TheElean orEleian War (c. 400 BC) was a conflict between the Greek city-states ofSparta andElis.

Sparta andElis had been allies against Athens during the earlyPeloponnesian War, but relations between them soured after Elis refused to endorse thePeace of Nicias in 421 BC. In 420, the Eleans, claiming that Sparta violated a truce brought about by theOlympic Games, barred their erstwhile ally from participating in them, and flogged a Spartan who tried to do so anyway.^[2] Later, in 418, Elis joined the coalition of Peloponnesian city-states (alongsideArgos andMantineia) which attacked Sparta at the behest of Athens, only to suffer defeat at theBattle of Mantineia.^[3] After the Peloponnesian War was concluded, the Spartans, seeking to punish their former allies, demanded that they grant independence to the allied cities surrounding Elis, with the aim of breaking Elean military power.^[4]

The war began in 402, 401 or 400 BC when the Spartan kingAgis led an invasion ofEleia from the northeast throughAchaea, along theriver Larissus.^[5] The Spartans began laying waste to enemy country, but soon witnessed an earthquake, which the King, according toXenophon, interpreted as a bad omen, prompting him to call off the invasion and disband his army.^[6] The Spartans may in fact have reached as far asOlympia, and suffered a defeat there at the sacred Olympian precinct ofAltis.^[7][i] Agis's retreat emboldened the Eleans to send embassies to all Greek states hostile to Sparta, urging opposition to Sparta's foreign policy.^[10]

At the urging of theephors, Agis led a second invasion, probably in the summer of the following year,^[ii] and all of Sparta's allies were called upon to contribute soldiers. Athens duly sent a contingent, but conspicuous in their refusal were the dissatisfiedCorinthians andBoeotians. Agis invaded from the south throughMessenia, marching alongside thePamisus river and then through the defile ofAulon (north of modernKyparissia), before crossing theNeda.^[13] TheLepreans,Macistians, andEpitalians revolted from Elis and joined the invading Spartans, as didLetrini,Amphidolis, andMargana after Agis crossed theAlpheus.^[14] From there the King continued east towards Olympia, where he sacrificed toZeus unopposed, and thence proceeded northwards, probably through the coastline, towards the city of Elis itself, ravaging the country as he went.^[15] During their march, the Spartans were joined by volunteers fromArcadia andAchaea, eager for a share of the plunder.^[16] Although Elis was unwalled, Agis made no attempt to take the city, and, after inflicting some damage to its suburbs andgymnasia, moved towards the Elean harbor ofCyllene, whose surroundings he also pillaged.^[17]

At this juncture, a wealthy citizen of Elis, Xenias, who was an agent (proxenos) of Sparta inside the city as well as a personal friend of Agis, attempted to stage a pro-Spartan oligarchic coup, instigating a slaughter and killing a man who resembled the democratic leader Thrasydaeus.^[18] Xenias's partisans then gathered in theagora, but it was soon discovered that Thrasydaeus was in fact alive, asleep somewhere else after becoming drunk, and his supporters immediately swarmed to his protection. Thrasydaeus then successfully drove Xenias and his partisans out of the city, and they in turn fled to the Spartan camp.^[19][iii] Before returning toLaconia and disbanding his army, the Spartan king Agis left a garrison at Epitalium, with one Lysippus as theharmost (military governor), and the Elean exiles under their care.^[22] For the remainder of the summer and the ensuing winter, Lysippus plundered the Elean countryside, together with the Lepreans.^[23][24][25]

A third Spartan expedition, this time under their other king,Pausanias, met a minor defeat outside the walls of Elis against someAetolian mercenaries, but the Eleians, seeing that prolonged resistance was futile, surrendered.^[25]

• Bourke, Graeme (2017).Elis: Internal Politics and External Policy in Ancient Greece. London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-415-74957-2.
• Buckler, John (2003).Aegean Greece in the Fourth Century BC. Leiden: Brill.doi:10.1163/9789047400103.ISBN 90-04-09785-6.
• Hamilton, Charles D. (1982)."Étude chronologique sur le règne d'Agésilas".Ktèma.7:281–296.eISSN 2802-1401.
• Roy, Jim (2009). "The Spartan–Elean War of c. 400".Athenaeum.97. University of Pavia:69–86.ISSN 0004-6574.
• Unz, Ron K. (1986)."The Chronology of the Elean War".Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies.27 (1):29–42.ISSN 0017-3916.

• 400s BC conflicts
• Wars involving Sparta

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