LECHAEUM

The Spartan hoplite was one of the most revered figures in ancient Greek warfare. But they met their match at Lechaeum, defeated by a force of lightly armed peltasts

- Murray dahm

In 391 BCE (or 390 BCE, sources differ) during the Corinthian War (395-387 BCE), a force of lightly armed and armoured peltasts under the command of the Athenian Iphicrates faced almost 600 Spartan hoplites at Lechaeum, near Corinth. Peltasts were missile troops wearing little armour and named after their distinctive crescent-shaped pelte shields. But rather than an inevitable defeat of the lighter-armed force by the heavier and more powerful hoplites, the battle revealed the power of light-armed missile throwing peltasts over heavy hoplites who could not pursue the lighter troops effectively.

Our only detailed source for the Battle of Lechaeum comes from the historian Xenophon in his Hellenica. We also have some relevant material in the later biographer Plutarch's life of Agesilaus. The historian Diodorus of Sicily makes a brief statement on the battle, but he places it in the wrong year (393 BCE), stating only that “a contingent (meros) of the Lacedaemonian army was passing through Corinthian territory, when Iphicrates and some of the allies in Corinth fell on them and slew a large number”.

Xenophon’s much more detailed account is not without its problems, however, and using what other corroborative sources we have, we do get the picture that he omitted much that was relevant to the battle or changed the context of what he does include. Andocides’ speech On the Peace, delivered between 393 BCE and 391 BCE, advocated for the acceptance of Spartan peace overtures and he was exiled from the city for his efforts and died in exile. However, Andocides’ oratory is fascinating for several reasons: it is the first deliberative speech to survive from Athens and it argues for the first time, somewhat surprisingly, that the purpose of war is defensive only.

The Corinthian War