The Battle
"I, Helius of Sparta, risk my life hereby forward for my home, Sparta."
Like me, every warrior had to say that, exept with their own name instead of "Helius" and their own birthplace instead of "Sparta" unless that was where they were born, before starting training. Traning was horrible, worst days of my life. I had no idea of what they would do when I signed up.
The Siege of Sparta was in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus under King Pyrrhus, who was besieging the Sparta, and an alliance consisting of Sparta under the command of King Areus I and Acrocratus and Macedon. The battle was fought here, in Sparta and ended in a Spartan-Macedonian victory.
Following his initially successful campaign in Italy, King Pyrrhus of Epirus was forced to retreat back to Epirus by the Roman Republic. On this return to Epirus, he went to war again this time against Antigonus II Gonatas and managed to take control of Macedon which is petty impressive.
In 272 BC, he was approached by a Spartan Prince, Cleonymus, who asked him to back his claim to the Spartan throne. Cleonymus was disgruntled by the fact that he had been overlooked for the Spartan throne in favor of his nephew, Areus I, personally, I do too, and that his young wife had fallen in love with Areus' son, Acrotatus. By the way, I have no idea how politics work, but that's the way they are.
Any way, Pyrrhus accepted Cleonymus' proposal and marched towards Sparta at the head of his army. Most of us, the Spartan Army, were, at the time, campaigning in Crete with Areus.
We were ill-prepared for the siege. King Areus had recently left for a campaign in Crete, and no walls surrounded the city, making us extremely vulnerable to an invasion. Pyrrhus took advantage of this and laid siege to the city with over 20,000 troops and elephants. We numbered only around 2,000, I was scared to death, but reinforcements came, and Pyrrhus eventually had to give up the siege to attack Argos, thank goodness. It was at Argos that Pyrrhus was killed, ending his campaigns.
Like me, every warrior had to say that, exept with their own name instead of "Helius" and their own birthplace instead of "Sparta" unless that was where they were born, before starting training. Traning was horrible, worst days of my life. I had no idea of what they would do when I signed up.
The Siege of Sparta was in 272 BC and was a battle fought between Epirus under King Pyrrhus, who was besieging the Sparta, and an alliance consisting of Sparta under the command of King Areus I and Acrocratus and Macedon. The battle was fought here, in Sparta and ended in a Spartan-Macedonian victory.
Following his initially successful campaign in Italy, King Pyrrhus of Epirus was forced to retreat back to Epirus by the Roman Republic. On this return to Epirus, he went to war again this time against Antigonus II Gonatas and managed to take control of Macedon which is petty impressive.
In 272 BC, he was approached by a Spartan Prince, Cleonymus, who asked him to back his claim to the Spartan throne. Cleonymus was disgruntled by the fact that he had been overlooked for the Spartan throne in favor of his nephew, Areus I, personally, I do too, and that his young wife had fallen in love with Areus' son, Acrotatus. By the way, I have no idea how politics work, but that's the way they are.
Any way, Pyrrhus accepted Cleonymus' proposal and marched towards Sparta at the head of his army. Most of us, the Spartan Army, were, at the time, campaigning in Crete with Areus.
We were ill-prepared for the siege. King Areus had recently left for a campaign in Crete, and no walls surrounded the city, making us extremely vulnerable to an invasion. Pyrrhus took advantage of this and laid siege to the city with over 20,000 troops and elephants. We numbered only around 2,000, I was scared to death, but reinforcements came, and Pyrrhus eventually had to give up the siege to attack Argos, thank goodness. It was at Argos that Pyrrhus was killed, ending his campaigns.