Lelantine War
| Lelantine War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Eretria and allies | Chalcis and allies | ||||||||
The Lelantine War is the modern name for a military conflict between the two ancient Greek city states Chalcis and Eretria in Euboea which took place in the early Archaic period, between c. 710 and 650 BC. The reason for war was, according to tradition, the struggle for the fertile Lelantine Plain on the island of Euboea. Due to the economic importance of the two participating poleis, the conflict spread considerably, with many further city states joining either side, resulting in much of Greece being at war. The historian Thucydides describes the Lelantine War as exceptional, the only war in Greece between the mythical Trojan War and the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC in which allied cities rather than single ones were involved.
Ancient authors normally refer to the War between Chalcidians and Eretrians (ancient Greek: πόλεμος Χαλκιδέων καὶ Ἐρετριῶν pólemos Chalkidéon kaì Eretriōn).
We have no direct information in ancient sources to date this war. Indirect evidence in Thucydides points towards a date ca 705 BC, that situates it halfway between history and legend. At the very same time, the site of Lefkandi was being incrementally deserted, perhaps as a consequence of the turmoil. The foundation stories of the joint Euboean colony at Ischia suggest that at the mid-8th century Chalcis and Eretria were cooperating. Furthermore, Theognis can be read to imply there was a conflict between Eretria and Chalcis in the middle of the 6th century BC. While a few historians have suggested this as the date of the Lelantine War, it is more probable that Theognis refers to a second, smaller and even less known Lelantine War: "we are certainly not dealing with a 'Hundred Years Lelantine War'", remarks Robin Lane Fox.
...
Wikipedia