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The battle of Naryx in 394 was a costly victory won by the forces of an
anti-Spartan alliance over a Phocian army early in the
Corinthian War in
395-386. The war was triggered by a border dispute in between Phocis and Loris
in central Greece (west of Boeotia). The Boeotians supported the Locrians, the
Spartans the Phocians. Athens supported the Boeotians, and helped free the
Theban army to defeat the Spartans outside
Haliartus in
395. This early success encouraged Corinth and Argos to join the anti-Spartan
alliance. The outbreak of war and the quick formation of a strong anti-Spartan
alliance also encouraged their opponents elsewhere in Greece. Medius, lord of
Larissa in Thessaly, asked for help against Lycophron, tyrant of Pherae. The
allies sent 2,000 men, mainly Boeotians and Argives. This allowed Medius to
capture Pharsalus, in southern Thessaly, defeating a Spartan garrison. The
Boeotians and Argives then turned south and attacked Heracleia in Trachis, a
Spartan colony just to the west of Thermopylae. After capturing the city they
killed any Spartans they found, but allowed other Peloponnesians to leave, in
an attempt to create splits within the Peloponnesian League. The Argives were
left as a garrison in Heracleia, while the Boeotians, under Ismenias, continued
around the Gulf of Malis into Locris. On the way he convinced the Aenianians
(on the gulf) and the Athamanians (a tribe of western Thessaly and
south-eastern Epirus) to rebel against the Spartans and join his army.
According to Diodorus this gave him just under 6,000 men. Ismenias advanced
into Locris and camped at Naryx, an inland town. There he was attacked by a
Phocian army under the command of a Laconian called Alcisthenes. Diodorus
records a 'sharp and protracted' battle, but doesn't provide many details. The
Boeotians were victorious, and pursued the defeated Phocians until nightfall.
This must have been a hard-fought battle as the casualty figures given are
unusually even - the Phocians are reported as losing 1,000 dead, the Boeotians
and their allies 500. In the aftermath of the battle both armies disbanded and
the contingents returned home. For the moment the Spartan position in northern
Greece had been weakened, although they retained control of Orchomenus,
captured at the start of the war. This campaign probably took place late in 395
or early in 394, and certainly before the main events of 394, which involved
the return of the Spartan King Agesilaus from Asia Minor, the inconclusive
Spartan victories at Nemea and Coronea and their crushing naval defeat at
Cnidus. Agesilaus chose to return to Sparta overland via Thrace and Thessaly,
so his route took him through this same area.
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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. [read full
review] cover cover cover 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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