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Battle of Lechaeum

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Classical History and Mythology

   Battle of Lechaeum
   Part of the Corinthian War
   Image:GreeceCorinth.png

     Date   391 BC
   Location Lechaeum, near Corinth
    Result  Athenian victory
   Combatants
   Athens Sparta
   Commanders
   Iphicrates Unknown
   Strength
   Unknown, but force composed almost entirely of peltasts. 600 hoplites
   Casualties
   Minimal 250 killed
   This battle marked the first occasion in Greek history on which a force
   composed primarily of light troops defeated a hoplite force.

   The Battle of Lechaeum ( 391 BC) was an Athenian victory in the
   Corinthian War. In the battle, the Athenian general Iphicrates took
   advantage of the fact that a Spartan hoplite regiment operating near
   Corinth was moving in the open without the protection of any missile
   throwing troops. He decided to ambush it with his force of spear
   throwers, or peltasts. By launching repeated hit-and-run attacks
   against the Spartan formation, Iphicrates and his men were able to wear
   the Spartans down, eventually routing them and killing just under half.
   This marked the first occasion in Greek military history on which a
   force entirely made up of peltasts had defeated a force of hoplites
   (heavy infantry).

Prelude

            Greek conflicts of the 4th century BC
   Corinthian War
   Haliartus – Nemea – Cnidus – Coronea – Lechaeum
   Other
   Naxos – Tegyra – Leuctra – Mantinea

   In 392 BC, a civil war had taken place at Corinth, in which a group of
   pro-Spartan oligarchs was defeated and exiled by anti-Spartan
   democrats. Those exiles cooperated with Spartan forces in the region to
   gain control of Corinth's port on the Corinthian Gulf, Lechaeum. They
   then repulsed several attacks on the port by the democrats at Corinth
   and their Theban and Argive allies and secured their hold over the
   port.

   The Athenians then sent out a force to assist in garrisoning Corinth,
   with Iphicrates commanding the peltasts. The Spartans and the exiles,
   meanwhile, raided Corinthian territory from Lechaeum, and in 391 BC
   King Agesilaus led a large Spartan army to the area and attacked a
   number of strong points, winning a number of successes. The Athenians
   and their allies were largely bottled up in Corinth, but eventually
   found an opportunity to take advantage of Spartan negligence.

The battle

   While Agesilaus moved about Corinthian territory with the bulk of his
   army, he left a sizable force at Lechaeum to guard the port. Part of
   this force at Lechaeum was composed of men from the city of Amyclae,
   who traditionally returned home for a certain religious festival when
   on campaign. With this festival approaching, the Spartan commander at
   Lechaeum marched out with a force of hoplites and cavalry to escort the
   Amyclaeans past Corinth on their way home. After successfully leading
   his force well past the city, the commander ordered his hoplites to
   turn and return to Lechaeum, while the cavalry continued on with the
   Amyclaeans. Although he would be marching near the walls of the city
   with his force, he expected no trouble, believing that the men in the
   city were thoroughly cowed and unwilling to march out.
   Lechaeum (modern Lechaio) was ancient Corinth's seaport on the
   Corinthian Gulf.
   Enlarge
   Lechaeum (modern Lechaio) was ancient Corinth's seaport on the
   Corinthian Gulf.

   The Athenian commanders in the city, Iphicrates, who commanded the
   peltasts, and Callias, who commanded the hoplites, saw that an entire
   Spartan mora, or regiment, of 600 men was marching past the city
   unprotected by either peltasts or cavalry, and decided to take
   advantage of this fact. Accordingly, the Athenian hoplites drew up a
   little outside Corinth, while the peltasts went after the Spartan force
   in pursuit, flinging spears at the Spartan hoplites.

   To stop this, the Spartan commander ordered some of his men to charge
   the Athenians, but the peltasts fell back, easily outrunning the
   hoplites, and then, when the Spartans turned to return to the regiment,
   the peltasts fell upon them, flinging spears at them as they fled, and
   inflicted casualties. This process was repeated several times, with
   similar results. Even when a group of Spartan cavalrymen arrived, the
   Spartan commander made the curious decision that they should keep pace
   with the hoplites in pursuit, instead of racing ahead to ride down the
   fleeing peltasts. Unable to drive off the peltasts, and suffering
   losses all the while, the Spartans were driven back to a hilltop
   overlooking Lechaeum. The men in Lechaeum, seeing their predicament,
   sailed out in small boats to as close as to the hill as they could
   reach, about a half mile away. The Athenians, meanwhile, began to bring
   up their hoplites, and the Spartans, seeing these two developments,
   broke and ran for the boats, pursued by the peltasts all the way. All
   in all, in the fighting and pursuit, 250 of the 600 men in the regiment
   were killed.

Aftermath

   This battle marked the first occasion in Greek history on which a
   hoplite force had been defeated by a force of peltasts. News of the
   Spartan defeat, accordingly, was a profound shock to Agesilaus, who
   soon returned home to Sparta. In the months following his departure,
   Iphicrates reversed many of the gains that the Spartans had made near
   Corinth, recapturing forts and strong points that the Spartans had
   previously seized and garrisoned. He also launched several successful
   raids against Spartan allies in the region. Although the Spartans and
   their oligarchic allies continued to hold Lechaeum for the duration of
   the war, they curtailed their operations around Corinth, and no further
   major fighting occurred in the region.
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