BATTLE // -390 BCE
Battle of Lechaeum
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Source · Wikipedia
Significance
The Battle of Lechaeum was an Athenian victory over Spartan forces during the Corinthian War and marked one of the first recorded instances in Greek military history in which a force of peltasts defeated hoplite heavy infantry. The engagement demonstrated a practical limit of the hoplite formation: when deprived of missile-armed support troops and caught in open terrain, a Spartan regiment proved vulnerable to sustained light-infantry harassment. The near-destruction of the Spartan force — with just under half killed — carried immediate operational weight during a war in which Sparta was contesting control of the Corinthian region against an Athenian-led coalition. Beyond the campaign context, Lechaeum established Iphicrates and the peltast arm as a serious tactical proposition, signaling that the dominance of heavy infantry on the Greek battlefield was not absolute.
Tactics
The Spartan hoplite regiment was marching through open terrain near Corinth without any missile-throwing troops in support. Athenian general Iphicrates identified this vulnerability and committed his force of peltasts — javelin throwers — to an ambush. Rather than engaging in direct close combat, Iphicrates employed repeated hit-and-run attacks against the Spartan formation, launching javelins and withdrawing before the hoplites could close to melee range. Sustained over the course of the engagement, this method wore the Spartan regiment down until it broke, with just under half of its strength killed in the rout.
Commanders (1)
Athens
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