Battle of Sellasia

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Sellasia
partof=the Cleomenean War
date=222 BC
place=Near present day Sellasia, Laconia
result=Decisive Macedonian victory
combatant1=Macedonia
Achaeans
combatant2=Sparta
commander1=Antigonus III Doson
commander2=Cleomenes III
strength1=28,000 infantry,
1,200 cavalry
strength2=About 20,000 infantry,
650 cavalry
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=5,800 |The Battle of Sellasia 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. Philopemen, the future famous general, took part as head of the Achaean cavalry on the side of Antigonus and excelled in courage and vision.

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 Orchomenus 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 the city of Sellasia, that Cleomenes waited with his army.

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 Eva. His army of 20,000 infantrymen was composed of Spartan hoplites, possibly Spartan pikemen (according to Plutarch, Cleomenes had armed 2.000 Lacedaemonians in the Macedonian way), perioeci, mercenaries 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 mercenaries. 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 with him 10,000 pikemen, 3.000 peltasts and 300 horse from Macedonia as well as 1.000 Agrianes, 1.600 Illyrian, 1.000 Gaul and 3.000 unidentified mercenary foot and 300 horse. The allies provided him with further important contingents, the Achaeans with 3.000 foot and 300 horse, the Boeotians with 2.000 foot and 200 horse, the Acarnanians with 1.000 foot and 50 horse, the Hepirotes with 1.000 foot and 50 horse.

Battle

Antigonus placed his phalanxes facing the Lacedaemoian infantry which was arrayed at the top of the two hills, with the order to advance and take the heights. His cavalry of Macedonians, Achaeans (led by Philopemene), Boeotians and mercenaries under the command of Alexander, were arrayed in front of the enemy horse in the center. The Macedonian right wing on Eva hill adbanced against the Lacedaemonians but was attacked from the rear by enemy light infantry that was initially arrayed with the cavalry. Assaulted both from the rear and the front, Antigonus' phalanx was hard pressed until Philopemen, disregarding his orders charged with his men and relieved the phalanx forcing the enemy light troops to retreat, thus ensuring victory for the Macedonians. After the battle, Antigonus praised young Philopemene's initiative. According to Plutarch, out of 6.000 Spartans, only 2 survived, the others prefering honorable death to disgrace. Cleomenes fled to Alexandria where he stayed until his death.

Ancient sources

*Polybius. "Histories", ii. 65-70.
*Plutarch. "Life of Cleomenes", 27-28.
*Pausanias. "Description of Greece", ii. 9. § 2, 10. § 7, iv. 29. § 9, vii. 7. § 4, viii. 49. § 5.

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