The Battle of Olpae was a battle of the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of t ...

in 426 BC, between armies led by

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refer ...

. In 426, 3,000

hoplite Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The f ...

s from

Ambracia Ambracia (; grc-gre, Ἀμβρακία, occasionally , ''Ampracia'') was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was captured by the Corinthians in 625 BC and was situated about from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigab ...

invaded

Amphilochian Argos Amphilochian Argos ( grc, Ἄργος τὸ Ἀμφιλοχικόν, la, Argos Amphilochicum) was the chief town of ancient Amphilochia, situated at the eastern extremity of the Ambraciot Gulf, on the river Inachus. Its territory was called Argei ...

Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. To ...

on a gulf of the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...

and occupied the fort of

Olpae Olpae or Olpai ( grc, Ὄλπαι) was a town of ancient Amphilochia, where the Battle of Olpae was fought between the Spartans and the Athenians in 426 BC during the Peloponnesian War. Olpae sat upon a fortified hill, in the territory of A ...

. The Acarnanians asked for help from both the Athenian general

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

, and the 20 Athenian ships located nearby under the command of Aristotle and Hierophon. The Ambraciots asked for help from Eurylochus of Sparta, who managed to march his army past the Acarnanians without being observed. After this, Demosthenes arrived in the gulf below Olpae with his ships, 200 hoplites, and 60 archers. He joined with the Acarnanian army and set up camp in a ravine opposite Eurylochus, where both sides made preparations for five days. As the Ambraciot and Peloponnesian army was larger, Demosthenes set up an ambush with 400 hoplites from Acarnania, to be used when the battle began. Demosthenes formed the right wing of the Athenian-led army with Athenian and

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was ...

n troops, with the centre and left wing formed by the Acarnanians and Amphilochians. Eurylochus formed the left wing of his army, directly facing Demosthenes, with the Ambraciots and

Mantinea Mantineia (also Mantinea ; el, Μαντίνεια; also Koine Greek ''Antigoneia'') was a city in ancient Arcadia, Greece, which was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. In modern times it is a former municipality in ...

ns forming the rest of the line. When the battle began, Eurylochus quickly outflanked Demosthenes and was about to surround him when the Acarnanians began their ambush, causing panic among the other troops when Eurylochus was killed. The Ambraciots defeated the left wing of the Acarnanians and Amphilochians, chasing them back to Argos, but they were themselves defeated by the rest of the Acarnanians when they returned. Demosthenes lost about 300 men, but emerged victorious when the battle was completed later that night. The next day, Menedaius, who had taken command when Eurylochus was killed, attempted to arrange a truce with Demosthenes. Demosthenes would only allow the leaders of the army to escape. This was psychological warfare by Demosthenes "''...to discredit the Lacedaemonians and Peloponnesians with the Hellenes in those parts, as traitors and self-seekers''". However, some of the Ambraciots attempted to flee with Menedaius and the other commanders. The Acarnanians chased them, allowed Menedaius to escape as agreed, and killed about 200 Ambraciots. Meanwhile, Demosthenes learned that a second army from Ambracia was marching towards Olpae. These Ambraciots set up camp on the road to the fort at Idomene, having no knowledge of the defeat of the previous day. Demosthenes surprised them there at night, pretending to be the other Ambraciot army, and killed most of them; the rest fled to the hills or into the sea where they were captured by the 20 Athenian ships. Overall, the Ambraciots lost about 1,000 men over the two days. Although Demosthenes could have easily taken Ambracia, he did not, because his allies feared a strong Athens in that region and so the Acarnanians and Ambraciots signed a 100-year peace treaty with them.

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientif ...

, ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', Book 3, 114. (2007, April 11). I
Wikisource
The Free Library. Retrieved 10:58, August 26, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Olpae

426 BC 420s BC conflicts Ancient Acarnania