Battle of Tanagra (457 BC)

Battle of Tanagra
Part of First Peloponnesian War
Date 457 BC Location Tanagra Result Spartan victory
Belligerents
Athens	Sparta
Commanders and leaders
Myronides	Nicomedes
Strength
14,000	11,500
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

There was a later battle at Tanagra during the Peloponnesian War; see Battle of Tanagra (426 BC).

The Battle of Tanagra took place in 457 BC between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War.

Although it had won a hegemony over the Greek city-states from its leadership in the Persian Wars, the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League feared the growing power of the Athenian empire and worsened relations by repeated diplomatic affronts and demands.

Wanting to deny any future Persian invasion a base from which to operate, Sparta had urged Athens, along with other Greek cities, to refrain from rebuilding their walls. However, suspecting a Spartan ploy and having already begun the work of construction, Athens employed subterfuge to delay the wheels of diplomacy until she could finish them.

In 464 BC, suffering another Helot rebellion and failing to make progress in the siege against their stronghold Ithome, Sparta had asked for Athens' aid along with its other allies. But after a "considerable force" arrived from Athens under the command of Cimon, Sparta, fearing the "unorthodox" politics of Athens and the possibility of her supporting the enslaved Helots rather than fighting them, sent the Athenian contingent home while keeping on the rest of her allies.

Deeply offended by these Spartan interferences and insults, Athens was increasingly willing to support discord within the Peloponnesian League and took Megara into its protection during its border dispute with the Spartan-allied Corinth, leading to open war with Corinth but not Sparta herself.

When the Phocians made war on the cities of Doris—the traditional homeland of Doric Greeks—the Doric Sparta sent a relief force under the command of Nicomedes, son of Cleombrotus, acting as regent for his under-age nephew, King Pleistoanax. An army of 1,500 Spartan hoplites with 10,000 of their allies entered Boeotia and compelled the submission of Phocis.

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