Godfrey Hutchinson - Sparta : unfit for empire 404-362 BC

To Oliver, Torquil and Mathilda

Sparta: Unfit for Empire
This edition published in 2014 by Frontline Books,
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS

Copyright Godfrey Hutchinson, 2014

The right of Godfrey Hutchinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 978-1-84832-222-6
eISBN 9781473845893

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S PECIAL THANKS MUST GO TO the anonymous reader. He was meticulous in his examination of my text and made several very useful suggestions. Originally the structure of the book was one in which an excursus was interposed between chapters, wherein cumulative aspects of the background to the period were given. Reluctantly, I was persuaded by him to gather these together in the form of Appendices to achieve a continuous narrative for what is now the first section of the book. Any errors or omissions remaining are my own.

I am indebted to the support and advice given to me over the years by Michael Leventhal, initially at his fathers publishing house, Greenhill, and now at Frontline. I have also appreciated the splendid transfer of information conducted initially by Stephen Chumbley and then by Kate Baker during the preparation of this publication. Thanks must also be given to Joanna Chisholm for the meticulous presentation of the text and to Shona Andrew for the excellent cover design.

I am greatly appreciative of the company of friends and family I enjoy when on field trips in Greece examining topography, battlefields and sites in preparation for my publications. All may not share my degree of enthusiasm but always show great humour and patience.

I have continued to profit from the generous and spontaneous support of Valerie Jones and Geoffrey Watson on a variety of technical matters.

A grant from the Royal Literary Fund gave me the opportunity to gather additional material for the revision of the original draft of this book.

Photographs, maps and battle plans were initially prepared by the author.

Nothing short of a complete revolution in the Spartan state could have rendered her essay in empire a success; but the narrow Spartan system was too narrowly based in the narrow Spartan character to suffer such a revolution.

J. B. Bury, A History of Greece

T HIS IS A MILITARY HISTORY of the period between the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BC ) and the Battle of Second Mantineia (362 BC ) and, as the title suggests, covers the successive hegemon ies of Sparta and Thebes. At the close of that war Sparta found itself in a position of ascendancy unprecedented in its history. The maritime Aegean empire of Athens was now added to the leadership Sparta enjoyed in mainland Greece.

One focus was the growing enmity between Sparta and Thebes, the leading city of the Boiotian Federation, and one of Spartas allies during the Peloponnesian War. That enmity led to Spartas inexorable slide from being the dominant land power in the Greek world for two centuries, to having the eventual status of a second-rate power at the hand of Thebes. All this happened in a matter of forty years, a time span almost coinciding with the reign of Agesilaos, one of the kings of Sparta.

The text gives the reader the broad sweep of the ever-changing alliances that occurred throughout the period, but its main concern lies with military operations. What, until relatively recent times, has traditionally been viewed as a formalised method of Classical hoplite warfare is often belied by close examination of sources. The opinion that battles were fought between two armies on plains, usually after provocation by the invading force or by mutual agreement, is more romantic than actual. The tradition stems from observations made well after the Classical period even by greatly respected historians such as Polybios (XIII. 3. 26) living some 200 years after the beginning of the period under discussion. Pitched battle was not the regular currency of Greek warfare and, when it did occur, was sometimes the result of accident, surprise or expediency. It was easy for a strong city-state to bully one that was weaker. To destroy crops or capture livestock may have been a gross annoyance and economically damaging. However, it did not always result in the men of the attacked area coming out from behind their walls for a formal contest of arms, much as that might have been the desire of the invaders. Such meetings on plains were more often between larger coalitions and are certainly the pattern for the period under review. Much of what has come to be regarded as the rules of play will be seen, in , to emanate more from shared religious observance notably followed more meticulously by Spartans than by others.