Ancient Warfare Magazine – Issue 106 2026 – Ancient Warfare Magazine

We can see that, around this time, there are depictions of men who look entirely like hoplites, wearing Corinthian hel- mets and carrying aspides shields, but they do not fight in a classic phalanx, armed with two throwing javelins each rather than thrusting spears. Confusingly, the lat- ter also make an ap- pearance, and some carry the ‘Boeotian’ shield so common in art but missing entirely from the ar- chaeological record.

If hoplite tactics were involved at Thyrea, it is entirely feasible that each side fought with a phalanx in miniature — one consisting of 300 men on each side. If the bat- tle was not fought as a hoplite one, the formations may have been looser, and the combat may have soon devolved into duels.

The remaining champions All Herodotus tells us is that: “having agreed, the armies drew off, and the picked men of each side remained and fought. Neither side could gain advantage in the battle; at last, only three of the six hundred were left” (1.82.4). Herodo- tus then names all three of the men — two Ar- gives, Alcenor and Chromius, and one Spartan, Othryades (or Othryadas in some sources). Ac- cording to Herodotus, believing themselves the victors, the two Argives ran home to announce their victory.

Othyrades, however, stayed on the battlefield and stripped the Argive dead and took their arms back to his camp (1.82.5). On the fol- lowing day, the armies of both Sparta and Argos re- turned to learn the outcome of the battle between their champions. Both sides claimed the victory — the Ar- gives because two of their side had sur- vived, the Spartans because, they claimed, the Argives had fled and left possession of the field to their man who had stripped the enemy dead, as was proper protocol in claiming a vic- tory (1.82.6).

When the two armies could not agree, they fell to fighting a much larger battle, which the Spartans eventually won. This was the beginning of an unceasing enmity between Sparta and Argos; they were already rivals, probably at least from earlier in the sixth century BC when Sparta conquered Tegea. Indeed, Pausanias tells us that the ani- mosity between Sparta and Argos was con- Thyrea remained in Spartan hands until the fourth century BC. In 464 BC, the Thyreans helped Sparta when the Messenians revolted and, during the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians captured Thyrea and enslaved the population, which included Aeginetans who the Spartans had settled there.

Thyrea was restored into Argive control by Philip II of Macedon.

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Book Information

• Unique ID: 9fb418e5cb270a80
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 29,727,094 bytes (28.35 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781804517703, 9781472863379, 9780691168456, 9780300219012, 9783515103985, 9780715629673
• Pages: 61
• Language: English (en)

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