The Last Spartan

Sparta has gone down in history as one of the most famous warrior cultures ever. While the 300 may have lost the battle of Thermopylae, their last stand cemented a reputation for courage that has lasted for 2,500 years.

Most histories of the Spartans cover the epic battles of the Persian Wars, along with the self-destructive Peloponnesian War fought against Athens. However often the story of Sparta often stops with the crushing Spartan defeat at the hands of the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra.

While the brief period of Spartan hegemony was brought to an end at this battle, this is not where Spartan history ends.

The Thebans may brought Sparta to her knees. But there is one last great Spartan King often forgotten in popular history: King Cleomenes III. Cleomenes would seek to restore Sparta's glory and create a Spartan empire once again.

Not just a military leader, Cleomenes was a social revolutionary, almost the ancient Greek equivalent of Vladimir Lenin. Along with his military triumphs, he inspired a massive following due to his agenda of social reform.

This is the story of his rise and fall.

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The Battle of Leuctra (371 BC) is where most histories of Sparta end.

To set the scene, Sparta had only recently triumphed over Athens in the Peloponnesian War (with the help of boatloads of Persian gold).

For a long time Sparta had installed an oligarchic pro-Spartan government in the city of Thebes. Thebes was the dominant city in a federal league of all the cities in a large region of central Greece called Boeotia.

However a democratic faction manages to rise up and depose the pro-Spartan oligarchy in Thebes. For Sparta this means war with their former ally. However the conflict is relatively indecisive until the time comes to settle a peace.

Sparta wants to sign a peace treaty between each individual Boeotian city (essentially rejecting Theban dominance of the League). Thebes refuses these terms and asserts that it will sign for the Boeotian League as a whole.

This assertion of dominance enrages the Spartans and forces an epic showdown.

The resulting showdown is the famous battle of Leuctra. Under the brilliant leadership of Epaminondas the Thebans decisively crush the Spartans. The high point of the battle occurs when the two lines clash. Epaminondas yells to his Thebans "Just give me one step forward, and we will have them!". The Thebans manage to push forward that one step and true to Epaminondas's word the Spartans break.

The Thebans then invade much of what had been formerly Spartan dominated territory. The Thebans break up Spartan power and set up new cities and Leagues (such as the Arcadian League) to act as a counter weight against a Spartan revival.

As part of this invasion the Thebans liberate Messenia. Messenia was extremely important as it consisted of a significant portion of Sparta's territory. It was the region that had been occupied for centuries that provided Sparta with its Helot Slaves. More on the importance of this below.

The Theban dominance is short lived however. Epaminondas invades Sparta once again. However in his moment of victory at the second battle of Mantinea he is slain. His victorious army loses its nerve and abandons the field upon seeing their brilliant and charismatic leader cut down. The Thebans manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Thebes' other great general, Pelopidas, will be killed in similar circumstances fighting in Thessaly. Without these visionaries leading them Thebes is essentially rudderless.

Sparta, for the moment, is saved. And indeed she will have the last laugh against the Thebans. The Theban army will soon be crushed by Philip II of Macedon. Alexander the Great (Philip's son) will destroy Thebes entirely (except for the property of the poet Pindar's family) after the city rebels against Macedonian rule.

Sparta had been suffering a severe decline in its citizen population for years. Now the key word here is citizen population, not total population. In today's world it is vastly easier to be a citizen of most modern nations than it was to be a citizen of a city-state in ancient Greece. In the modern world you just have to be born physically within a nation to be a citizen.  

That what would never fly in ancient Greece. Being a Spartan citizen had much more stringent requirements than simply being born within a geographical boundary. Citizens had to be able to pay certain fees to the state, citizenship could be stripped if these fees were not met, but there was no real mechanism for making new citizens.

In Sparta's semi-mythic past, land had been divided by the semi-legendary Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus. Lycurgus had divided the land equally into 9,000 estates, each one enough to support a family of citizens. Whatever the actual historical reality of that, land started to be concentrated within fewer and fewer hands. Without a land base to support themselves, people could not maintain their position as citizens.

By the time of the Battle of Leuctra, the number of actual Spartan citizens had declined from 8,000 men 100 years earlier to only 1,500. During the battle 400 Spartan citizens would be killed, a crushing blow killing almost a third of Sparta's citizens.

Unique to the Spartans was their enslavement of the Messenians. The Spartans had conquered the region in their early history, and subjugated the people there to a state of absolute slavery. These slaves were known as Helots. This lead to what the Ancients considered the great paradox of Sparta. The Spartan citizens were considered the most free people in the world. However this freedom was only made possible by the absolute servitude of the least free people in the world, the Helots.

The liberation of this region by Epimondas was another blow to the Spartans. As I said above, to have Spartan citizens you need land owning Spartans. With this large chunk of territory and helot labor gone, even less Spartan citizens could be supported.

Following these defeats, Sparta had become a third-rate state when before it had been master of Greece.

The Thebans had not been able to capitalize on their gains much. The rising power of Macedon to the north brought the Greek states to heel and the Hellenistic Age began. The Greek states were united together (extremely reluctantly) under the League of Corinth and tied to Macedon.

Sparta was one of the few states who did not join the League of Corinth, but she was still essentially subject to Macedon. Sparta did not contribute troops to Alexander the Great's campaigns in Persia. To shame the Spartans, Alexander sent back 300 captured panoplies (suits of armor) to Athens. This was essentially a comment on how the current Spartans were not living up to the standards of their forefathers, the famous 300 of Thermopylae.

The Spartans, financed by Persian gold, did actually mount a rebellion against Alexander. It was easily defeated in what Alexander would term "a battle of mice".

One of the notable Spartans following the Age of Alexander was the adventurer Cleonymus. He led an expedition to Italy to assist the Greek colonial cities there against Italian hill tribes. He had a claim to the throne of Sparta and would call in a fellow adventurer-king Pyrrhus of Epirus to help him take the throne. ( a little confusingly, Pyrrhus also went about adventuring in Italy, however by the time he got into the game he was helping the Greek colonial cities and hill tribes alike against the rising power of Rome).

Pyrrhus laid siege to Sparta and the fighting was ferocious. Here the Spartans fought a dogged defense of their city. Even the Spartan woman fought on the frontlines. Pyrrhus came close to cracking the defense, however the timely arrival of reinforcements forced Pyrrhus to withdraw. Pyrrhus's adventures ended in his ignominious death during a battle for the city of Argos.

By the time our story really starts, there are three real powers in Greece. The first is the Achaean League in the Peloponnese under the powerful leadership of a man called Aratus. It is Aratus's aim to unite all of Peloponnese under the banner of the Achaean League.

Macedon to the north is the second. Antigonus III Doson is the current ruler of Macedon. How the Antigonid family came to rule is a long, twisting, and tumultuous story. Antigonus Doson proved to be a capable king and strategist. Macedon's fortunes had not been doing well as of late, but Doson manages to restore her power. His aims are to secure his kingdom and reassert Macedon's old hegemony over the rest of Greece.

The third power is not really in Greece at all, but in Egypt. The Ptolemies, the Macedonian dynasty who rule Egypt are always interfering in events in Mainland Greece. Many people often think that the Ptolemies were not interested in the wider world outside Egypt. This is not the case. They had many territories scattered around the Mediterranean. In Greece their objective was to limit Macedonian power, and they did this by strategic donations of cash and mercenaries to possible rivals.

The Aetolian League was another power in Greece, just south of Macedon. This was a relatively recent state, and the Aetolians were known for their brigandage and piratical ways (some modern historians have questioned this). They were fierce enemies of the Macedonians. However they don't play much of a role in our current story.

So the Achaean League was attempting to conquer the whole of southern Greece - the Peloponnese. Sparta was one of the last states holding out against the Achaeans.

As well as this hostile neighbor on her doorstep, Sparta had significant domestic problems. As stated before, Sparta was suffering demographically. By this point all the land in Sparta was held in the hands of a hundred citizens.

"The rest were an 'ordinary throng, without resources and without civic rights' that 'lived in enforced idleness, showing no zeal or energy in warding off foreign wars' who were 'ever watching for some opportunity to subvert and change affairs at home' ”

Sparta's famous military traditions had long since died out. The Spartan military had no real advantage over her enemies and was mostly composed of mercenaries.

In fact, the famous hoplite warfare of classical Greece had mostly grown out of fashion by this point. Most of the Greeks were equipped as Thureophoroi. Thureophoroi were so called after their shield - the Thureos. This was a much lighter and more versatile shield taken from the Celts. Where as hoplites were pure heavy infantry who fought in close order, thureophoroi were medium infantry. They were not as steadfast as hoplites in close-quarters, but their lighter shield allowed them to skirmish as well as fight in close combat.

At this critical time a King with vision came into power in Sparta. His name was Cleomenes III.

Cleomenes rose to the kingship as the Achaeans invaded Spartan territory. The first Achaean invasion was a wash. The Achaeans failed to basically do anything. The second invasion resulted in Cleomenes inflicting several serious defeats on the Achaean forces.

Now while Sparta had kings, it was really ruled by an Oligarchy. This Oligarchy of elites had been doing a terrible job in governing, and Cleomenes believed that a change was needed if Sparta was going to survive.

Cleomenes marches back on Sparta and overthrows the oligarchy.

Cleomenes disbands the Oligarchy and exiles those top wealthiest citizens who own all the land.

Cleomenes portrays himself as a modern Lycurgus, the legendary figure who (allegedly) had set up Sparta's unique military system many centuries ago.

Cleomenes first step is to cancel all the debts within his kingdom. Next he redistributes all the land into 4,000 lots and at a stroke creates 4,000 new citizen families. This provides him a base of motivated Spartan citizens to form the core of his army.

The next stage of Cleomenes reforms are military.

Cleomenes institutes two key military reforms. The first is reinstating Sparta's old military traditions: The communal mess and the Agoge or upbringing. These brought discipline and training back to the Spartan forces.

Since the Classical Spartans are so well known for their toughness, it is easy to imagine that they came from an extremely harsh land. This is actually not the case. Sparta had some of the most fertile land in Greece. It was the Spartan culture and institutions that made them tough fighters.

The next reform was to train and equip the Spartans in the Macedonian fashion - as a Macedonian Phalanx. The main weapon was now a long 16-18ft pike and the men fought "shoulder to shoulder, helmet to helmet" with shields locked.

Cleomenes had created an old school Spartan army equipped in the latest and most deadly fashion. With this new powerhouse army Cleomenes was ready to take the offensive.

Driving into Achaean League territory, Cleomenes inflicts a decisive defeat upon the Achaeans at the battle of Hecatombaeum. The Achaean medium infantry, the Thureophoroi, are easily scattered by the weight and close order of the Spartan pike phalanx. The looser Achaean formation could not resist the Spartans advancing with locked shields.

Cleomenes was not just gaining military victories, but diplomatic ones also. Cleomenes cancellation of debts and redistribution of land had given him the image of a social revolutionary. This made many of the people in the Achaean League eager to switch their support to Cleomenes.

It appeared to them that Cleomenes was almost a proto-socialist revolutionary. While Cleomenes' aims with his social reforms was to recreate the heroic Spartan state of old, to outsiders it appeared that he was a champion for the common man.

With their league crumbling before their eyes, the Achaeans took a previously unimaginable path. They sought an alliance and military aid from their great historic enemy. They sought an alliance with Macedon.

The Achaeans had previously been fighting to prevent a restored Macedonian hegemony over Greece. However indirect rule by Macedon seemed preferable to direct rule under the Spartans.

Cleomenes had practically the whole Peloponnese under his control at this point. However his support was melting away after just a few years. The cities that switched to his side realized rather quickly that Cleomenes was not the heroic social revolutionary they thought he was. Instead of land reform and cancellation of debts, they found themselves simply the subjects of yet another imperialist.

The army of Macedon was also mustering to come south and whip the Spartans into submission. Antigonus Doson had managed to build a powerful army. The backbone of this force were the pike-armed phalanx infantry that made the Macedonians famous. However this was supplemented with equal numbers of light and medium infantry recruited from the more warlike peoples of the ancient world: Agranians, Cretans, Gauls, Thracians, and Illyrians. The Macedonians also still had a respectable cavalry arm. The Achaeans also committed their forces, mainly composed of the medium thureophoroi along with some cavalry.

Deserted by their one time allies, the Spartans took up position to defend the route into Sparta. Cleomenes had his forces dig in on the hills Olympus (not to be confused with Mount Olympus) and Euas overlooking the village of Sellasia. This was a strong position supplemented with fortifications.

The Epic Battle of Sellasia was about to begin.

Antigonus Doson's army was larger than the Spartan force, but the Spartans still held the advantage. The Macedonians would have to fight their way uphill. Gravity would be their enemy marching up, and when the phalanxes collided gravity would be the ally of the Spartans. Not only this, but the Spartans were heavily entrenched.

These were not the only problems facing Antigonus. The nature of the rugged and broken ground of the hillside could cause serious problems for a phalanx. The strength of the Macedonian pike phalanx lay in the integrity of its formation, should the phalanx be broken up then serious casualties could occur.

A pike phalanx was composed of thousands and thousands of men. A mathematically ideal phalanx would actually be composed of a little over 16,000 men. However a phalanx would be composed of smaller sub-units, the basic unit being the 256 man syntagma.

When advancing across broken ground, the risk was that these sub-units would end up advancing at different speeds, as different units encountered differing terrain. This would then expose internal flanks were the pikemen would be helpless to defend themselves.

Antigonus used a special deployment in order to try and prevent this.

Here you can see the phalanx deployed shoulder to shoulder in an unbroken line. However as it advances over broken ground, different units advance at different rates. The integrity of the line is broken, exposing the flanks of the sub-units.

This doesn't happen all the time, but there is always the potential for it to happen.

The solution was to intersperse light infantry in between the different sub-units, which is exactly what Antigonus Doson does.

This method was actually first used by Pyrrhus of Epirus a generation before when he was fighting the Romans. Pyrrhus had actually written a popular military treatise (now lost), and it is possible Antigonus had studied this and learned the tactic there. Antigonus also had experience fighting Illyrians on rough terrain, so possibly he had used the tactic against them successfully.

The phalanx infantry has to fight in ordered rows and files, with a set distant between each man. This rigid structure makes it hard to react to broken ground. Light infantry operate more in a swarm rather than in fixed rank and file. They can expand or contract very easily.

As the phalanxes advance, these light troops can cover the internal flanks of sub-units even if they drift apart.

Basically the adding the light infantry component adds articulated joints to the rigid phalanx.

Antigonus launches his forces forward in a formation with three lines of units. The units of the phalanx are interspersed with Illyrian light infantry, while other light and medium troops secured the flanks and make up the rear line.

The battlefield has the two hills, Euas and Olympus on each flank. In between them is a valley. The cavalry is deployed in the center facing the Spartan cavalry within the valley. Each wing assaulting the hills is composed of the infantry in the triple line I just described.

Additionally, Antigonus dispatches a force of Illyrians to hide in a dried-up river bed on flank of the Euas hill, out of sight of Cleomenes. When Antigonus gave the signal - a red cloak raised on a spearshaft, the Ilyrrians would attack.

However, during the advance one of the Macedonian infantry wings becomes separated from the cavalry center. The Spartan cavalry within the valley takes this opportunity to attack the flank of one the Macedonian infantry wings.

Now this wing had a Pike phalanx in the front line, a second pike phalanx behind it, and on the Flanks were positioned the light infantry.

This Spartan attack hit these light troops squarely in the flanks, and started to cause them some serious hurt.

Now entering the story is a the heroic Achaean Philopoemen. If Cleomenes is known as the "last Spartan", Philopoemen is often considered the "last Greek".

Philopoemen was a young man in his first real battle and was serving as a common cavalry trooper. Philopoemen however had long been fascinated by military matters. He and his friends would tour old battlefields and examine the terrain. They would debate how the battle was fought and the different formations used.

As a youth he had originally started training for war in the same manner as elite athletes. However he soon learned this was the wrong approach. Athletes train hard yes, but then they eat lots of good food and get lots of rest to recover. Philopoemen learned the correct way to train for war was by building mental and physical discipline and learning to deal with hunger and fatigue. Thus he changed his personal training routine to not only include strenuous activity, but also how to survive on limited rations with no rest.

Stationed with the cavalry in reserve, he saw his countrymen being overwhelmed by the flank attack. Philopoemen implored the Macedonian officers to launch a counter-attack and beat the Spartans back, however the officers were indifferent. Likely they viewed the troops guarding the flanks as spear-fodder. As long as the enemy was not attacking the lead phalanx, which was also covered by a two more lines of troops, they didn't care.

Philopoemen on his own initiative rallies any cavalry troopers who will listen and charges the Spartans. The Spartans attacking the flank are beaten back and are pursued vigorously. Dismounting to chase them in difficult terrain, Philopoemen is wounded by a javelin which pierces both of his thighs. He manages to break the shaft of the javelin with the strength of his legs, and continues the fight.

After the battle, Antigonus asks the cavalry why they attacked without orders. The cavalrymen trying to cover their bases, respond that they didn't want to, but a crazy young man forced them to attack. Anitgonus response was "Well, then, that young man behaved like a great commander."

This action garners Philopoemen a massive reputation and is the start of a distinguished career. More on this later.

The fighting on the Euas hill heats up. The Spartan commander on this hill has his troops positioned behind the crest of the hill, and fails to advance downhill onto the Macedonians. This proves a fatal mistake as it gives the Macedonians equal footing on the flat ground on top of the hill. As the phalanxes clash, the hidden Illyrians swarm up the hillside. They take the Spartans in the flank, crushing them.

The battle for one hillside is won However,. Cleomenes and the rest of his army are still firmly entrenched on the Olympus hill.

The end of the battle is a simple clash of Spartan Phalanx on Macedonian Phalanx. The Spartans, entrenched behind fortifications start this fight well. They start to push the Macedonians back. They drive the Macedonians back and come out from their defenses. Using the advantage of gravity they start to push the Macedonians down the hillside.

However the Macedonians are not defeated yet. They form up in a double depth phalanx 32 men deep and charge up the hillside yet again. This time it is the Spartans who are driven back, driven right onto their own fortifications. These fortifications break up the Spartan formation and the battle is lost.

The Spartan infantry decides to stand and fight to the death. Of an army of thousands, only a handful survive.

Cleomenes is not so bold. He flees the field of battle, and then Sparta all together.

Now this whole time Cleomenes had not been operating alone. In fact he was largely funded by the Ptolemies in Egypt. The Ptolemies had an interest in limiting Macedonian power so they funded enemies of the Macedonians. Antigonus Doson manages to cut Cleomenes funding before the battle by doing some horse trading (by that I mean territory trading) with the Ptolemies.

A defeated and broken man, Cleomenes flees Sparta for Egypt. There he lives out a few more sorry years essentially a prisoner. In a hopeless and desperate move Cleomenes and his few Spartan companions attempt to foment a revolt in Alexandria. Of course nobody cares or joins in and Cleomenes commits suicide.

Cleomenes really is the last Spartan. He hoped to consciously rebuild the famed Sparta of years before. However in his last moments it seems he failed the real Spartan test. King Leonidas died a hero with his Spartan warriors at Thermopylae. King Cleomenes left his men to die while he himself fled to live a few more pathetic years in exile.

Sparta is conquered by the Macedonians and the kingship dissolved. In its place Antigonus installs a military governor. Likewise the Acheans are losers. Previously they had contested Macedonian hegemony, but their defeats at the hands of Cleomenes and their need for an alliance with Macedon was not without cost. The Acheans essentially become a client state.

Philopoemen, the hero of Sellasia, gains the appreciation of Antigonus. For his heroic daring and initiative he is highly commended and wins great fame. While the ancient sources (written by an Achean called Polybius) say that despite being offered a position in the Macedonian army Philopoemen turns it down, modern historians probably think he did take the job.

Philopoemen serves as a "mercenary" in Crete (again probably actually an officer working for the Macedonians) for years, learning the wily tricks of the Cretans. Returning to Achea, he will institute his own series of reforms. He trains the Achaeans to wear heavy armor and fight in the style of the Macedonian phalanx.

His great moment will come in the Third battle of Mantinea, once again fighting the Spartans as an ally of Macedon.

This war is complicated, but the battle is interesting. The Spartans are lead by a mercenary who has seized the reigns of power, not even a Spartan at all.

The Achaeans are positioned in a pike phalanx behind a large ditch. However, the Spartan army has assembled a ton of ancient world artillery (bolt throwers and the like) to break up the Achaean Phalanx. The Achaeans send in a cavalry attack to try and prevent this, however the Spartans are superior and drive them back. The Spartans pursue and launch a full attack across the ditch. However they suffer heavy losses. The Spartan mercenary tyrant is killed by Philopoemen personally, as the Spartan leader jumps the ditch on horseback.

The battle of Sellasia will be the last campaign the Greeks are free to fight without the interference of a new, greater power. Rome will soon assert her dominance over the squabbling Greek states.

Indeed, the last battle I just described above (3rd Mantinea) will be fought as result of a Macedonian-Carthaginian alliance against Rome during the Second Punic War.

These battles mark the Twilight of Greece. Soon the legions of Rome will crush the Macedonians, Aetolians, and Acheans in turn, ending centuries of squabbling and strife.

Hey folks, sorry for the long delay since my last post. If you have been following my work I have a couple important announcements you might find interesting.

1. Regular posting will be coming back.

With the end of summer I have just been extremely busy with my day job. I now have more time again and more energy to write. My posts always come out on Wednesdays (if not the every Wednesday I would like) and I will keep on maintaining a tag list. I'm not guaranteeing a post every week, but regular stuff will be coming out.

2. The Big Announcement:

I'm starting a podcast. I've actually been working on it all summer. Now I know it is almost a cliche that everybody is starting a podcast. I realize that. However I think I have a unique angle. There are a lot of history podcasts out there, mine isn't going to be like most of them.

My guiding principle is producing something that I would actually like to listen to. If you like the kind of stuff covered in my posts, the podcast is going to give me a lot more freedom to explore topics. Additionally you can even listen while working, driving, exercising, browsing imugr, etc.

A website and more details will be forthcoming. If you have no interest in that sort of thing, don't worry. It is not going to impact my imugr posting.

3. Finally always feel free to contact me by PM if you have a topic request for an imugr post. I can't promise to fulfill every request, but do let me know.

Thanks for reading folks!