Battle of Olpae 426 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Olpae took place during the Peloponnesian War in 426 BC, between armies led by Athens and Sparta.
In 426, 3,000 hoplites from Ambracia invaded Amphilochian Argos in Acarnania on a gulf of the Ionian Sea and occupied the fort of Olpae. The Acarnanians asked for help from both the Athenian general Demosthenes, and the 20 Athenian ships located nearby under the command of Aristotle and Hierophon. The Ambraciots asked for help from Eurylochus of Sparta, who managed to march his army past the Acarnanians without being observed. After this, Demosthenes arrived in the gulf below Olpae with his ships, 200 hoplites, and 60 archers. He joined with the Acarnanian army and set up camp in a ravine opposite Eurylochus, where both sides made preparations for five days. As the Ambraciot and Peloponnesian army was larger, Demosthenes set up an ambush with 400 hoplites from Acarnania, to be used when the battle began.
Demosthenes formed the right wing of the Athenian-led army with Athenian and Messenian troops, with the centre and left wing formed by the Acarnanians and Amphilochians. Eurylochus formed the left wing of his army, directly facing Demosthenes, with the Ambraciots and Mantineans forming the rest of the line.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Olpae (revision 1370271173), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Medion 231 BC · 19 km
- Battle of Peta 1822 · 26 km
- Battle of Preveza 1538 · 35 km
- Battle of Preveza (1911) 1911 · 36 km
- Battle of Nicopolis (1798) 1798 · 37 km
- Battle of Actium 31 BC · 37 km
Other battles of the Archidamian War
- Battle of Amphipolis 422 BC
Browse more: battles in Greece · Europe · Ancient battles