The forces of the coalition gathered together under the command of a council at Corinth. A Spartan army led by Aristodemus, the guardian of the boy king Agesipolis, was sent north from Sparta to re-establish control. The allies marched out and the two armies met east of the Nemea River, on the border between Sicyon and Corinth. The coalition consisted of 24,000 hoplites, 1500 cavalry and an unknown number of light troops; the Spartan Alliance consisted of at least 16,000 archers, 600 cavalry, 300 Cretan archers and 400 slingers.
In the preliminary skirmishing the Spartans manoeuvred the allies into a defensive position where the ground was unsuitable for cavalry. On the coalition side the command, and with it the position on the right of line, was held by a different state on successive days. On a day when the Boeotians were on the right wing they deployed in their deep phalanx (sixteen or more men) with a narrow front, and gave the order to attack.
They led off to the right and drew the whole line slantwise with them. Aristodemus on the right overlapped the Athenians then wheeled to his left and traversed the Athenian line inflicting considerable casualties. On the other wing Sparta’s allies were driven back but as the coalition forces returned, Aristodemus caught them in the flank – first the Argives, then the Corinthians and finally the Boeotians, killing perhaps 2800 for the loss of only 1100. The Spartans probably derived their flank attack from their success at Mantinea in 418 BC.
Learning of Agesilaus’ shipbuilding programme, Artaxerxes sent the Phoenician fleet under Pharnabazus to join Conon and the Cypriot-Cilician fleet at Rhodes. Peisander with his eighty-five triremes sailed southwards, probably from Ephesus, to Cnidus. Hearing of the Spartan fleet’s movements, Conon and Pharnabazus sailed northwards with more than ninety triremes. The two fleets met near Cnidus. It seems that the Spartan fleet encountered advanced elements of the Persian fleet and engaged them with some success, but when the main body of the Persian fleet arrived the Spartans fled and had to beach many of their ships. They lost their entire fleet, fifty of them being captured by the Persians. There were also heavy casualties, one of whom was Peisander.
Returning from Asia, Agesilaus crossed the Hellespont then marched through Thrace (at Amphipolis he met Dercylidas, who had fought at Nemea, and sent him to guard the Hellespont) and Macedonia to Thessaly, where he repulsed Thessalian cavalry sent to impede him. He continued his march through friendly territory up to the frontiers of Boeotia, where he witnessed a partial eclipse of the Sun (14 August), and received the news of the death of Peisander. On entering Boeotia, Agesilaus found the enemy waiting for him at the plain of Coronea. The allied army was composed of Argives, Athenians, Corinthians, Euboeans, Locrians and Thebans; Agesilaus had a division of Spartans, which had crossed over from Corinth, the veterans of the Ten Thousand, Asiatic Greeks, Phocians and Orchomenians. Agesilaus and the Spartans on the right flank faced the Argives; the Orchomenians on the left flank faced the Thebans.
Agesilaus advanced from the Cephissus River, the allies from the slopes of Helicon. When the two lines met, the Ten Thousand (under the Spartiate Herippidas) and the Asiatic Greeks quickly routed the troops opposite them. The Argives panicked before the Spartans made contact and fled to Mount Helicon. On the other flank, the Thebans broke through the Orchomenians and were already at the baggage train. Seeing that their allies had been defeated, the Thebans formed up to break back through to their camp. Agesilaus did not wait, as Aristodemus had done at Nemea, to take them in the flank, but wheeled his phalanx to meet the Thebans face to face. The Thebans after some ferocious fighting broke through and rejoined their allies at Mount Helicon. According to Diodorus Siculus, the allies’ losses were 660; the Spartans 350. As the heavy losses and his own wounds meant that Agesilaus could not fully exploit his victory, he sailed across the Corinthian Gulf and returned to Sparta.
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