Battle of Nemea

Battle of Nemea
Part of the Corinthian War
A Greek hoplite
Date 394 BC Location Nemea, Peloponnese, present-day Greece Result Spartan victory
Belligerents
Sparta	Thebes, Argos, Athens, Corinth
Commanders and leaders
Aristodemus	Unknown
Strength
18,000 hoplites	24,000 hoplites
Casualties and losses
1,100 dead or wounded	2,800 dead or wounded

The Battle of Nemea (394 BC) was a battle in the Corinthian War, between Sparta and the allied cities of Argos, Athens, Corinth, and Thebes. The battle was fought in Corinthian territory, at the dry bed of the Nemea River. The battle was a decisive Spartan victory, which, coupled with the Battle of Coronea later in the same year, gave Sparta the advantage in the early fighting on the Greek mainland.

Hostilities in the Corinthian War began in 395 BC with raiding in northwestern Greece, eventually leading to a clash between Sparta and Thebes at the Battle of Haliartus, a Theban victory. In the wake of this battle, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos joined together to form an anti-Spartan alliance, with its forces commanded by a council at Corinth.

In 394 BC, the council gathered together its forces at Corinth. A Spartan army under Aristodemus, the guardian of the boy king Agesipolis, was sent north from Sparta to challenge the allies. The allied army, meanwhile, waited at Corinth, while the council debated over who should command it. Before a decision was reached, the Spartan army entered Corinthian territory, burning and plundering along the way. The allies marched out to meet the Spartans, and the two armies met each other near the dry bed of the Nemea river.

The Spartan army was composed of some 18,000-19,000 hoplites, with associated light troops. Of the hoplites, 6,000 were Spartan, with the remainder coming from the other states of the Peloponnesian League: 3,000 from the Eleans, Triphylians, Acrorians and Lasionians; 1,500 from Sicyon; and at least 3,000 from Epidaurus, Troezen, Hermione and Halieis. There was also a cavalry force of about 600, about 300 Cretan archers, and at least 400 Marganian, Letrinian and Amphidolian slingers.

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