Athenians V Spartans

The Pitch: A fairly open plain with a few low hills edged by woods. A river flowed across a ford close
to a town on one flank but this had no impact on the battle.

The Teams: Both teams mustered about 9,500 but their mix reflected the differences in their
approaches with the Spartans depending on a few elite divisions to balance out their use of allies
and lower quality light troops. The Athenian advantage in cavalry turned out to be important.

Athenians Spartans
400 Good Hoplites Spartans:
6,000 Militia Hoplites 1,200 Excellent (Spartiates) Hoplites
300 Guard Peltasts 1,200 Good (Laconian) Hoplites
600 Trained Peltasts 600 Trained Hoplites
450 Mercenary Archers 600 Barely trained (helots) Hoplites
1,000 Foot skirmishers 450 Light Hoplites (Peltasts really)
300 Good cavalry 300 Irregular volunteer Peltasts
450 Average cavalry 900 Pressed helots as Peltasts
300 Light cavalry 800 Foot skirmishers
300 Mediocre cavalry
100 Light cavalry
Tegan Allies:
600 Good Hoplites
600 Trained Hoplites
300 Trained Peltasts
Messene Allies:
600 Really poor Hoplites
300 Guard Peltasts
300 Reluctant Peltasts
100 Foot skirmishers
The Tactics: The Athenians lined up on the range of low hills with their Strategos in the centre. He
decided to send his cavalry on an outflanking sweep to the right whilst his hoplites held their ground
for a while. The peltasts on the left flank were to advance and hold the woods.
The Spartan King lined up on the right and ordered a general advance, using his lighter troops to
sweep the woods and the Messene allies to hold back on the left in case of any outflanking moves.

The Battle: Started slowly as the Athenian line stood still. The larger number of Spartan light troops
enabled them to win the woods
from the Athenian peltasts.
However, their low morale
compounded by their casualties
prevented them from exploiting
the open flank and falling on the
Athenian rear.

In contrast, on the other flank

the Athenian cavalry had little
problem in persuading the
Messene to head for home and
were soon eagerly eyeing up the
Spartan rear.

The hoplite lines eventually

clashed and the fighting was desperate and hard with high casualties on both sides. The Spartiates
and Laconians both saw off their opposing Athenians but at the cost of the death of the Spartan
King. The strongest Athenian division (featuring their Strategos) took on the weakest Spartan
Division and soon defeated
them leaving them in good
enough numbers to attach the
remnants of the Laconians. The
Tegans saw off their first
Athenian opponents but were
too weakened to have any hope
with the next wave.

The morale of both sides was

dropping rapidly, but their
fewer numbers and the threat
of Athenian horse behind them
(even though they didn’t
charge) was enough for the
Spartans to break first. The sight
of them running for home
perked up the remaining
Athenians who just about held together.

The Conclusions: The Athenian militia hoplites held up much better than anticipated against the
elite Spartans. This gave their colleagues time to deal with the weaker Spartan foot and force a hole
in the line. Despite their higher numbers the Spartan light foot also performed badly and weren’t
used aggressively enough to press home a flank attack. The Athenian decision to hold their ground
to give their cavalry time to out flank was possibly the critical factor.