Lelantine War
Encyclopedia
The Lelantine War was a long-remembered military conflict between the two ancient Greek
city states
Chalkis and Eretria
in Euboea
which took place in the early Archaic period, at some time between ca 710 and 650 BC. The reason for war was, according to tradition, the struggle for the fertile Lelantine Plain
on the island of Euboea
. Due to the economic importance of the two participating poleis
, the conflict spread considerably, with many further city states joining either side, resulting in much of Greece being at war. The historian Thucydides
describes the Lelantine War as exceptional, the only war in Greece between the mythical Trojan War
and the Persian War
s of the early fifth century BC in which allied cities rather than single ones were involved.
was being incrementally deserted, perhaps as a consequence of the turmoil. The foundation stories of the joint Euboean colony at Ischia
suggest that at the mid-eighth century Chalcis and Eretria were cooperating. Furthermore, Theognis
can be read to imply there was a conflict between Eretria and Chalcis in the middle of the 6th century BC. While a few historians have suggested this as the date of the Lelantine War, it is more probable that Theognis refers to a second, smaller and even less known Lelantine War: "we are certainly not dealing with a 'Hundred Years Lelantine War'", remarks Robin Lane Fox.
Since the conflict took place at a very early point in Greek history, before historiography
had developed, there are no contemporaneous written sources on the events. The few later sources and the much more copious archaeological evidence
allow for a sketchy picture of the Lelantine War. However, as a result of the ambiguity of the surviving written sources, date and extent of the war are disputed among Classical scholarship. Some authors have even suggested that the war may be entirely mythical or even fiction
al.
), as Greek historiography only developed 200 years later, starting with the works of Herodotus
. The Greek literary tradition as a whole started only in the late 8th century BC, with Homer
. Therefore, the only contemporary sources about the Lelantine War are references in the early poets Hesiod
and Archilochos. The first references in historical works are from the fifth century, two centuries after the events, and remain vague and brief.
In the introduction of his work on the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (460 BC to early 4th century) gives a short summary of earlier Greek history, stating that there were no major collective military actions by Greeks between the Trojan War and the Persian Wars. As an exception, he mentions the War between Chalkidians and Eretrians, during which most of the rest of Hellas joined one of the warring parties:
(Crawley translation)
Herodotus (484 BC to 425 BC) mentions the same war as the reason why in 494 BC, after the Ionian Revolt
, Eretria sent military support to Miletus
, then under threat from the Persian empire
, attributing the support to Miletus having supported Eretria in her war against Chalkis, while Samos
had taken the opposite side:
An even later author, Plutarch
(ca. 45 to 125 AD) mentions traditions regarding the Lelantine War twice. In his Moralia
he states that during the war, the Chalkidians felt on a par with the Eretrian foot soldiers, but not with their cavalry. Thus, he writes, they procured the aid of a Thessalian
, Kleomachos (Cleomachus) of Pharsalos, who fought within sight of his eromenos, and whose cavalry defeated the Eretrians in a battle. According to Plutarch, Kleomachos himself was killed during the battle and received an honourable burial as well as a commemorative column on the agora
of Chalkis from her grateful citizens.
Elsewhere, Plutarch mentions the tradition of a poetic competition between Homer and Hesiod
on the occasion of the funeral games of a Chalkidian nobleman called Amphidamas. Plutarch states that Amphidamas fell in the struggle for the Lelantine Plain, after performing several heroic deeds fighting the Eretrians.
Plutarch's source was traditionally attributed to Hesiod himself. Hesiod does mention, in Works and Days
, a contest in honour of the late Amphidamas, but without mentioning Homer or linking Amphidamas to the Lelantine War.
In his Geographica
, Strabo
(ca. 63 BC to 23 AD) reports that the two poleis, Chalkis and Eretria had once been friendly. He states that their former friendship resulted in both parties to the conflict agreeing before battle on contractually determined conditions, especially on not using missiles.
A similar agreement is indirectly referred to by Archilochos (seventh century BC), the second contemporary author to refer to the Lelantine War. He tells how the "warlike lords of Euboea" will not use bow or sling, but only swords, in a coming battle.
On the basis of these literary sources, and assisted by a variety of archaeological finds, modern scholarship has reconstructed an outline of the Lelantine War.
of Eretria took place around 710-705 BC. The last such burial dates to around 690 BC. The site of Chalkis, still occupied, has been subject to very little archaeological research, but similar burials of warriors are indicated by written sources, especially in reference to Amphidamas. Around 680 BC, a triangular building was erected atop the warrior graves at Eretria and used to dedicate offerings to the fallen heroes. This may be connected to a rekindling of the conflict after a lull or truce (see below), leading to the Eretrians seeking the aid of their dead hero
es. The occupation of the Xeropolis settlement and use of the cemeteries at Lefkandi
, situated between Chalkis and Eretria on the Lelantine plain, ceased at approximately the same time as the Lelantine war and the emergence of Eretria as a major archaeological site. The excavators have speculated that Lefkandi may have been the predecessor of Eretria and abandoned as the result of the victory of Chalkis in the war.
Chalkis and Eretria are ports on the west coast of Euboea. Both cities claimed the Lelantine Plain, perhaps originally using the river Lelas, which traverses the plain from north to south, as a natural border. Although, strictly speaking, Eretria is located outside the plain, it had a historical claim to it. The reason is that Eretria was probably initially the port for a mother town situated further east. That town was located at the mouth of the Lelas, near modern Lefkandi
. Its ancient name is unknown, so it is generally called by that of the modern settlement. Lefkandi suffered heavy destructions in ca. 825 BC, after which the majority of its population probably moved to Eretria.
Eretria and Chalcis originally had a political union with Athens
as they were all of the Ionian
tribe. Evidence of this is that the two Ionian seats in the Delphi
c Amphictyony were given to Athens
and the Ionians
of Euboea
; Chalcis
and Eretria
. The two soon turned towards the nearby Cyclades
islands and to locations further abroad for expansion and trade.
In the eighth century BC, Euboea was one of the economically strongest regions of Greece. The two leading powers of the island, Chalkis and Eretria were among the driving forces behind the apoikiai of the Mediterranean, acting for a long time not as competitors but as collaborators. Around the mid-eighth century, they jointly founded Al Mina
, a colony conceived to facilitate trade with the eastern Mediterranean. Roughly at the same time, they expanded westwards. Together with Kerkyra/Corfu
, Eretria secured access to the western Mediterranean. Since the second quarter of the eighth century, Euboean traders were present on the island of Pithekoussai (Ischia
) off the coast of Campania
, to conduct trade with the Etruscans. A few decades later, Cumae
, the first Greek colony on the Italian
mainland was founded. Around 735 BC, Chalkis founded the first Greek colony in Sicily
, a point which Thucydides saw as the true start of Greek colonisation. Shortly thereafter, Rhegion and Zankle were founded on either side of the strategically important Straits of Messina.
s. In Greece, where fertile land is scarce, wars for agriculturally attractive terrain were not uncommon, especially in the Archaic period, e.g. between Megara
and Athens
. Nevertheless, it remains unclear why Chalkis and Eretria suddenly came to blows over the Lelantine Plain after apparently being in agreement on its use for a long time.
The origin of the conflict could be connected to a natural disaster. At the end of the eighth century BC, Attica
, Euboea
and other nearby islands suffered from a severe drought
. It is likely that the Eretrian establishment on Andros
was abandoned as a result. This drought and the attendant famine could have led to both Chalkis and Eretria laying claim on all of the Lelantine Plain.
, but under exclusion of bows
and slingshot
s, most of the combatants were probably lightly armed swordsmen. According to another view, the war consisted mainly of cavalry engagements. The relevant lines by Archilochus indicate that the war was still ongoing through the poet's lifetime (he is usually thought to have died ca. 645 BC). It is possible, and likely, that the conflict was subdivided in several phases of warfare and ceasefires, as were e.g. the Peloponnesian War
and the Messenian Wars
.
, and the classical hoplite. The size and numbers of Chalcis's forces are unknown. We only know that their infantry was superior and their cavalry inferior to that of Eretria.
, Tenos, and Kea
). The expansion of the conflict into other regions and the number of allies are disputed. There are direct references to three further participants apart from Chalkis and Eretria: Miletus
on the side of Eretria and Samos
as well as Thessaly
on that of Chalkis. Beyond these, the enmities and alliances between Archaic Greek states known from other sources have led to further suggestions of parties involved, leading some scholars to propose up to 40 participants. Such numbers would, however, imply broad-ranging political alliance systems, which the majority of scholars do not consider likely for the eighth century BC. Even if many other cities were involved in warfare at the same time, it cannot, however, be argued that every conflict between Greek states of the time was part of this war. Thus, most scholars assume that, apart from the cities mentioned above, only Aegina
, Corinth
and Megara
, perhaps also Chios
and Erythrai took part.
The island state of Aegina was mainly active in the trade with Egypt
, where its major competitor was Samos. Samos was allied with Chalkis, which suggests that Aegina took the side of Eretria. Corinth and Megara were at war for practically all of the Archaic period, primarily because of the Corinthian conquest of the Perachora
peninsula which had originally belonged to Megara. The actions of Chalkis and Corinth in the context of western colonisation suggest that the two cities were allied, or at least friendly; Chalkis had prevented Megarian settlers from establishing themselves at Leontinoi
, while Corinth had driven Eretrian settlers from Kerkyra. In analogy, a friendship between Megara and Eretria is assumed. Herodotus reports that Chios supported Miletus in the Ionian Revolt, because Miletus had previously assisted the Chiotes against Erythrai. Thus, based on the allegiance of Miletus, an alliance between Chios and Eretria, as well as one between Erythrai and Chalkis can be suggested.
Most current scholarship is of the opinion that such long-distance alliances cannot have existed in the eighth century BC. Instead, there may have been alliance-like based on personal relationships among the nobility, so that the struggle involved only Eretria, Chalkis and the Thessalian aristocrat Kleomachos of Pharsalos with his own troops. The German historian Detlev Fehling believes that the entire Lelantine War is an invention of later centuries, produced by a chain of Pseudo-Nachrichten (pseudo-reports). This opinion has been generally rejected.
Around 700 BC, the Eretrian mother town at Lefkandi was finally destroyed, probably by Chalkis.
This cut Eretria's link with the Lelantine Plain. At about the same time, Eretria's ally, Miletus, ravaged the southern Euboean town of Karystos
. During this phase, Miletus rose to be the dominant power in the eastern Aegean
. The war (perhaps interrupted by truces) lasted until the mid-seventh century BC. It may have been concluded, in favour of Chalkis, by the intervention of a Thessalian cavalry army, led by Kleomachos of Pharsalos, although it is not entirely clear whether the event in question decided the war, or indeed whether Chalkis definitely won it.
). The leading role in colonisation was taken over by the poleis of Asia Minor
, such as Miletus
(eastern colonisation) and Phokaia (western colonisation). Chalcis entered a long decline while the islands in the Cyclades that Eretria controlled earlier seem to have become independent. From Theognis, another conflict over the Lelantine field is implied in the 6th century, so it seems the two cities fought again. In any case, after the war both cities continued the colonization of the Chalcidice
peninsula in Northern Greece. Eretria felt compelled by the help Miletus had given her during the war to repay its debt by assisting Miletus during the Ionian Revolt
. This led to Eretria's destruction prior to the battle of Marathon
in 490 BC
. Chalkis retained control of the Lelantine Plain until 506 BC, when Athens
established a cleruchy
in it.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
city states
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
Chalkis and Eretria
Eretria
Erétria was a polis in Ancient Greece, located on the western coast of the island of Euboea, south of Chalcis, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow Euboean Gulf. Eretria was an important Greek polis in the 6th/5th century BC. However, it lost its importance already in antiquity...
in Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
which took place in the early Archaic period, at some time between ca 710 and 650 BC. The reason for war was, according to tradition, the struggle for the fertile Lelantine Plain
Lelantine Plain
The Lelantine Plain is a fertile plain on the Greek island of Euboea, between Chalcis and Eretria. In the late eighth century BC a dispute over its possession was the cause of the Lelantine War...
on the island of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
. Due to the economic importance of the two participating poleis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
, the conflict spread considerably, with many further city states joining either side, resulting in much of Greece being at war. The historian Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
describes the Lelantine War as exceptional, the only war in Greece between the mythical Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
and the Persian War
Greco-Persian Wars
The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus...
s of the early fifth century BC in which allied cities rather than single ones were involved.
-
- "The war between Chalcis and Eretria was the one in which most cities belonging to the rest of Greece were divided up into alliances with one side or the other."
-Thucydides
ThucydidesThucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
(I. 15, 3)
- "The war between Chalcis and Eretria was the one in which most cities belonging to the rest of Greece were divided up into alliances with one side or the other."
Name
The term Lelantine War is not contemporary but modern. Ancient authors normally refer to the War between Chalkidians and Eretrians (ancient Greek: ).Date of the War
We have no direct information in ancient sources to date this war. Indirect evidence in Thucydides points towards a date ca 705 BC, that situates it halfway between history and legend. At the very same time, the site of LefkandiLefkandi
Lefkandi is a coastal village on the island of Euboea. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement on the promontory locally known as Xeropolis, while several associated cemeteries have been identified nearby. The settlement site is located on a promontory overlooking the Euripos, with small bays...
was being incrementally deserted, perhaps as a consequence of the turmoil. The foundation stories of the joint Euboean colony at Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
suggest that at the mid-eighth century Chalcis and Eretria were cooperating. Furthermore, Theognis
Theognis
Theognis was a member of the Thirty Tyrants of Athens . Lysias was able to escape from the house of Damnippus, where Theognis was guarding other aristocrats rounded up by the Thirty....
can be read to imply there was a conflict between Eretria and Chalcis in the middle of the 6th century BC. While a few historians have suggested this as the date of the Lelantine War, it is more probable that Theognis refers to a second, smaller and even less known Lelantine War: "we are certainly not dealing with a 'Hundred Years Lelantine War'", remarks Robin Lane Fox.
Sources
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
had developed, there are no contemporaneous written sources on the events. The few later sources and the much more copious archaeological evidence
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
allow for a sketchy picture of the Lelantine War. However, as a result of the ambiguity of the surviving written sources, date and extent of the war are disputed among Classical scholarship. Some authors have even suggested that the war may be entirely mythical or even fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al.
Written sources
No detailed record of the Lelantine War was produced by a contemporary author (such as Thucydides for the Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
), as Greek historiography only developed 200 years later, starting with the works of Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
. The Greek literary tradition as a whole started only in the late 8th century BC, with Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
. Therefore, the only contemporary sources about the Lelantine War are references in the early poets Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
and Archilochos. The first references in historical works are from the fifth century, two centuries after the events, and remain vague and brief.
In the introduction of his work on the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (460 BC to early 4th century) gives a short summary of earlier Greek history, stating that there were no major collective military actions by Greeks between the Trojan War and the Persian Wars. As an exception, he mentions the War between Chalkidians and Eretrians, during which most of the rest of Hellas joined one of the warring parties:
| "There was no union of subject cities round a great state, no spontaneous combination of equals for confederate expeditions; what fighting there was consisted merely of local warfare between rival neighbours. The nearest approach to a coalition took place in the old war between Chalcis and Eretria; this was a quarrel in which the rest of the Hellenic name did to some extent take sides." |
Herodotus (484 BC to 425 BC) mentions the same war as the reason why in 494 BC, after the Ionian Revolt
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC...
, Eretria sent military support to Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
, then under threat from the Persian empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, attributing the support to Miletus having supported Eretria in her war against Chalkis, while Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
had taken the opposite side:
| "for the Milesians in former times had borne with the Eretrians the burden of all that war which they had with the Chalkidians at the time when the Chalkidians on their side were helped by the Samians against the Eretrians and Milesians." |
An even later author, Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
(ca. 45 to 125 AD) mentions traditions regarding the Lelantine War twice. In his Moralia
Moralia
The Moralia of the 1st-century Greek scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea is an eclectic collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They give an insight into Roman and Greek life, but often are also fascinating timeless observations in their own right...
he states that during the war, the Chalkidians felt on a par with the Eretrian foot soldiers, but not with their cavalry. Thus, he writes, they procured the aid of a Thessalian
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, Kleomachos (Cleomachus) of Pharsalos, who fought within sight of his eromenos, and whose cavalry defeated the Eretrians in a battle. According to Plutarch, Kleomachos himself was killed during the battle and received an honourable burial as well as a commemorative column on the agora
Agora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
of Chalkis from her grateful citizens.
| "Kleomachos went with the Thessalian force to aid the Chalcidians; at what time it was evident that the Chalcidians were the stronger in foot, but they found it a difficult thing to withstand the force of the enemies’ horse. (...) Kleomachos, being surrounded with some few of the flower of the Thessalian horse, he charged into the thickest of the enemy and put them to the rout; which the heavy-armed infantry seeing, they betook themselves also to flight, so that the Chalkidians obtained a noble victory. However, Kleomachos was there slain, and the Chalcidians show his monument erected in the market-place, with a fair pillar standing upon it to this day." |
Elsewhere, Plutarch mentions the tradition of a poetic competition between Homer and Hesiod
Contest of Homer and Hesiod
The Contest of Homer and Hesiod or simply Certamen is a Greek narrative that expands a remark made in Hesiod's Works and Days to recount an imagined poetical agon between Homer and Hesiod, in which Hesiod bears away the prize, a bronze tripod, which he dedicates to the Muses of Mount Helicon...
on the occasion of the funeral games of a Chalkidian nobleman called Amphidamas. Plutarch states that Amphidamas fell in the struggle for the Lelantine Plain, after performing several heroic deeds fighting the Eretrians.
| "It has been told us, that the most famous and eminent poets once met at the grave of Amphidamas in Chalcis. This Amphidamas was a leading citizen, one that had perpetual wars with the Eretrians, and at last lost his life in one of the battles fought for the possession of the Lelantine plain." |
Plutarch's source was traditionally attributed to Hesiod himself. Hesiod does mention, in Works and Days
Works and Days
Works and Days is a didactic poem of some 800 verses written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts...
, a contest in honour of the late Amphidamas, but without mentioning Homer or linking Amphidamas to the Lelantine War.
| "Then I crossed over to Chalkis, to the games of wise Amphidamas where the sons of the great-hearted hero proclaimed and appointed prizes." |
In his Geographica
Geographica (Strabo)
The Geographica , or Geography, is a 17-volume encyclopedia of geographical knowledge written in Greek by Strabo, an educated citizen of the Roman empire of Greek descent. Work can have begun on it no earlier than 20 BC...
, Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
(ca. 63 BC to 23 AD) reports that the two poleis, Chalkis and Eretria had once been friendly. He states that their former friendship resulted in both parties to the conflict agreeing before battle on contractually determined conditions, especially on not using missiles.
| "Now in general these cities were in accord with one another, and when differences arose concerning the Lelantine Plain they did not so completely break off relations as to wage their wars in all respects according to the will of each, but they came to an agreement as to the conditions under which they were to conduct the fight. This fact, among others, is disclosed by a certain pillar in the Amarynthium, which forbids the use of long distance missiles." |
A similar agreement is indirectly referred to by Archilochos (seventh century BC), the second contemporary author to refer to the Lelantine War. He tells how the "warlike lords of Euboea" will not use bow or sling, but only swords, in a coming battle.
| "Not many bows will be drawn, nor will slingshots be common, whenever battle will be joined in the plain; instead the much-sighing work will belong to the swords, for the warlike lords of Euboea are experienced in that manner of war." |
On the basis of these literary sources, and assisted by a variety of archaeological finds, modern scholarship has reconstructed an outline of the Lelantine War.
Archaeological evidence
Archaeological study has shown that the first warrior burials in the area of the later heroonHeroon
A heroon , also called heroum, was a shrine dedicated to an ancient Greek or Roman hero and used for the commemoration or cult worship of the hero. It was often erected over his supposed tomb or cenotaph....
of Eretria took place around 710-705 BC. The last such burial dates to around 690 BC. The site of Chalkis, still occupied, has been subject to very little archaeological research, but similar burials of warriors are indicated by written sources, especially in reference to Amphidamas. Around 680 BC, a triangular building was erected atop the warrior graves at Eretria and used to dedicate offerings to the fallen heroes. This may be connected to a rekindling of the conflict after a lull or truce (see below), leading to the Eretrians seeking the aid of their dead hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
es. The occupation of the Xeropolis settlement and use of the cemeteries at Lefkandi
Lefkandi
Lefkandi is a coastal village on the island of Euboea. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement on the promontory locally known as Xeropolis, while several associated cemeteries have been identified nearby. The settlement site is located on a promontory overlooking the Euripos, with small bays...
, situated between Chalkis and Eretria on the Lelantine plain, ceased at approximately the same time as the Lelantine war and the emergence of Eretria as a major archaeological site. The excavators have speculated that Lefkandi may have been the predecessor of Eretria and abandoned as the result of the victory of Chalkis in the war.
Background
Lefkandi
Lefkandi is a coastal village on the island of Euboea. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement on the promontory locally known as Xeropolis, while several associated cemeteries have been identified nearby. The settlement site is located on a promontory overlooking the Euripos, with small bays...
. Its ancient name is unknown, so it is generally called by that of the modern settlement. Lefkandi suffered heavy destructions in ca. 825 BC, after which the majority of its population probably moved to Eretria.
Eretria and Chalcis originally had a political union with Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
as they were all of the Ionian
Ionians
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided...
tribe. Evidence of this is that the two Ionian seats in the Delphi
Delphi
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...
c Amphictyony were given to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and the Ionians
Ionians
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided...
of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
; Chalcis
Chalcis
Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...
and Eretria
Eretria
Erétria was a polis in Ancient Greece, located on the western coast of the island of Euboea, south of Chalcis, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow Euboean Gulf. Eretria was an important Greek polis in the 6th/5th century BC. However, it lost its importance already in antiquity...
. The two soon turned towards the nearby Cyclades
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
islands and to locations further abroad for expansion and trade.
In the eighth century BC, Euboea was one of the economically strongest regions of Greece. The two leading powers of the island, Chalkis and Eretria were among the driving forces behind the apoikiai of the Mediterranean, acting for a long time not as competitors but as collaborators. Around the mid-eighth century, they jointly founded Al Mina
Al Mina
Al-Mina is the modern name given by Leonard Woolley to an ancient trading post on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria, in the estuary of the Orontes, near present-day Samandag in Turkey's province of Hatay....
, a colony conceived to facilitate trade with the eastern Mediterranean. Roughly at the same time, they expanded westwards. Together with Kerkyra/Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, Eretria secured access to the western Mediterranean. Since the second quarter of the eighth century, Euboean traders were present on the island of Pithekoussai (Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
) off the coast of Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, to conduct trade with the Etruscans. A few decades later, Cumae
Cumae
Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
, the first Greek colony on the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
mainland was founded. Around 735 BC, Chalkis founded the first Greek colony in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, a point which Thucydides saw as the true start of Greek colonisation. Shortly thereafter, Rhegion and Zankle were founded on either side of the strategically important Straits of Messina.
Reason for war
According to tradition, the war was caused by a conflict about the Lelantine Plain. This very fertile area had for a long time been used for agriculture, including the cultivation of vineVine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
s. In Greece, where fertile land is scarce, wars for agriculturally attractive terrain were not uncommon, especially in the Archaic period, e.g. between Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Nevertheless, it remains unclear why Chalkis and Eretria suddenly came to blows over the Lelantine Plain after apparently being in agreement on its use for a long time.
The origin of the conflict could be connected to a natural disaster. At the end of the eighth century BC, Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
, Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
and other nearby islands suffered from a severe drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
. It is likely that the Eretrian establishment on Andros
Andros
Andros, or Andro is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, approximately south east of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . Its surface is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys. The area is...
was abandoned as a result. This drought and the attendant famine could have led to both Chalkis and Eretria laying claim on all of the Lelantine Plain.
Course of war
The war between Chalkis and Eretria probably began around 710 BC. Although both cities must have possessed large fleets, it was waged on land. Since the war took place before the development or introduction of hoplite warfareAncient Greek warfare
With the emergence of Ancient Greece from its 'Dark Age', the population seemed to have significantly risen, allowing restoration of urbanized culture, and the rise of the city-states . Such developments would have consequently restored the possibility of organized warfare between statelets...
, but under exclusion of bows
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
and slingshot
Slingshot
A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
s, most of the combatants were probably lightly armed swordsmen. According to another view, the war consisted mainly of cavalry engagements. The relevant lines by Archilochus indicate that the war was still ongoing through the poet's lifetime (he is usually thought to have died ca. 645 BC). It is possible, and likely, that the conflict was subdivided in several phases of warfare and ceasefires, as were e.g. the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
and the Messenian Wars
Messenian Wars
Messenian Wars is a term of special historical application. It means the wars between Messenia and Sparta in the 8th and 7th centuries BC as well as the 4th century BC.*First Messenian War*Second Messenian War* Third Messenian War...
.
Troops
Eretria at its height (a period brought to an end by this war) could field 3,000 hoplites, 600 cavalry and 60 chariots. This implies that this conflict took place at the transitional time between the Homeric aristos, entering the war on chariot and fighting his enemies like the heroes of the IliadIliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, and the classical hoplite. The size and numbers of Chalcis's forces are unknown. We only know that their infantry was superior and their cavalry inferior to that of Eretria.
Alliances and extent
Primarily, the war would have involved the two conflicting cities and their territories. At the time of the war, the state of Eretria included one quarter of the island of Euboea as well as the nearby Cyclades (AndrosAndros
Andros, or Andro is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, approximately south east of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . Its surface is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys. The area is...
, Tenos, and Kea
Kea (island)
Kea , also known as Gia or Tzia , Zea, and, in Antiquity, Keos , is an island of the Cyclades archipelago, in the Aegean Sea, in Greece. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos peripheral unit. Its capital, Ioulis, is inland at a high altitude and is considered quite picturesque...
). The expansion of the conflict into other regions and the number of allies are disputed. There are direct references to three further participants apart from Chalkis and Eretria: Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
on the side of Eretria and Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
as well as Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
on that of Chalkis. Beyond these, the enmities and alliances between Archaic Greek states known from other sources have led to further suggestions of parties involved, leading some scholars to propose up to 40 participants. Such numbers would, however, imply broad-ranging political alliance systems, which the majority of scholars do not consider likely for the eighth century BC. Even if many other cities were involved in warfare at the same time, it cannot, however, be argued that every conflict between Greek states of the time was part of this war. Thus, most scholars assume that, apart from the cities mentioned above, only Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
, Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
and Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
, perhaps also Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
and Erythrai took part.
The island state of Aegina was mainly active in the trade with Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where its major competitor was Samos. Samos was allied with Chalkis, which suggests that Aegina took the side of Eretria. Corinth and Megara were at war for practically all of the Archaic period, primarily because of the Corinthian conquest of the Perachora
Perachora
Perachora, also Perahora or Perakhora is an inland settlement in the Loutraki-Perachoras municipality of the Corinthia prefecture in the periphery of Peloponnese in Greece. It is located about 7 km NW of the town of Loutraki in a hilly environment surrounded by higher elevation of the Geraneia...
peninsula which had originally belonged to Megara. The actions of Chalkis and Corinth in the context of western colonisation suggest that the two cities were allied, or at least friendly; Chalkis had prevented Megarian settlers from establishing themselves at Leontinoi
Lentini
Lentini , historically Leontini, Leontinoi , or Leontium, is a town and comune in the Province of Syracuse, southeast Sicily .-History:...
, while Corinth had driven Eretrian settlers from Kerkyra. In analogy, a friendship between Megara and Eretria is assumed. Herodotus reports that Chios supported Miletus in the Ionian Revolt, because Miletus had previously assisted the Chiotes against Erythrai. Thus, based on the allegiance of Miletus, an alliance between Chios and Eretria, as well as one between Erythrai and Chalkis can be suggested.
Most current scholarship is of the opinion that such long-distance alliances cannot have existed in the eighth century BC. Instead, there may have been alliance-like based on personal relationships among the nobility, so that the struggle involved only Eretria, Chalkis and the Thessalian aristocrat Kleomachos of Pharsalos with his own troops. The German historian Detlev Fehling believes that the entire Lelantine War is an invention of later centuries, produced by a chain of Pseudo-Nachrichten (pseudo-reports). This opinion has been generally rejected.
Around 700 BC, the Eretrian mother town at Lefkandi was finally destroyed, probably by Chalkis.
This cut Eretria's link with the Lelantine Plain. At about the same time, Eretria's ally, Miletus, ravaged the southern Euboean town of Karystos
Karystos
Karystos is a small coastal town on the Greek island of Euboea. It has about 7,000 inhabitants. It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry via Marmari from the Rafina port...
. During this phase, Miletus rose to be the dominant power in the eastern Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. The war (perhaps interrupted by truces) lasted until the mid-seventh century BC. It may have been concluded, in favour of Chalkis, by the intervention of a Thessalian cavalry army, led by Kleomachos of Pharsalos, although it is not entirely clear whether the event in question decided the war, or indeed whether Chalkis definitely won it.
Effects
After the long war, Euboea, once the leading region of Greece, had become a backwater. Not only defeated Eretria, but also the probable victor, Chalkis, had lost their former economic and political importance. On the Mediterranean markets, Corinthian vase painting had taken over the dominant role previously occupied by Euboean pottery (see Pottery of ancient GreecePottery of Ancient Greece
As the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...
). The leading role in colonisation was taken over by the poleis of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
, such as Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
(eastern colonisation) and Phokaia (western colonisation). Chalcis entered a long decline while the islands in the Cyclades that Eretria controlled earlier seem to have become independent. From Theognis, another conflict over the Lelantine field is implied in the 6th century, so it seems the two cities fought again. In any case, after the war both cities continued the colonization of the Chalcidice
Chalcidice
Chalkidiki, also Halkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike , is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit...
peninsula in Northern Greece. Eretria felt compelled by the help Miletus had given her during the war to repay its debt by assisting Miletus during the Ionian Revolt
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC...
. This led to Eretria's destruction prior to the battle of Marathon
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. It was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate...
in 490 BC
490 BC
Year 490 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Camerinus and Flavus...
. Chalkis retained control of the Lelantine Plain until 506 BC, when Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
established a cleruchy
Cleruchy
A cleruchy in Hellenic Greece, was a specialized type of colony established by Athens. The term comes from the Greek word , klērouchos, literally "lot-holder"....
in it.
Further reading
- Parker, Victor (1997): Untersuchungen zum Lelantischen Krieg und verwandten Problemen der frühgriechischen Geschichte (= Historia Einzelschriften 109), Stuttgart. ISBN 3-515-06970-4