Three accounts of this battle between Lacedaemonians and Persians exist: Hell. Oxy., col. VI, 4-6; Diod. XIV 80; and Xen. Hell. III 4,12-25 (see Table 15.1). Comparison of the three accounts shows that the account in Diodorus is ultimately based on that of the Oxyrhynchus Historian. Agesilaus is marching through Lydia:
Table 15.1 Three accounts of the Battle of Sardis
|
Hell. Oxy. (4th century bc) |
Diodorus (1st century bc) |
Xenophon (4th century bc) |
|
(The Papyrus is very |
Tissaphernes’ army |
Tissaphernes has stationed |
|
Fragmentary here, but in |
(50,000 foot and 10,000 |
Both his infantry and his |
|
Essence clearly recounts the |
Horse) harasses the |
Cavalry in Caria; the cavalry |
|
Same thing as Diodorus.) |
Lacedaemonians every |
Eventually returns to Lydia to |
|
Step of the way. |
Oppose the Lacedaemonians. | |
|
Agesilaus has 500 light |
Agesilaus has 1,400 |
No correspondence to the |
|
Infantrymen and a certain |
Troops in all lie in |
Ambush. |
|
Number of hoplites (the |
Ambush. | |
|
Exact number is missing) lie in ambush. He puts the Spartiate |
He puts the Spartiate |
No correspondence to the |
|
Xenocles in charge. |
Xenocles in charge. |
Ambush. |
|
He leads his main army - |
He leads his main army |
No correspondence to the |
|
And thus the pursuing |
- and thus the pursuing |
Ambush. |
|
Persians - past the ambush. |
Persians - past the | |
|
Xenocles attacks the |
Ambush. Agesilaus attacks the |
Some Persian cavalry attack |
|
Persians. |
Persians. |
The Lacedaemonians. Agesilaus |
|
The Persians panic. |
Xenocles attacks the |
Orders up the Lacedaemonian cavalry, and the Persians draw up all their cavalry. Agesilaus draws up his |
|
Persians. |
Infantry too and attacks with | |
|
Agesilaus attacks the |
The Persians panic. |
All arms at once. The Persians panic. |
|
Persians. 600 Persians killed. |
6,000 Persians killed. |
No indication of casualties. |
|
Tissaphernes withdraws to |
Tissaphernes withdraws |
Tissaphernes was in Sardis |
|
Sardis |
To Sardis. |
When the battle took place. |
The account in Diodorus closely follows that of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia. The few minor differences are easily explained: Diodorus was not using the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia directly, but was summarizing the work of Ephorus (late fourth century bc) instead. Ephorus, for his part, had based his account of the battle on the Hellenica
(Continued)
Oxyrhynchia. In other words, two points exist at which a bit of confusion may have arisen as to the order in which Xenocles and Agesilaus attacked the Persians - Ephorus could have made a careless mistake in the matter, but Diodorus (who is notoriously capable of faulty summarizing of his sources - see Box 18.1) might have been careless too. The divergence in number - 600 vs. 6,000 casualties - is probably due to a copyist's error somewhere along the way (already in antiquity authors commented on how copyists made errors in transcribing cardinal numbers - see Ephorus, BNJ 70, Fr. 218).
Had by now risen to command the Persian fleet. He surprised a Lacedaemonian fleet of 85 triremes near Cnidus in 394, defeated it, and captured fifty triremes (Diod. XIV 83; Xen. Hell. IV 3,10-12). This time there was no financial backer present to pay for a new fleet so the defeat at Cnidus spelled the end of Lacedaemonian naval power.
Although the Lacedaemonian invasion of Persia came to nothing, an indelible memory of it remained in Greece. Agesilaus departed still undefeated in the field and had actually beaten the Persians in one modest battle. He had played two satraps for fools; and the only way the Persians could think of to get rid of him was to bribe Sparta’s opponents in Greece. Agesilaus appeared to have shown that the Persian Empire was weak and ripe for the taking for someone with the proper resources.
World History
