Battle of Hysiae (c.669 BC)

A Battle of Hysiae is recorded by Pausanias as having been fought at Hysiae in the Argolis, possibly c. 669 BC during the rule of the Argive tyrant Pheidon. One of the few major setbacks suffered by the Spartans in conflict with their neighbors, the battle was mentioned by Pausanias as a significant victory for Argos. Pausanias reports no details of the battle, although he was shown the burial-site of the Argive dead.

Nothing else is known about the conflict, except that the location in the Argolis suggests the repulse of a Spartan invasion. Hysiae was a stronghold located to the southwest of Argos and east of Tegea, near the border with Sparta. Modern scholars suggest that the battle marked a turning point in military history, because their defeat led the Spartans to change their military strategy, adopting the phalanx of hoplites in place of the loose spear-throwing formations prevalent until then. In the centuries to come, the phalanx revolutionised warfare in the classical world.

Battle
Conventional warfare at this time usually involved armies meeting in an open field. The reason why the Argives chose to give battle at Hysiae is unclear. By this time, the aspis, a shield of Argive design, gave their army an advantage over the Spartans, who were annihilated by their opponents. If the battle occurred within the walls of Hysiae, the Spartan army could have been packed in by the proto-phalanx employed by the Argives. This formation may have been the invention of Pheidon.