Battle of Sellasia

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Battle of Sellasia
Part of the Cleomenean War
Date 222 BC
Location Near present day Sellasia, Laconia
Result Decisive Macedonian victory
Belligerents
Macedonia
Achaeans		 Sparta
Commanders
Antigonus III Doson Cleomenes III
Strength
30,000 infantry,
2,000 cavalry		 About 10,000 infantry,
650 cavalry
Casualties and losses
Unknown 5,800
v • d • e
Cleomenean War
Lycaeum – Ladoceia – Dyme – Sellasia

The Battle of Sellasia was a battle that took place in 222 BC between the armies of Antigonus III Doson, King of Macedonia, and Cleomenes III, King of Sparta. The Spartan forces were massacred and Cleomenes fled to Egypt.

Contents

[edit] Antigonus Doson and the Hellenic League with Cleomenes III

Upon taking the throne in 235 BC after the death of Leonidas II, Cleomenes III undertook an ambitious political restoration of Sparta's power by returning to the legendary political tradition of Lycurgus.

The king of Macedonia, Antigonus III Doson, responded, restoring Macedonian influence in the Peloponnese for the first time in almost two decades. In 224, he signed an alliance with the Achaeans, Boeotians, Thessalians and the Acarnanians. With his rear secured by treaties, Antigonus invaded the Peloponnese and drove the Spartans out of Argos, taking Orchomenos and Mantineia in the process. When he advanced against Laconia, however, Antigonus found that Cleomenes had blocked all the mountain passes except for one. It was there, near Sellasia, that Cleomenes waited with his army.

[edit] Terrain and forces

Cleomenes had taken up a strong position, placing his army across a road that followed a river running between two hills, Olympus and Evas. His army of 10,000 infantrymen was composed of Spartan hoplites, perioeci and about 650 cavalry. The Spartan phalanx, under the personal command of Cleomenes, made up the right wing of the battle line and was positioned on the hilltop of Olympus near Sellasia. This force was supported by a body of light infantry mercenaries. The allied troops as well as the perioeci phalanx were led by Cleomenes' brother, Eucleidas. These forces made up the left wing of Cleomenes' battle line and were positioned on Evas. The center occupied the valley and road and was made up of Spartan cavalry, supported by light infantrymen. Cleomenes probably hoped that the higher tactical position his army enjoyed would compensate for his numerical inferiority. To be sure, he ordered a ditch dug and a palisade raised all along the front line.

Antigonus, for his part, arrived on the scene with a superior force of around 30,000 men, including the allied forces of the Achaean League. For the first time since the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the Macedonians arrayed against the Spartans a true national army and not one composed of mercenaries. Antigonous alone had 20,000 men. The allies had provided him further important contingents, notably the cavalry: 1,000 Achaeans and as many Megalopolitans.

Antigonus placed the Macedonian phalanxes facing the Spartan phalanxes at Olympus hill, with the order to tighten on 32 rows. It laid out a screen of light infantry in front of the phalanxes. Its own cavalry, a mixture of Macedonians, Achaeans (led by Philoppemenes), the Boeotians and its mercernaries under the commander of Alexander, were placed in front of the Spartan cavalry in the centre. The Macedonian right wing on Evas hill, whose slopes were steep, did not form a phalanx, but adopted a more flexible formation to facilitate the progress on the difficult ground. It was there also that the Illyrian allies of Antigonus and their leader, Demetrius of Pharos, had command of all of his right wing.

At the end of the battle the majority of the Spartans did not leave the field. Antigonus later forced Sparta into an unconditional surrender.

[edit] Ancient sources

[edit] References

  • E. Will. Histoire politique du monde hellénistique or the Political History of the Hellenistic World. Paris, 1075.
  • Shimron, Benjamin. Late Sparta: The Spartan Revolution, 243-146 B.C. Buffalo: State University of New York (Dept. of Classics), 1972, pgs. 50-55. ISBN 093088101X