Battle of Sellasia

The Battle of Sellasia in the summer (July?) Of the year 222 BC. BC near the city of Sparta ended with the victory of the allied troops of Macedonia and the Achaean League over the Spartans under their king Cleomenes III. not only since 227 BC Chr. Continuous Kleomenischen war , but final act sealed with the Spartan defeat its ambitions in Greece as a force for order.

prehistory

Cleomenes was since 235 BC. Chr. King of Sparta and organized as before him Agis IV. , A comprehensive reform policy that would restore the demand for the system of Lycurgus. Since this included not only internal reforms, but also the regaining of political influence in Greece, which in the 4th century BC Was lost due to the successes of Thebes and Macedonia, it came into conflict with other Greek powers, first of all with the Achaean League, which had gained influence under the strategist Aratos of Sicyon , but then also with his ally Macedonia under king Antigonus III. Doson , who also managed to win Boiotia, Thessaly and Acarnania against Sparta. After bringing Arcadia under his control, Cleomenes tried to stop the advance of the coalition on the Isthmus of Corinth, but had to withdraw when Argos rebelled against him. In 223 BC . BC was fought fiercely for Arcadia; the Spartans conquered the strategically important megalopolis, but lost Tegea , Orchomenus and Mantineia ; in addition, Ptolemy III. from Egypt its support payments to Sparta. Now Antigonus advanced into the Spartan heartland of Laconia itself, where the Spartans stood for battle at the gates of their city near Sellasia .

battle

Kleomenes had around 10,000 infantry ( hoplites and perioiks ) and 650 horsemen available. Cleomenes posted his hoplite phalanx on a hill called Olympos, where he could fall back on a smaller force of lightly armed mercenaries. He kept the perioiks and allies of Sparta under the command of Eukleidas on his left wing on a hill called Evas. The cavalry was in the center. The Spartans were numerically inferior to the enemy, but Cleomenes hoped to be able to compensate for this disadvantage with the favorable strategic position on the hill, which he had fortified accordingly.

Cleomenes faced no fewer than 30,000 men on the opposing side, of which the Macedonians under Antigonus alone made up 20,000 men. The Achaiians, like the megalopolitans, raised 1,000 men; another contingent consisted of Illyrians under the command of Demetrios of Pharos . Initially, the allies began attacking lightly armed troops. However, these quickly got into trouble. According to the report of Polybius , at this critical moment, when other commanders remained inactive, the just thirty-year-old Achaean captain Philopoimen took the initiative and moved the Achaeans and Macedonians to storm. Philopoimen did not let himself be deterred from the advance by the fact that his horse was fatally hit and an opposing spear had pierced his own two thighs. Cleomenes, who saw his troops being worn out, turned to flee and boarded a ship on the coast that took him into exile in Egypt. Antigonus showed himself to be generous towards the defeated Sparta and renounced the usual harsh punishment, since the war was only aimed at the fled king. However, Sparta was never to recover from this defeat and from then on lived a shadowy existence in the Greek community of states.