Battle of Sepeia

Battle of Sepeia
Date	494 BC
Location	Sepeia, Tiryns
Result	Spartan victory
Belligerents
Sparta	Argos
Commanders and leaders
	Cleomenes I
Casualties and losses
	6.000

At the Battle of Sepeia (c. 494 BC^[1]), the Spartan forces of Cleomenes I defeated the Argives, fully establishing Spartan dominance in the Peloponnese. The closest thing to a contemporaneous source for the description of the battle is, as for many events in this time period, the Histories of Herodotus (written approximately fifty years later, c. 440 BC).^[2] According to Herodotus, the Spartan army tricked the Argives into believing that the Spartans were going to their evening meal, and when the Argives did the same, the Spartans picked up their weaponry and attacked them, gaining an overwhelming victory. The battle is a controversial one in terms of the Spartan legend for, according to Herodotus, Spartan King Cleomenes massacred the remaining Argives—most by burning them alive in the sacred grove of Argos to which they had fled for refuge.^[2]

References

^ There is some uncertainty about the date: see Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age by Eric W. Robinson, pp. 7-9
^ ^a ^b Herodotus, The Histories, bk 6, 75-81, translated by G. C. Macaulay, available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh6070.htm

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[1] There is some uncertainty about the date: see Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age by Eric W. Robinson, pp. 7-9

[Herodotus-2] Herodotus, The Histories, bk 6, 75-81, translated by G. C. Macaulay, available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh6070.htm

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