Expert: Maria - 10/7/2006

Question
I am researching the Tanagra Battle in the Peloponnesian War. I'm not having very much luck finding a lot of information on it. Would you please help me finding exactly what happened during that battle?

Answer
Hello,

The Battle of Tanagra which  took place in 426 BC north of Athens in Boeotia, not far from Thebes, during the Peloponnesian War (431 BC–404 BC), after the death of Pericles (429 BC),  ended with Athenian victory, while the previous  Battle of Tanagra, in 457 BC,  during the so- called First Peloponnesian War ( 460 BC -445 BC) ended with Spartan victory.

As for the battle of Tanagra in 426 BC, we know that the Athenians under Nicias marched towards Tanagra, where they were joined by the main Athenian army that came from Athens under Hipponicus and Eurymedon. They depredated the countryside, the next day defeated  the allied Tanagran and Theban army, and then returned to Athens, without taking possession of the Boeotian region.
(See Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, book III, chapter 91).

With regard to the battle of Tanagra in 457 BC, we know that the Spartans sent many soldiers (hoplites) into Boeotia to help Thebes put down a rebellion, but the Athenians blocked the routes back to the Peloponnese, so that the Spartans remained in Boeotia and awaited the Athenian attack. The Spartans won the battle, though they lost many men.  However, they didn’t capitalise on this triumph, since they did not invade Attica and subdue Athens, but quickly hurried home.
(See Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, book I, chapter 108).

Nothing  else important happened in these two battles which took place in Tanagra.

Best,
Maria
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The primary source for the Peloponnesian War (to 411) is the Greek historian Thucydides(460?–400? B.C); Xenophon's Hellenica is an inferior sequel.