First Macedonian War

The Battle of Mantinea, fought in 207 BC between the Achaean League under Philopoemen and Sparta under the tyrant Machanidas, was the major land battle in Greece during the First Macedonian War. The conflict itself arose from Macedon's alliance with Carthage following Hannibal's victory at Cannae in the Second Punic War, drawing Greek powers into the broader strategic contest between Rome and Carthage. Sparta, fighting as part of the Aetolian League, faced the Achaean League in a confrontation that concentrated the principal Greek land forces of the war into a single engagement. Both sides were supplemented by mercenaries, reflecting the scale and seriousness of the contest. As the decisive ground engagement of the war in Greece, the outcome of Mantinea carried direct consequence for the balance of power among the Greek leagues and for the capacity of the anti-Macedonian coalition to sustain military pressure in the peninsula.