Qualla: Battle of Sellasia https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Sellasia https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia Battle of Sellasia: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit George E. Koronaios, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cleomenes III had tried to remake Sparta from the inside out. He cancelled debts, redistributed land, freed helots who could pay for their freedom, and rebuilt the Spartan army in the Macedonian phalanx style — not out of admiration for Macedon, but in order to fight it more effectively. In the summer of 222 BC, those reforms ran into a force of 29,200 soldiers on two hills called Olympus and Euas at Sellasia, just north of the Laconian border. The battle that followed ended Sparta's last serious bid for primacy in the Greek world, and the cost was staggering: according to Plutarch, of 6,000 Spartiates who fought that day, only 200 survived.

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Image: George E. Koronaios | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Sellasia: A Revolution in Arms https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit Malber, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cleomenes came to power in Sparta around 235 BC and almost immediately began dismantling the aristocratic order that had calcified around the old Spartan constitution. He cancelled the debts of Spartan citizens, redistributed land to expand the citizen body, and even sold freedom...

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Image: Malber | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-a-revolution-in-arms.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Sellasia: The Hemming-In https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit en:User:Semperf, CC BY-SA 3.0. Antigonus marched south with 20,000 infantry and 1,300 cavalry — routing through the island of Euboea because the hostile Aetolian League blocked the direct land route. Cleomenes had fortified the Isthmus of Corinth against him; those fortifications held briefly, then collapsed w...

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Image: en:User:Semperf | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-the-hemming-in.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Sellasia: Two Hills, Two Phalanxes https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit CC BY 2.5. Sellasia is a pass on the northern frontier of Laconia where the Oenous River runs between two hills, Olympus and Euas. Cleomenes positioned his forces across both high points: his brother Eucleidas held Euas with the perioeci troops and allied contingents, while Cleomenes himsel...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-two-hills-two-phalanxes.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Sellasia: The Reckoning https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit Liam Murray, Public domain. Eucleidas died on Euas. The Spartan phalanx on Olympus, flanked and outnumbered, fought until it could no longer stand. Plutarch's figure — 200 survivors from 6,000 Spartiates — is almost certainly an approximation, but the scale of the catastrophe is not in dispute. These were m...

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Image: Liam Murray | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-the-reckoning.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Sellasia: A Pass Between Mountains https://qualla.com/battle-of-sellasia/ Photo credit Rob Boudon, CC BY 2.0. Sellasia sits at approximately 37.167°N, 22.417°E, in the narrow valley north of Sparta where the Oenus River (the modern Kelefina) cuts through the hills. The site is not dramatically marked today — a pass with agricultural land, the hills still visible on either side, the river...

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Image: Rob Boudon | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/g/battle-of-sellasia-wp/sqxg-battle-of-sellasia-a-pass-between-mountains.mp3 0:06 6 full