Hi everyone,

I have another historical article for you This one is about the Arcadian cities Mantineia and Tegea, but also a lot about Sparta. Enjoy!


Rivals in Arcadia - Tegea and Mantineia in the Archaic and Classical Greek World


Rivalries between cities in the ancient world are a popular and well known topic. The epic struggles between Rome and Carthage in the three Punic Wars are as hot as ever, not the least with the upcoming release of Total War: Rome II. The rivalry of Athens and Sparta and their decisive fight in the Peloponnesian War, brought to us by the great historian Thucydides, stoods in the center of the historian's and fans' interest as well. Even the oppositions between Argos and Sparta or Rome and Constantinople (albeit in a different sense) are well known to the audience on this forum. But today I want to shift the eye of the reader to another, less known, but equally fascinating case: The rivalry between the Arcadian towns Tegea and Mantineia. Situated on the center of the Peloponnese in the mythical landscape of Αρκαδία they became fierce rivals from their earlierst times on.

First of all, let's start with Arcadia. This wonderful landscape is known for being home of a number of the Greek myths and of the god of nature, Pan, himself. This legendary atmosphere Arcadia already possessed in ancient times made it an ideal motif for arts since the Renaissance. Imagined as a land of pristine nature and harmony between animals, plants and humans, Arcadia was a popular background for all sorts of artistic dreams (Et in Arcadia ego ''And in Arcadia I am'').



Nicolas Poussin, the shepherds of Arcadia, 1630

But now let's turn to the real Arcadia. Laying in the heart of the Peloponnesos Arcadia was at the center of Greek affairs from the start on. The image people later had, and still have, of Arcadia, is not entirely wrong. The inhabitants also knew about the myths that gave their land a vital role in Greek culture. These myths as well as a common dialect in all of Arcadia and collective cults and festivals forged an Arcadian identity, which differentiated them from other Greeks. Also, during the archaic age, most regions in mainland Greece had not developed any common identities yet, not even Achaia. But one should not think that this made the Arcadians enter a political alliance as well, quite the opposite. The three biggest towns, Orchomenos, Tegea and Mantineia, probably fought over their borders as early as the 7th century BC.



Arcadia on the Peloponnese



Map of Arcadia (I hope you can see the most important places)

The known history of Arcadia begins in the 8th century BC. The rising city-state of Lakedaimon, commonly known as Sparta, intended to expand northwards and clashed there with Tegea for the first time. Not much is known about these first wars, but everything speaks for a succesful defense of the Tegeans. In the following 200 years Tegea and Sparta would fight each other several times again. While Sparta conquered Messenia in the West in two bloody wars and suceeded in gaining full control of all of Lakonia, Tegea would not be overcome and the route into Arcadia was refused. On the other end of the plain on the Mount Barberi lay Mantineia, another old polis that aimed at a greater overregional influence.
The mountainous plain on which both cities lay, about 600 - 700ms over sea level, gave them not only a protected position, but also an easy access to an abundance of water from rivers and rain. It is well possible that Tegea constructed an advance drainage system at this time, usually considered to be introduced in the Classical period only, and profited from a flourishing agriculture. Apparently Tegea profited more from the water management on the plan than Mantineia, and this led to conflicts between both city- states from early on. Furthermore, Tegea also claimed to be older and more important than Mantineia, which led to a dispute over the grave of Maira, the wife of the mythical father of the city, Tegeates. Mantineia also claimed to possess the bones of Maira, but only Tegea could show bones to back up their claim.

The conflict between Sparta and Tegea had similar prehistorical routes. Apart from a legend about the woman Marpessa, that made a whole army of Spartans flee in the past (yes, a woman) the myth of the Tegean king Ekhemos who defeated the Herakleidai Hyllos in a single combat proved for the Tegeans, that their ancestor had been superior to a Spartan ancestor. Thus, they put up a fierce resistance against the Lakedaimonians for decades, but eventually Spartan military prowess would prove too much for Tegea and it had to give in to accept Sparta as its overlord. Herodotos (1,65) says that this victory over Tegea in the middle of the 6th century BC was Sparta's greatest triumph and the crucial point, at which Sparta was able to found the Peloponnesian League and establish it's hegemony over the Peloponnese.
Mantineia, meanwhile, had been fighting against Heraia together with Kleitor (Clitor on the map), at this time and won a victory over the little Arcadian town. Ephoros and Hermippos tell us, that Mantineia introduced a number of military reforms during this time. Allegedly, the traditional equipment and armament of the Greek hoplite was invented by the Mantineians at this time and still called ''Mantineian'' in later times. However, Mantineia was no match for Sparta at this point and also agreed to join the Peloponnesian League.

But for now, the victory over Tegea was more important and Sparta didn't hesitate to use it for their prestige. After asking the oracle at Delphi how to tame the stubborn Tegeans, the remains of the great mythical hero Orestes were brought to Sparta, by which he became a Spartan citizen in ancient understanding. This forged not only a mythical connection between Tegea and Sparta, but also established the Spartan claim on hegemony. Mantineia as well as Tegea became two of the most powerful and autonomous members of the Lakedaimonian's league, with the Mantineian politician Demonax making his city the most powerful in Arcadia after Tegea. Mantineia's reputation was so great that a Mantineian was elected to be the neutral judge at Delphi.

At the end of the 6th century BC, Tegea and Mantineia were both loyal followers of Sparta when their king Kleomenes I. marched into Attica against the Peisitratids in Athens. At this time the relations between Tegea and Sparta as well as between Mantineia and Sparta seem to have been on a high. However, in Tegea itself, anti-Spartan traditions were held high. In their highest temple, the one of Athena Alea, the Tegeans dedicated chains to the goddess, which the Spartans had brought with them to make the Tegeans their slaves after their victory (like they had done to the Messenians). But Tegea was too powerful to be brought down to it's knees and always retained a status of independence. Shortly after the year 500, the seer Hegesistratos, who was to be executed in Lakedaimon, escaped and fled to Tegea. He received asylum in the temple of Athena Alea, and Sparta could do nothing against it. This example shows how powerful Tegea really was - despite the expansion of Kleitor in the North and the rivaly of Mantineia, they were the mightiest polis in Arcadia. This was also shown by the introduction of the Halotia- a a tournament dedicated to the victories over Sparta in the past! But the extremely close distance to Mantinea shows that their rivaly would cease neither, even though both of them were allies of Sparta.



Remnants of the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea

With the dawn of the 5th century and the Classical age, the Persian threat came over Greece. After the Athenian victory at Marathon in 490 BC, the Peloponnesians found themselves equally involved in the second war ten years later. Tegea and Mantineia supplied 500 men each for the expedition of Leonidas to the Thermopyles. However, while the Spartans and Thespians fought until the bitter end, the Mantineians and Tegeans withdrew in time to save their lives.
After the events in Thessaly, Mantineia took a passive stance in the Hellenic League and favoured a defense of the Peloponnese, while Tegea pressed forward to help the Athenians. Tegea sent Chileos as an ambassador to Sparta. He spoke before the gerousia and the kings and promised them that all of Arcadia would join the army of the Spartan king Pausanias and urged them to join with the Athenians to deliver the Persians a decisive battle. The Spartans thus gave up their hesitation, assembled their forces and marched northwards. Apart from Elis and Mantineia, every polis sent its troops. But why did Mantineia abstain from the decisive encounter at Plataiai? It seems that the Mantineians expected a Greek defeat and did not want to spoil the relations with their future masters, the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
To keep their pride, they sent a force to Plataiai nonetheless, but it moved as slow as possible over the Isthmos. Meanwhile, the Tegeans and Athenians were in a clash at Plataiai about who should take up the more honourable position in the Greek army. Despite standing besides the Spartans against the Persian foes, the Tegeans argued with their past victories and deeds against Sparta to get the better position in the lineup. Unsurprisingly, this was eventually rejected. Any way, the Tegeans fought side by side with the other Greeks at Plataiai and heroically defeated the Persian army to end the threat for the Greek mainland. Both Herodotos and Plutarch praise the Tegeans for being third in their contribution to the victory, in bravery and fighting skills only to Athens and Sparta.

While the Tegeans had become heros of Greece, the Mantineian army arrived at Plataiai when the battle was already over. The Spartans were raging. To make up for their mistake, the Mantineians urged the allies to pursue the fleeing Persians, but Pausanias rejected it. After their forces returned home, the Mantineians immediately dismissed all of their generals and higher officers. But Sparta could not forgive them, and thus, while Tegea was put on the fourth place on the Serpent column (after Sparta, Athens and Corinth) and devoted their prize at the temple of Athena Alea, the Mantineains were not included on both the serpent column as well as the Zeus statue. Also, the poet Simonides later praised the Tegeans for their fight against the Persians and they invented their own stories about brave and influential acts during the Persian Wars.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nople_2007.jpg

The Serpent column (picture is too big to insert)

In the time after the Persian Wars, Tegea was, therefore, in a great position, while Mantineia had become unpopular in most of Hellas. But Tegea's self confidence was no so high, that they dared to openly challenge Sparta's position in the league. This new mentality was already shown in 477, when the Spartans convicted their king Leotychidas. He fled to Tegea and, as Hegesistratos did back then, received shelter in the sanctuary of Athena Alea. At the same time, the Messenians begun another revolt against their Lacedaimonian overlords. Meanwhile, in Magna Graecia in Italy, Anaxilaos of Rhegion, the mighty tyrant who had connections with the Carthaginians, captured Zankle (modern day Messina, Roman Messana) and renamed it Messene for his Messenian origins. While he resided on Sicily, he had left Mikythos in charge of Rhegion. However, Mikythos quit his service with the tyrant soon and set sail for Tegea. The Tegeans received him in a friendly way and he decided to stay there. During his time in Tegea, Mikythos, who was also of Messenian origin, bestowed several presents to Athena Alea. On the inscriptions of these, he called himself ''a Messenian''. Certainly the Spartans would have heard of this and relations to Tegea worsened considerably.

But not only the Spartans got wind of these news, so did Mantineia. Not only did they start to praise Lakedaimon in all sorts of ways, but, even though with the help of Argos, they moved forward to make a Synoikismos at this time. The precise dating is uncertain and it has often been argued that the Argivian help meant a conflict with Sparta, but it is most likely that the Argivian help was no more than that, a help for the Synoikismos, and that it happened during this time. A Synoikismos usually means the formation of a polis by the merger of a number of towns, like it happened to Sparta in the 9th or 8th century. However, Mantineia had already been a polis for long, which means this Synoikismos will have had the form of agressive expansion of the urban borders. Of course little towns in the vicinity of a bigger polis like Mantineia always were under their influence, but now Mantineia exercised a more direct control over them and in some cases might have forced the country people to abandon their homes and to move to Mantineia itself.

The intention of Mantineia is only all to clear: The rising tenses between Tegea and Sparta meant a chance to regain the former position as an almost-equal of Tegea, although Tegea was twice as big as Mantineia. But now Mantineia was powerful enough to withstand a Tegean expansion and was in a close alliance with Lakedaimon again. To prove just how serious they were, the Mantineian army invaded Messenia on Sparta's behalf. Once they united with the Spartan forces, the Messenian rebels stood no chance and were crushed emphatically.



Remnants of the theatre at Mantineia

Mantineia further strengthened its position by negotiating a treaty between Sparta, itself and the Aitolian tribe of the Erxadieis. Furthermore, when Elis in the North Western Peloponnese dictated its Perioikoi town Skillous (Scillus) a treaty during the same time, Mantineia invented on behalf of Skillous and improved the position of Skillous. Skillous in the Eastern part of the landscape called Elis (in difference to the polis) seemed to have had friendly relations to Mantineia as well as Elis itself, maybe a phila, a ''friendship'' treaty.

While Mantineia had edged closer to Sparta again and improved it's position in all of Greece, Tegea sought an alliance with Argos about 468/467 BC. This was the point of no return: War with Sparta, which still seemed weakened by the Messenian revolts, was imminent. The Tegeans sent their army into the Argolis to besiege the ancient city of Mykene together with their Argive allies. Mykene was utterly destroyed, as was nearby Tiryns, and Argos was able to extend its power. Alarmed by the Argivian successes and the threat of Tegea quitting the Peloponnesian League, Sparta mobilized its army and invaded Arcadia. The Tegean army, followed by forces from Argos, hurried back to their hometown to face the Spartans in battle. Both forces numbered several thousand men, but the Spartan warriors were always favorites to win the battle. Argos and Tegea had only dared to attack Mykene once Sparta was occupied in Messenia, but the Mantineian intervention made it possible for them to use forces against Tegea sooner than they had expected. In the battle of Tegea (between 468 and 465 BC), the Argive- Tegean army suffered a sounding defeat.

But the war was not over yet. The Spartan forces had to withdraw again because of yet another outbreak of revolt by the Messenians. They only left an army of about 500- 1000 men at Dipaia west of Tegea (note: Some authors argue that Tegea also made a Synoikismos like Mantineia at this time and thus the Spartan army was actually a second invasion force to punish them for it. Both explanations are possible, probably the Spartan army did indeed not stay in Arcadia). However, Argos left the alliance with Tegea at this point and its forces returned home. Tegea turned to it's Arcadian symmachoi (allies in war, more like vassals because they have to follow Tegea, while Tegea does not have to help them, like the Peloponnesian League worked for Sparta- at least in theory) and called them for. And indeed all of Arcadia, including Kleitor and Orchomenos, answered the call and pledged itself to the Tegean cause. All of Arcadia- but Mantineia. They remained loyal on the side of Sparta and inside the Peloponnesian League, while other members like Elis or Corinth stood and watched how this confrontation would end and what to do.

Now with an army of estimated 2000- 5000 men under command, the Tegeans brought their forces together and attacked the Spartans at the battle of Dipaia. Outnumbered perhaps as much as 1 to 5 (our sources might be biased in saying that the Arcadian superioty in numbers was extreme), the Spartans rose up to their reputation and fame. As the skilled and disciplined warriors they were, they resisted the Arcadian attacks before breaking up the enemy's line. The Arcadians were routed and Tegeas' allies took to their heels and were not to be seen anymore. The Tegeans desperately tried to gather the remnants of their forces at their home city to put up a defense. As Simonides tells us, they succeeded and doing so and again Sparta's victory was not a crucial one. Tegea retained its position and (if we are to believe Strabon) a third battle took place at the end of the 460s. The Tegeans now intervened in Messenia to support the rebels, but Sparta crushed both of them once and for all. Tegea gave its fight up and became a member of the Peloponnesian League again.




Sight of Tegea today

In the following time they followed Spartan campaigns into the Doris in 457 and into Attica under Pleiostanax. The Spartan commander Kleandridas helped the Tegean aristocrats shortly after when he met them on the countryside. The Tegeans had already suspected those nobles to be of a pro-Spartan mind, and now Kleandridas helped them to install an oligarchic government (while Mantineia probably had a democracy by then) loyal to Sparta. Above mentioned campaigns show that they acted as reliable Spartan allies, as well as the facts that both Pleiostanax and Kleandridas, when they were later convicted in Sparta (oh the irony) did not flee to Tegea, but to Lykaion (also in Arcadia, in the West in Parrhasia, see above map) and Thurioi (In Italy). A formal alliance was concluded between Tegea and Sparta and duly put on a stele on the banks of the river Alpheios (which flows through Southern Arcadia and into the sea west of Olympia).

In 431 BC the Peloponnesian War broke out. Initiated by Corinth against Athen’s expansionist policy, the whole Peloponnesian League led by Sparta soon plunged into the conflict. This is not the point to portray the whole war, so I’ll focus on the events concerning Mantineia and Tegea. Both started the war as loyal allies for Sparta and Mantineian forces are explicitly mentioned in the expedition of the Spartan commander Eurylochos with 3000 soldiers Naupaktos, Akarnania and the amphilochian Argos. Mantineia had supplied the greates number of soldiers after Sparta and they fought in the first row, together with the Lakedaimonians (Thucydides, III, 105-109). However, the campaign ended in disaster, but the Mantineians were the only troops of the Spartan allies to retreat in orderly fashion and therefore only suffered minimal casualties. On the following negotiations, the Spartans only spoke for themselves while of the allies, only Mantineia sent its own ambassador. He was successfully in brokering a deal, which saw the Mantineians return home safely without the Akarnanians or Naupaktos further harassing them. This episode made Mantineia’s confidence in Sparta drop, while it enhanced their self confidence.



Map of the Peloponnesian War (I think it's clear who's who despite the legend being German)


Thus, Mantineia concentrated on expanding its power in Arcadia once again. We have seen that Tegea could mobilize most of Arcadia in the 460s, and we know that afore mentioned Heraia (Heraea in western Arcadia on the Arcadia map above) and the Southern part of Mainalia (Maenalia, the country west of Tegea and Mantineia) remained symmachoi of Tegea. Now Mantineia split the tribes of Mainalia by annecting the Northern part around Methydrion. To symbolize their victory, the Mantineians took the bones of Arkas, the father of Mainalos, who gave the region it's name, to Mantineia. Thus they tried to win sympathies among the Mainalians and show the rest of the Arcadians their superiority- Arkas was not only a symbol of Mainalia, but of all of Arcadia (Arkas > Arkadia). As Sparta did with Orestes, Mantineia now made Arkas a citizen of their polis, symbolically.

Apart from Mainalia, Mantineia also expanded in Parrhasia and forced most of the towns to become it's symmachoi. Tegea was enraged about this and thus, in the winter of 423/422, during a ceasefire, it begun the Tegean-Mantineian War (the name is my own creation :p ). However, Thucydides (V 65) seems to think that the water supply was the reason for the war, again, and thus Mantineia might have begun the war. Tegea and Mantineia both called for their symmachoi and marched their armies against each other. With both of them spotting a Pan- Arcadian claim, only one polis should prevail. At the battle of Laodikeion in the Oresthis both armies clashed. Even though the place might have been in Parrhasia, the concrete event of the battle remains a mystery. Both armies seem to have suffered severe losses, but no one could make the lethal strike. This grim slaughter shows how big the rivaly between the two cities was, and after the battle both of them announced themselves as winners and bestowed a part of their booties to the gods.

With he conflict still glooming, Mantineia erected a fortress in Parrhasia to keep it's new possessions. But now overregional events changed the course of everything again: After the battle of Amphipolis, Athens and Sparta agreed the Nikias peace in the following summer of 422- therefore ending all hostilities for now. Elis rejected the peace as well as Corinth did. While Corinth was disappointing about the end of the war against Athens, Elis was enraged about Sparta. Now Argos saw it's chance had come and when Athens and Sparta concluded analliance in 421, it was all too easy for them to convince Mantineia and Elis that the two super powers would work together to subdue the rest of Greece. The new coalition saw itself as an alternative to the two major powers. Corinth also joined the alliance, but only a defensive one, which should not be turned against Sparta. But that was exactly what Argos wanted and so it was no surprise when a Spartan army invaded Parrhasia. Halfheartedly assisted by a handful of Argivian troops, the Mantineians lost the fortress of Kypsela and could not prevent the Lakedaimonians from devastating Parrhasia. A stasis ocurred in Parrhasia between pro- Spartan and pro- Mantineian nobles, who were unable to make a decision.
Soon, the alliance between Sparta and Athens faltered and in 420 BC the new middle power coalition joined with Athens against Sparta. Enthusiastically they sent 1000 hoplites to Elis to protect the Olympic Games from Spartan interferences and in 418 they protected Argos when Sparta threatened to attack it. And they were delighted to see that the Athenians could convince Argos to abstain from a ceasefire with Sparta. Meanwhile, the Spartans had brought Arcadian hostages to Orchomenos, now under Lakedaimonian control. The coalition, that had initially planned to move against Lepreon, a town in Elis on good terms with Sparta and politically against the polis Elis, was now convinced by Mantineia to campaign against Tegea. Their first step was to besiege Orchomenos, which quickly surrendered, had to release the hostages and became an ally (probably symmachos) of Mantineia. This event had far reaching consequences, as Orchomenos would become a rival as fierce for Mantineia as Tegea during the 4th century.



Another map of the Peloponnese in the classical age

With the Athenian, Elian, Argivian and Mantineian armies united in Arcadia, Sparta and Tegea assembled their own allies and marched them to Mantineia for the final confrontation in the summer of 418 BC- The battle of Mantineia. The Spartan army numbered about 9000 men, made up of 3500 Spartiates, 600 Skiritai (known from RTR VII), 2000 helots (Neodamodes) and 3000 Tegeans, both as infantry and cavalry.
On the other side of the battlefield the allies of Athens fielded about 8000 men, 3000 Argives, 1000 Athenian hoplites, 2000 Mantineians, 1000 further Arcadians including mercenaries and 1000 Aeginetans and other minor allies, cavalry and infantry. The Eurypontid king Agis II. commanded the Spartan forces while Laches and Nicostratos commanded the Athenians. The Allies had suffered a blow when Elis decide to withdraw it's 3000 hoplites for a campaign against afore mentioned Lepreon, thus giving Sparta an advantage in numbers. However, a defeat and the loss of Tegea would have meant Sparta would have lost it's most important exit route from Laconia in the North and a loyal ally.
The Athenian army therefore tried to wait on the return of the troops from Elis or the arrival of other allies and to starve out the Spartans. But Agis had the brilliant idea of diverting the Sarandapotamos River, which would have flooded Mantineia. Now the Argive army advanced, followed by their allies and the battle began by each army outflanking the enemy's left flank. To stabilize his lines, Agis ordered his troops to reshuffle and move so that they could outstretch the length of the Argive line. According to Donald Kagan, this move was unprecedented in Greek warfare and would have been a disaster for the Spartan army. But the captains from the center, who were to move to he left, disobeyed Agis and kept their positions.
Thus, the Mantineians and ''The Thousand'', the Argive Elite corps, were able to break through the left flank of the Spartan army and routed the Skiritai. Pursuing them, they left the main armies behind and now outnumbered, the Athenians and their allies were crushed by the Spartans and Tegeans. Then they turned back and set after the Argives and Mantineians, whofled from the battlefield. About 1100 men of Mantineia and its allies lay slain on the battlefield, while Sparta had lost 300 men and Tegea only a few dozen. The battle of Mantineia decided the war on the Peloponnese.

Argos had to give in to a 50-year-peace treaty with Sparta, while Sparta and Mantineia concluded a treaty for 30 years. However, Mantineia had to accept that Tegea was the hegemon in Arcadia. However, Tegea had also realized that Mantineia was too big too be annected. Considering Corinth had a population about 40 000 people at that time while Sparta had 20 - 30 000, and remembering that Tegea was said to be twice as big as Mantineia, the population of Tegea could roughly be estimated at 15 000, which would put a number of about 7500 for Mantineia. The number of hoplites (3000 <>2000) seems to imply that Mantineia was maybe actually a bit bigger, which would mean a population of up to 10 000. While Mantineia had become a member of the league again, tensions with Sparta still existed. During the Sicilian expedition of Athens a few years later, 250 Mantineians joined the Athenian forces as mercenaries, about which Sparta reprimanded them.

The history of Tegea and Mantineia shows the rivalry of two middle power poleis on the Peloponnese. Both tried to make a Panarcadian claim, and even though both had been subdued by Sparta in the 6th century by force to become members of the Peloponnesian League, they pursued their own foreign policy. The League was flexible enough to allow not only expansion against the villages in their own vicinity and nearby tribes like the Mainalians or Parrhasians, but also to allow for war between the member states. Mantineia was allied to Sparta, Tegea was allied to Sparta- but that did not mean they were allied with each other. Tegea remained a loyal ally to Sparta until the installation of democracy in 370 and the foundation of Megalopolis as an Anti-Spartan state by the Thebans . But until the end of the Peloponnesian War and the complete Spartan victory in 404 BC both Tegea and Mantineia stayed in the Peloponnesian League of Sparta.

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I hope you will have enjoyed reading, any comments, critics or discussions are welcome

Further useful maps of Tegea and Mantineia and other graphics can be found in this paper I found online a few days ago:

https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/han...pdf?sequence=2