Battle of Oinophyta

The battle of Oinophyta took place in 457 BC. At the beginning of the First Peloponnesian War (457–445 BC). In it the Athenians and the Boeotians faced each other.

The First Peloponnesian War was started when the cities of the Central Greek countryside asked Doris Sparta for help in defending themselves against the Phocians . The Spartan army passed through Boiotia on the way back. Athens saw itself endangered by a Boeotian-Spartan alliance and marched against the Spartans. First there was the battle of Tanagra between the Spartans and Athenians , which the Spartans won and then marched back home. Athens took this opportunity to regroup and attack Boeotia just two months after the Battle of Tanagra.

At Oinophyta, immediately east of Tanagra , the Athenians achieved a decisive victory against Boeotia. Athens gained control not only over Boeotia, but over all of Central Greece with Lokris and Doris, and was able to subjugate its old rival Aegina the next year . Sparta was calm; it was probably politically paralyzed by high losses at Tanagra.

literature

• Karl-Wilhelm Welwei , Classical Athens. Democracy and Power Politics in the 5th and 4th Centuries . Darmstadt 1999.