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BATTLE OF MEGARA

 

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (17 August 2011), Battle of Megara, 409/408 BC , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_megara.html

 
 

The battle of Megara in 409/408 was a rare example of an Athenian victory on land over a force that contained Spartan troops. Megara had been an ally of Athens, but sided against them during the Great Peloponnesian War, and as a result the Athenians seized Nisaea, the port of Megara. At some point in 409/408 the Megarians took advantage of Athens's apparently vulnerability after the disaster at Syracuse and recaptured Nisaea. The Athenians responded by sending out a force of 1,000 infantry and 400 cavalry, commanded by Leotrophides and Timarchus. This army may have included Plato's brothers. The Megarians responded by drawing up their entire army nears some hills called the 'cerata', or 'horns', close to the border between Attica and Megara. They were supported by a number of troops from Sicily and some Spartans. The Athenians won the land battle, inflicting heavy losses on the Megarians, although only twenty Spartans were lost. The reaction to this victory in Athens was a mix of pride over the victory and anger that their generals risked battle against a force that included a Spartan contingent.

 
     

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