CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST

Text by Nikos Aivalis, research by Elpida Zografidou, translation by Eva Trombetas 

We all know the Great Greek king from Macedonia, Alexander, who glorified Greece from one end of the world to the other. But how many of us know that some years ago, a Spartan king, along with Spartans and Peloponnesians, was a harbinger of Alexander the Great, as he campaigned in Asia to liberate all the Greek cities that lived for so many years under the Persian yoke.

The great man's name was Agisilaos II of Sparta, who was born in 444 BC in Sparta and died in 360 BC in the Cyrene of North Africa, while he came from the clan Euripontides. We will get to know more about the life and work of this great man in this feature, as together with the Peloponnesians, he showed that although they were divided by city-states, there was the Greek soul that united them, for this reason Agisilaos had set out to liberate the Greeks of Asia Minor. Let's learn more about the life of the Spartan king.

Agisilaos II

Agisilaos was the second son of king Archidamus II, with mother Eupolia. He had a sister, Kyniska, who was born around 430 BC, a great Spartan woman, who was the first female Olympic champion in history. Kyniska won twice at the Olympic Games, in 396 BC and in 392 BC both times in the chariot race. She was incredibly appreciated by the Spartans, but also by the other Greeks. It is characteristic that they made a bronze statue of her in Olympia, a work by Apellis, who was a painter from Kos.

Kyniska

The other two brothers of Agisilaos were Agis II, king of Sparta, and Teleftias, admiral of the Spartans. Agisilaos was short and lame on one leg, which also contradicts the myth that the Spartans threw unhealthy babies to Kaiadas cave, which has also been refuted by modern scientific research on the spot. Agisilaos was not destined to be heir to the throne and received the standard Spartan education as all young Spartans received. As he was young, during a celebration the person in charge placed him far behind, in a position where Agisilaos could not be seen. Then the young Agisilaos replied: "I must show that it is not the place itself that makes the glorious man, but the man who glorifies the place", something that shows what character this great man already had.

Sparta

Agisilaos, although not tall and not distinguished for his beauty, his kindness, his simplicity and his great character, endeared him to others. These and many other virtues he had, which caught the eye of the great Spartan general and politician, Lysander, who supported him to ascend the throne later. Agisilaos got married with Cleora, with whom he had three children: Eupolia, Proavga and Archidamus III. After the death of Agisilaos' brother, Agis II, there was a question of succession. Then Lysander helped Agisilaos to take the throne, so in 420 BC he becomes king. It was the era after the Peloponnesian War, when Sparta was the winner, resulting to it dominating militarily and politically throughout Greece.

Agisilaos II

In 396 BC bad news comes to Sparta, that the Persians gathered a huge army and navy to campaign against the Greeks. While the Lacedaemonians and their allies were studying the impending danger, Agisilaos undertook the difficult task, instead of waiting for the Persians to bring war to Greece once again, to bring the war himself to the Persians. So, with an army of 30 Spartan officers, 2,000 neodamodes (liberated helots) and 6,000 allied soldiers mainly from the Peloponnese, he decided to campaign east against the Persian Empire.

Spartan phalanx

So Agisilaos with his army landed in Ephesus in Asia Minor by ships. Then the Persian satrap Tissafernis sent people to ascertain the intentions of Agisilaos. Agisilaos replied: "I came to make the cities of Asia Minor free, as they are in the rest of Greece". Tissafernis, being cunning, promised to leave some cities autonomous if a truce was agreed. Agisilaos initially agreed, but Tissaphernes secretly asked the Persian king Artaxerxes II for an army to fight against Agisilaos. As soon as the Spartan king realized this betrayal, he attacked Caria, but in the end he headed north to the Hellespontian Phrygia. During his journey, Agisilaos took in his army also Greeks from Asia Minor who saw him as a liberator. In his wake he destroyed many forts and cities that were under Persian occupation and thus gained several spoils, which would help him in his struggle. Agisilaos headed south again and with the contribution of rich Ionians, formed a strong cavalry.

Spartan army

The continuing victories of Agisilaos, brought terror to the Persians and gave courage to the Greeks. But Agisilaos, in addition to his strategic abilities, showed another side of his character. He never mistreated prisoners, while with his personal intervention he protected children so that they would not end up in slave markets. He also helped the elders who stayed behind to avoid being devoured by dogs and wolves. This resulted in him gaining the love of the Greeks of Asia Minor, but also the respect of his own captives. In the process, Agisilaos again pretended to attack Caria, while his target was Lydia, resulting to Tissafernis instead of lining up in Lydia, he lined up in Caria. In 395 BC, Agisilaos headed to the great city of Sardis. Then Tissafernis sent a strong cavalry force to attack the Greeks, but the clever Agisilaos trapped the Persian cavalry and crushed it at the battle of the Paktolos river. Artaxerxes blamed Tissaphernes for this catastrophe and thus replaced him with Tithrafstis. Tithrafstis asked Agisilaos to return to Sparta and in return all the Greek cities of Asia Minor would get independence, but would pay a tax to the Persians. Agisilaos replied that he could not accept anything without the consent of the authorities of his homeland. Tithrafstis, gave him 30 talents for the maintenance of his army and persuaded him to go to Phrygia, the seat of the Persian satrap Pharnavazos, until the orders would come from Sparta.

Agisilaos and Pharnavazos

Agisilaos plundered Phrygia and reached Paphlagonia. Pharnavazos could not react to the Greek invasion. Agisilaos seemed invincible and the Persians could not corrupt him with gold. So the Persian satrap of Phrygia, Pharnavazos, arranged a meeting with Agisilaos, who accepted. Agisilaos was waiting for him lying under a tree, with Pharnavazos who was accustomed to riches and grandeur being offended at his sight. Pharnavazos was trying to find ways to persuade Agisilaos to abandon his campaign. Agisilaos then suggested that he ally with the Greeks. Pharnavazos replied that if the king of Persia released him from being a general, he would ally with the Greeks, but if he entrusted him with the generalship, he had a duty to fight against Agisilaos. Agisilaos admired the answer of the Persian man and replied that he would prefer to have such a man as a friend and not as an enemy, while he promised to leave from his lands.

Greece and Asia Minor

The Lacedaemonian king's next goal was to head to the Persian capital, Susa, in the far east, north of Babylon. This had never been attempted by the Greek army during the Persian empire, but Greeks had been there before, namely 10,000 Greek mercenaries under the Spartan general Clearchus, who arrived just outside Babylon, in the service of the Persian Cyrus in 401 BC, who wanted to dethrone his brother and king, Artaxerxes II. The adventure, which Xenophon describes to us, begins as Cyrus Ascension, as Cyrus heads to Babylon, in an area called Cunaxa and ends as the Descent of the Myriads, when after the defeat of Cyrus, the Greek mercenaries try from the heart of the Persian empire, to return to Greece. It is in this great adventure that we get to know the great Athenian historian, Xenophon, who after the insidious death of the Greek officers by the Persians, undertook the task to bring the Greeks safely back to their homeland.

Xenophon

So when Agisilaos was ready to campaign in the depths of the Persian empire, he received a message from Sparta to return immediately back to face a coalition of Argians, Corinthians and Athenians, led by Thebans, who were bribed by the Persian king Artaxerxes to attack Sparta and force the frightful and fear-inspiring Persian rival, Agisilaos, to retreat. Without delay, Agisilaos gathered his allies and informed them that he needed to return to Sparta and if all goes well, to be sure that he would return to defend them. When his allies in Asia Minor heard this, they wept for him, as they already loved Agisilaos very much and appreciated the fight he had gave for them. So they voted to strengthen him militarily to defend Sparta and if all went well, to bring him back to the east. The sorrow of Agisilaos was great as he did not manage to complete his dream, to liberate all the Greek cities of Asia, something that Alexander the Great would achieve years later. Notable is the phrase that Agisilaos was not defeated by the Persians, but by 30,000 archers, due to the gold Persian coins that on the back had the shape of an archer, which were given by the Persians to the coalition of Thebans and the rest of the Greeks.

Daric, the Persian gold coins with the archer

On his return, Agisilaos in Thessaly faced the famous Thessalian cavalry, as the Thessalians had allied with the Thebans. Agisilaos, however, managed to defeat them. When he arrived in Boeotia, he encountered the army of Thebans and Athenians in the plain of Koronia. The battle was very hard and without a clear winner, but at some point the battle began to tilt in favor of Agisilaos, but then the Spartan king was wounded and was transported to the rear. Another fact that shows the character of Agisilaos is that at that moment, soldiers warned him that some enemies had sought refuge in a nearby temple. Then Agisilaos did not order them to kill them, but he sent a cavalry to accompany them to where his excluded enemies would be safe.

the battle of Koronia

In the following years, Agisilaos fought many battles in the Corinthian War, where Sparta and its allies faced a coalition of Thebans, Athenians, Corinthians and Argians who had the financial support of the Persians. In 391 BC, Agisilaos attacked Corinth, where he won. It is characteristic that in the battle of Corinth, 8 Lacedaemonians were killed, while the Greek opponents lost almost 10,000 men. Agisilaos did not enjoy it and he said: "Alas Greece, because the present dead, if they lived they could defeat all the barbarians in war". Then he raided Argos with great success. Later he attacked the allies of the Athenians, the Akarnanes in Aetolia-Acarnania, whom he defeated. Unfortunately, the ongoing war exhausted Sparta, both financially and militarily, and could no longer bear all this burden. Thus in 387 BC, Agisilaos made peace with Artaxerxes, known as Antalkideios peace. This humiliating agreement required recognition of the Persian rule in the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Cyprus. This brought an end to the Corinthian War and the bloodshed. When someone remarked that the Spartans submitted theirselves to the Medes, Agisilaos replied: "better say that the Medes submitted theirselves to the Lacons".

Agisilaos, who used to sit under trees
like a common soldier

At a quite old age, Agisilaos defended the city of Sparta, against the great power developed by the Thebans. It was the first time that the city of Sparta was threatened by a large enemy force, of over 40,000 men. The Theban rule in Greece ended with the battle of Mantineia, where Agisilaos, being 82 years old, faced the famous Theban general Epameinondas, creator of the Theban rule. There the Thebans managed to defeat the Spartan army, but were forced to make peace with the Spartans as they lost their general, Epameinondas, which resulted in the fall of Thebes.

battle of Mantineia

In 361 BC at the age of 84, Agisilaos, in an attempt to find financial resources for Sparta, which had already gone into decline, went as a mercenary to Egypt. Today this sounds crazy, but for a man like Agisilaos it was not crazy to travel in his old age to Egypt, being in charge of Greek mercenaries, so as to help the Egyptian king Tacho in his revolution against the Persians. When the Egyptian rulers went to greet him they were stunned finding an old man sitting on the grass, among his soldiers, presenting him as the great Agisilaos, the fear and terror of the Persians, whose name had become famous all over the world. Most of all, they were impressed by his simplicity, since of all the gifts they offered him, he kept only a few calves and flour, while he offered the sweets and exotic delicacies to the helots. Disappointed with Tacho, Agisilaos successfully supported Nectanebo II, who became the last native Pharaoh of the Egyptians. Recognizing his valuable offer, Pharaoh invited him to spend the winter as his guest. Agisilaos, however, recognizing that his homeland needed him, chose to leave for Sparta, in order to support it financially with all the money he earned as a mercenary. However, due to the bad weather conditions, the ship of Agisilaos was swept away to Cyrene, in Libya. He died there in the winter of 360 BC, with his body being transported to Sparta for burial. During his last hours, Agisilaos instructed those who were close to him not to make statues and sculptures for him, as he said that if he did worthy deeds, these would be his monument, if not, then no matter how many busts they would make for him, none would have any value.

Agisilaos in Egypt

This was the end of the great Agisilaos, the Spartan king. It is typical how much he was praised by other great men. The Athenian orator Isocrates praised him for the spirit of pan-Hellenism that lived inside him. The great historian Plutarch writes: "he was king for 41 years and for over 30 of them, he was the most important person of all Greeks, leader and king of Greece". The Athenian historian Xenophon, who loved Sparta, while Sparta also loved him, while fighting on the side of Agisilaos in the battle of Koronia, said about Agisilaos: "Of course I know that it is difficult to write a word of praise that responds in the value of the virtue and glory of Agisilaos, however I must try to do it, because it would not be fair for a man, if he was perfect, not to be claimed for this reason even the lowest praises ". He also said: "he was the only man who proved that the power of the body weakens, but the power of the soul remains immortal". When such great men speak with such respect for such a great man as Agisilaos, our words are more than redundant. We only hope that, at some point, Greece will bring out such leaders again, who are an example to be imitated for their wisdom, their bravery, their simplicity and their love for their homeland.