty was unpopular with many of Sparta's allies. The
Corinthians were particularly opposed to the treaty, and began to agitate
against the Spartans. Eventually they convinced the people of Argos to form a
new defensive alliance, with the purpose of reducing the power of Sparta. Over
the next few years this alliance grew to include Mantinea, the Eleans, and most
significantly Athens, but ironically the Corinthians soon lost their enthusiasm
for it and remained loyal to Sparta.
Open warfare between Sparta and the new alliance soon began. In the summer of
418 the Argives attacked the Epidaurians, Spartan allies in Arcadia (in the
Peloponnese). Both sides summoned their allies, and the two armies were soon
facing each other outside Argos. A battle seemed inevitable, but instead the
two side's leaders met and agreed not to fight. King Agis II led the Spartans back
home, where he met a hostile reception. Meanwhile an Athenian contingent joined
the Argives and convinced the allies to continue fighting. They captured
Orchomenos and then decided to attack Tegea, a key Spartan ally, and in
preparation moved to Mantinea. In Sparta Agis came under attack for his actions
at Argos. A committee of ten officers was appointed and he was not allowed to
lead an army from the city without their approval. He was saved by the news
from Tegea. Messengers arrived announcing that the city would soon change sides
if no Spartan army appeared. The Spartans reacted quickly, and Agis was soon in
charge of one of the largest armies ever to leave the city. Messages were also
sent to Corinth and to the Boeotians, Phocians and Locrians summoning them to
Tegea, while the Arcadian allies were collected on the march from Sparta. One
more opportunity for battle would come and go before the actual fighting began.
Agis led his Spartans and the Arcadian allies towards Mantinea and began to
ravage the local countryside.The Argives responded by forming up for battle in
a strong position. Agis formed up his army and advanced to within javelin
range, as if he was going to attack, but then changed his mind (possibly
because an old soldier in the army warned him that he was trying to make up for
his earlier caution with a rash attack). The Spartans pulled back into Tegean
territory. Once there they began to divert the flow of some water into
Mantinean territory in the hope that this would force the Argives to abandon
their strong position. This plan worked, although the Argive leaders were also
responding to pressure not to let the Spartans escape for a second time. The
allied army came down off the hill and formed up in order of battle on the
plains. They were arranged with the Mantineans on the right, their Arcadian
allies next in line, one thousand well trained troops from Argives were next,
followed by the rest of the Argive contingent. To their left were the
Cleonaeans and Orneans, and finally on the extreme left were the Athenians,
with both infantry and cavalry contingents. The Spartans ran into this allied
army while they were returning to their own camp in the plains, and were
temporarily caught by surprise. At this point the well-oiled Spartan military
machine came to their rescue. Agis was able to order the army to get into
formation, and leave the details to his well organised troops. The Spartan left
was held by 600 Sciritae allies. Next came the soldiers that
Brasidas had led in Thrace
before his death in 422, and a force of freed helots. The main Spartan
contingent was next in line. This was made up of seven regiments, with a width
of 448 men. Thucydides was unable to give an accurate figure for the size of
either army, but estimated that the Spartan line was normally eight men deep,
suggesting that there were around 3,600 Spartans involved. Next came the
Spartan's Arcadian allies, then the Maenalians and Tegeans. A small force of
Spartans held the extreme right. There were cavalry contingents at both ends of
the line. As the two armies began to advance towards each other, both of their
right wings became over-extended. The Mantineans on the Argive side extended
beyond the Sciritae, while the Spartans and Tegeans on the Spartan right
extended beyond the Athenians. According to Thucydides this happened because
the men at the right-hand end of the line tended to drift right in order to
prevent their un-shielded right-hand side from being attacked. Agis responded
to this drift by ordering the Sciritae to move to their left to come level with
the Mantineans, while two Spartan regiments were ordered to move from the right
to fill the gap.
The Sciritea moved as ordered, but the two Spartan regiments failed to
move, leaving a gap in the line. When the battle began the Argives had the edge
on this flank, but were defeated. The Argives responded by forming up for
battle in a strong position. Agis formed up his army and advanced to within
javelin range, as if he was going to attack, but then changed his mind
(possibly because an old soldier in the army warned him that he was trying to
make up for his earlier caution with a rash attack). The Spartans pulled back
into Tegean territory. Once there they began to divert the flow of some water
into Mantinean territory in the hope that this would force the Argives to
abandon their strong position. This plan worked, although the Argive leaders
were also responding to pressure not to let the Spartans escape for a second
time. The allied army came down off the hill and formed up in order of battle
on the plains. They were arranged with the Mantineans on the right, their
Arcadian allies next in line, one thousand well trained troops from Argives
were next, followed by the rest of the Argive contingent. To their left were
the Cleonaeans and Orneans, and finally on the extreme left were the Athenians,
with both infantry and cavalry contingents. The Spartans ran into this allied
army while they were returning to their own camp in the plains, and were
temporarily caught by surprise. At this point the well-oiled Spartan military
machine came to their rescue. Agis was able to order the army to get into
formation, and leave the details his well organised troops. The Spartan left
was held by 600 Sciritae allies. Next came the soldiers that Brasidas had led
in Thrace before his death in 422, and a force of freed helots. The main
Spartan contingent was next in line. This was made up of seven regiments, with
a width of 448 men. Thucydides was unable to give an accurate figure for the
size of either army, but estimated that the Spartan line was normally eight men
deep, suggesting that there were around 3,600 Spartans involved. Next came the
Spartan's Arcadian allies, then the Maenalians and Tegeans. A small force of
Spartans held the extreme right. There were cavalry contingents at both ends of
the line. As the two armies began to advance towards each other, both of their
right wings became over-extended. The Mantineans on the Argive side extended
beyond the Sciritae, while the Spartans and Tegeans on the Spartan right
extended beyond the Athenians. According to Thucydides this happened because
the men at the right-hand end of the line tended to drift right in order to
prevent their un-shielded right-hand side from being attacked. Agis responded
to this drift by ordering the Sciritae to move to their left to come level with
the Mantineans, while two Spartan regiments were ordered to move from the right
to fill the gap. everywhere else along the line. On the Spartan left the
Sciritea and Thracians were defeated by the Mantineans. The victorious
Mantineans and the 1,000 elite Argives then moved into the gap, and attacked
the main Spartan contingent from its left. The victories allies then chased
some of the defeated Spartans back to their camp. Meanwhile in the centre Agis
was winning. The rest of the Argive contingent, the Cleonaeans, the Ornaeans
and the nearest part of the Athenian force were all defeated and began to
retreat. Further to the right the Tegeans and Spartans were threatening to
outflank the rest of the Athenian contingent. There was now a real change that
the Athenians would be surrounded, but they were saved by a combination of
their own cavalry and the allied victory on the Spartan left. Agis was forced
to respond to this defeat by ordering the rest of his army to come to the aid
of his left. This allowed the rest of the Argive force, their allies and the
Athenians to escape. The victorious Mantineans and Argives were also forced to
flee under pressure from the entire Spartan line. The Argives and their allies
suffered heavy losses during the battle, which was described by Thucydides as
the greatest that had taken part between the Greek states for a very long time.
The Argives and their local allies lost 700 dead, the Mantineans 200 and the
Athenians and Aeginentans 200 (including both of the generals accompanying the
Athenian force). Spartan losses were rather lower, at just over 300. The
Spartan victory didn't end the fighting that year. 4,000 reinforcements soon
joined the allies, 3,000 from Mantinean allies and 1,000 from Athens. The
reinforced allies then attempted to besiege the Spartans in Epidaurus, but
without success. This ended the campaign for 418. In the following year the
Argives made peace with Sparta, ending their attempt to dominate the
Peloponnese. With Argos gone the rest of the anti-Spartan alliance collapsed.
Despite having faced each other on the battlefield, Sparta and Athens were
still officially at peace, no terms of the Peace of Nicias having been
breached, and open war between them didn't resume until 414.
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The First Battle of Mantinea of 418 was a significant engagement in
the Peloponnesian
War. Sparta and its allies defeated an army led by Argos and Athens. After
the conclusion of the alliance between the Argives, Achaeans, Eleans and
Athens, the humiliation of the Spartans in the 420 Olympic Games and the
invasion of Epidaurus by the allies, the Spartans were compelled to move
against them, fearing an alliance with Corinth and having amassed an army that
was, according to Thucydides, 'the best army ever assembled in Greece to that
time'. However, the Spartan king
Agis (son of Archidamus)
instead concluded the first campaign with a truce, without explaining his
actions to the army or his allies; the army thus returned home. Immediately
afterwards, the Argives denounced the truce and resumed the war, capturing the
key town of Orchomenus; as a result, anger at Agis was such that he was on the
verge of being fined 100,000 drachmas and having his house destroyed. Agis
managed to forestall this punishment, promising to redeem himself with a
victory elsewhere. The ephors consented, but in an unprecedented move, placed
Agis under the supervision of ten advisors, called symvouloi, whose consent was
required for whatever military action he wished to take.
The battle Lade in 418, the Argives and their allies marched against Tegea,
where a faction was ready to turn the city over to the Argive alliance. Tegea
controlled the exit from Laconia. Enemy control of the town would mean that the
Spartans would be unable to move out of their home city and would effectively
mean the demise of the Peloponnesian coalition that fought the Archidamian War.
Agis marched the whole of the Spartan army, together with the neodamodeis and
everyone who was able to fight in Sparta out to Tegea where he was joined by
his allies from Arcadia, and he sent for help from his northern allies,
Corinth, Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris. However, the northern army could not
arrive quickly to the scene, as they had not expected the call and would have
to pass through enemy territory (Argos and Orchomenus). On the whole, the army
of the allies of Sparta would have numbered around 9,000 hoplites. In the
meantime, the Eleans decided to attack Lepreum, a contested border town with
Sparta. So, they chose to withdraw their contingent of 3,000 hoplites. Agis
took advantage of it and sent a sixth of his army, with the youngest and the
oldest hoplites home to guard Sparta proper. They were called back soon after,
as Agis or the xymbouloi realized that the Eleans would soon be back on the
side of the Argives, but did not arrive in time for the battle. Agis could have
bided his time inside the walls of Tegea, waiting for his northern allies.
However, he was already discredited and could not show the slightest sign of
shying away from battle. So he invaded and ravaged the territory around
Mantinea, about 15 km north of Tegea and a member of the Argive alliance, in
order to force a pitched battle with the Argives and their allies. The Argive
army, however, was situated on ground "steep and hard to get at" and
would not be drawn into battle, probably because the grain harvest had already
been stored (the battle probably took place in the end of September 418). Agis,
who was desperate for a victory to redeem his embarrassment at Argos, charged
ahead; but according to Thucydides, when the armies had closed to a stone's
throw, "one of the elder Spartans" (the xymboulos Pharax, according
to Diodorus) advised him not to try to correct one error (his former defeat)
with another. The Spartans therefore retreated, and went off to find a way to
draw out the Argive army to a battle. So they diverted the Sarandapotamos River
to the bed of the smaller Zanovistas river, or, they just filled up the
sinkholes in which Zanovistas flowed, in order to flood the Mantinean
territory. Instead of allowing Mantinea to be flooded, the Argive army moved
more quickly than the Spartans anticipated, as the Argive hoplites were very
angry at their generals for not pursuing the Spartan army and accused them of
treason. They surprised their enemies by drawing up as the Spartans emerged
from a nearby wood. The Spartans quickly organized themselves, with no time to
wait for their other allies. Brasidas' veterans (Brasidas himself had been
killed at the Battle of Amphipolis), and the Sciritae (an elite unit of Spartan
troops) formed the left wing, the Spartans, Arcadians, Heraeans and Maenalians
in the centre, and the Tegeans, who were fighting for their homeland took the
position of honour on the right wing. The Argive lines were formed by the
Mantineans on the right, the Argives in the centre, and the Athenians on the
left. Thucydides did not know the exact numbers of men on each side, but
estimated that there were about 9,000 men on the Spartan side (the Spartan army
must have numbered about 3,500, with 600 Sciritae, about 2,000 neodamodeis and
Brasideans and about 3,000 Arcadians on the whole) with somewhat fewer men on
the Argive and Athenian side (about 8,000), according to Donald Kagan.
Other scholars, such as Victor Davis Hanson, give slightly bigger numbers.
As the battle began, each side's right wing began to outflank the other's left,
due to the erratic movements of each hoplite trying to cover himself with the
shield of the man beside him. Agis tried to strengthen the line by ordering the
Sciritae and his left to break off contact from the rest of the army and match
the length of the Argive line. To cover the void created, he ordered the
companies of Hipponoidas and Aristocles to leave their positions in the center
and cover the line. This however was not achieved, for the two captains were
unable, or unwilling to complete these manoeuvres on such short notice. This
kind of manoeuvre was unprecedented in the history of Greek warfare.
Donald Kagan considers it a most ill-advised move and gives credit to the two
captains for disobeying orders that would have probably lost the battle for the
Spartans. Others consider it a move that could have succeeded. In any case, the
Mantineans and the right part of the Argives, the elite Argive Thousand entered
the gap and routed the Brasideans and the Sciritae and pursued them for a long
distance. In the meantime, the Tegeans and the regular Spartan army routed the
Athenians and the Arcadians that formed the left part of the Argive army. Most
of them did not even stand to fight, but they fled as the Spartans approached;
some were even trampled in their hurry to get away before the enemy reached
them. Then the Spartans turned left and broke the Argive right which fled in
total disarray. The Spartans did not pursue the enemy for long after the battle
was won.
Results
The Argive side lost about 1,100 men (700 Argives and Arcadians, 200 Athenians
and 200 Mantineans) and the Spartans about 300. The Spartans sent an embassy to
Argos and the Argives accepted a truce by the terms of which they gave up
Orchomenus, all their hostages and joined up with the Spartans in evicting the
Athenians from Epidaurus. They also renounced their alliance with Elis and
Athens. After deposing the democratic government of Sicyon, the Argive Thousand
staged a coup against the democratic rule of Argos, where the democrats' morale
was low, because of the bad performance of the common army and the Athenians in
the battle. In more general terms, the battle was a considerable boost to the
Lacedaemonians' morale and prestige, since after the disaster at Pylos they had
been considered cowardly and incompetent in battle. Their success at Mantinea
marked a reversal of the trend.
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