Mantineia, battles of (418, 362, and 207 bc). These three battles spanned the whole development of Greek warfare from a typical hoplite battle to the appearance of catapults. The first was during the Peloponnesian wars and was fought between a largely Spartan and Tegeate army, and a combined army consisting largely of Mantineians, Argives, and Athenians. Having the larger army, the Spartan King Agis II attempted to cover the enemy overlap on his left by shifting his left wing outwards and plugging the gap with units from the right. But his orders were disobeyed and the enemy right exploited the gap to defeat his left. On the centre and right, however, the Spartans carried the day, and wheeled left past the retreating Athenians and the gap left by the flight of most of the Argives, to take the enemy right in its shieldless flank as it streamed back across the battlefield. The victory restored Spartan morale and reinforced her control in the Peloponnese.
The second battle came at the end of the Greek city-state wars and was brought about by the collapse of the Thebes-inspired anti-Spartan coalition in the Peloponnese. It was fought between a Boeotian, Euboean, Thessalian, and Arcadian army, commanded by Epaminondas, against a combination of Mantineians, Spartans, Eleans, and Athenians. Epaminondas massed his left as he had done at Leuctra, but it was a charge by cavalry mixed with light infantry, trained to run into battle with cavalry, that broke the enemy right. A decisive victory was prevented by the death of the great Epaminondas himself.
The third battle, finally, saw the Spartan ‘tyrant’ Machanidas defeated and killed by Achaean League troops led by Philopoemen, in a typical Hellenistic engagement, in which all types of troops, and catapults, were used.
Bibliography
- Buckler, J., The Theban Hegemony, 371-362 bc (London, 1980).
- Lazenby, J. F., The Spartan Army (Warminster, 1985).
- Walbank, F. W., Historical Commentary on Polybius 2 (Oxford, 1967)
— John Lazenby
