War against Nabis
| War against Nabis | |||||||||
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 The Southern Peloponnesus |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Sparta, Doric Cretans, Argos |
Rome, Achaean League, Aetolian League, Macedonia, Pergamum, Rhodes |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Nabis, Pythagoras, Dexagoridas, † Gorgopas |
Titus Quinctius Flamininus, Eumenes II of Pergamum, Aristaenos |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 30,000+ | ~50,000, 98 ships |
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 Fighting style of Greek phalangites with long spears during the Roman-Spartan War (Note the late Greek hoplite helmets, with open visors made from several parts rather than the single part as in earlier times. The leg protection was often leather to allow for faster movement. This fighting style was not in use during the Battle of Marathon; at that time the spears were shorter and held with one hand. Longer spears, held with both hands, were adopted with the introduction of lighter hoplites and later phalangites. As a result of their long and heavy pike, which was handled with both arms, they needed a lighter shield than the old hoplites. |
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Roman soldier from this period (hastatus or princeps) (Celtic steel mail and sandals became widespread after the Second Punic War, while bronze helmets were still in use. The gladius was not yet universal among Roman infantry of the period; reports state that many also used the longer Greek swords. The configuration of the pilum is disputed.) |
The War against Nabis, or the Laconian War, of 195 BC was fought between the Greek city-state of Sparta and a coalition composed of Rome, the Achaean League, Pergamum, Rhodes, and Macedon.
During the Second Macedonian War (200–196 BC), Macedon had given Sparta control over Argos, an important city on the Aegean coast of Peloponnese. Sparta's continued occupation of Argos at the end of war was used as a pretext for Rome and its allies to declare war. The anti-Spartan coalition laid siege to Argos, captured the Spartan naval base at Gythium, and soon invested and besieged Sparta itself. Eventually, negotiations led to peace on Rome's terms, under which Argos and the coastal towns of Laconia were separated from Sparta and the Spartans were compelled to pay a war indemnity to Rome over the next eight years. Argos joined the Achaean League, and the Laconian towns were placed under Achaean protection.
As a result of the war, Sparta lost its position as a major power in Greece. Subsequent Spartan attempts to recover the losses failed and Nabis, the last sovereign ruler, was eventually murdered. Soon after, Sparta was forcibly made a member of its former rival, the Achaean League, ending several centuries of fierce political independence.
After the death of the Spartan regent Machanidas in 207 BC in battle against the Achaean League, Nabis overthrew the reigning king Pelops with the backing of a mercenary army and placed himself on the throne, claiming descent from the Eurypontid king Demaratus. By then, the traditional constitution of Lycurgus had already lost its meaning and Sparta was dominated by a group of its former mercenaries. Polybius described Nabis' force as "a crowd of murderers, burglars, cutpurses and highwaymen". In 205 BC, Nabis signed a peace treaty with Rome, but in 201 BC he attacked the territory of Messene, at that time an ally of both parties, which Sparta had ruled until the mid 4th century BC. The Spartans captured Messene but were soon forced to abandon it when the army of Megalopolis arrived under the command of Philopoemen. Later, they were decisively defeated at the Tegea and Nabis was forced to check his expansionist ambitions for the time.
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