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King of Sparta – Nabis – sought to strengthen the position of Sparta in the Peloponnese. Thanks to effective politics and an enlarged army, he subdued the city of Argos. The Roman Republic, using divisions among Greek cities, decided to intervene.
Background of events
After the death of the Regent Machanidasa in 207 BCE, the Spartan king Pelops was overthrown by the Nabis, who won the royal crown, referring to the origin of King Demaratus of the Eurypontid line. According to Polibius, Nabis gathered “a crowd of murderers, burglars, pickpockets and bandits”. In 205 BCE he concluded a peace treaty with Rome, but four years later he attacked the territory of Messenia, lost by Sparta in the middle of the 4th century BCE, and currently in good relations with both Macedonia and Rome. However, he had to back out of it after the Achaean offensive, commanded by Philopoemen.
Even worse, Philopoemen’s troops inflicted him the final defeat at Tegea, preventing territorial reclaimings for some time. The outbreak of Second Macedonian War gave lord of Sparta the hope of resuming active foreign policy. Philip V of Macedon offered Nabis to renounce his alliance with Rome and alliance with Macedonia in exchange for obtaining Argos. However, when the fate of the war began to favor the Republic, the sly Spartan changed the front again and helped 600 mercenaries from Crete a coalition led by Rome. In return for this gesture, partes kept Nabis in the possession of Argos. However, they did not withdraw troops from Greece, securing their interests here.
Nabis’ reforms
Taking advantage of good relations with Rome, Nabis initiated reforms in his country. He confiscated the property of wealthy citizens on a large scale, and tortured people who disturbed him. Confiscated land went to liberated helots, and all recipients became the support of his power. Thanks to the funds obtained in this way, Nabis turned the port of Gythium into a major maritime arsenal and strengthened the capital of the kingdom itself. The ruler also supported Cretan mercenaries who could have naval bases in Sparta, treating them as a springboard for sea expeditions. The expansion of naval power had an additional plus, as it gave the opportunity to make a fair income to the poor Spartan, who served as rowers. These activities, however, were not acceptable to neighboring policies – members of the Achaean Union and Romans.
The number of full-fledged citizens of Sparta dropped dramatically from several thousand during the Persian wars to just a few hundred during the reign of Kleomenes III. One of the reasons for this was the impoverishment of residents who could not afford to participate in meals (syssytia), thereby losing their full citizenship. However, their descendants could still participate in Spartan upbringing and training (agoge). A small number of full citizens capable of serving in the army led to the necessity of including liberated helots and mercenaries in their ranks. During the times of Kleomenes, the number of fully-fledged citizens increased, creating an army of Falangites like the Macedonian model, but much less armed. However, the armed forces thus created were devastated at Sellaia in 222 BCE. Nabis made another attempt to revive the armed forces, carrying out a radical reform of the state. Its purpose was to create a new layer of citizens loyal to the ruler and able to serve in the phalanx. Nabis phalanxes were to fight in a compact and loose formation, and their armaments were to be spears longer than those used by the hoplites. The real innovation was the liberation of non-free helots, thanks to which the obstacle to the international expansion of Sparta disappeared (former full-fledged citizens put off fear of a helot rebellion from campaigns abroad).
Flaminius spartan campaign
Members of the Achaean Union could not come to terms with the fact that Argos was left under Nabis, so they appealed to the Romans to consider taking this policy from him. In Rome, this proposal was approved, because partes could not accept a strong state in the Peloponnese after the legions were withdrawn from Greece. In 195 BCE, the commander of the Roman army in Greece Titus Quinctius Flamininus convened a meeting of representatives of Greek states to Corinth to discuss the eventual war with Sparta. Traditional allies of Rome – Rhodes and Pergamon as well as the Ethol, Achaean, Thessaly and Macedonia participated in the talks. Everyone clearly voted in favor of the war, their own demands were made by the Etols and Thessals who wanted to defeat Sparta on their own. However, they met with the protest of the Achaean Union, which was afraid of the rise of the importance of the Ethols. According to Erich Gruen, the Romans, when deciding to issue a war, Nabis found an excuse to locate several legions in Greece that were to prevent the alliance of Ethols and Spartans from Antiochus III in the event of his attack on Hellas.
First Flamininus sent emissary to Nabis demanding that Argos be given to the Achaean Association, threatening to refuse war. When King Sparta rejected the Allied demands, 40,000 Roman soldiers supported by Greek contingents moved to the Peloponnese. After landing on the peninsula, the legions were supported by Aristajnos’ Achaean reinforcements, who brought 1,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry. The combined forces of the Romans and their Greek allies moved to Argos. The city commandant on behalf of Nabis was Pythagoras, who was responsible for the army of 15,000 people. As the invasion army approached Argos, one of the city’s citizens tried to lead to an anti-Spartan revolution, which was nevertheless suppressed by Pythagoras. Several refugees from Argos, associated with anti-Spartan subversives, encouraged the Roman commander to come closer to the walls, which would encourage the inhabitants of this policy to