Sparta's Eleian War of 402-400 BC: singular vengeance or consistent pursuit of policy objectives?

Abstract

In the summer of 402 BC, only two years after the surrender of Athens at the end of the Dekelean War, a Lakedaimonian and allied army under King Agis invaded the territory of Elis, beginning a conflict which led to the surrender of the city early in 400 BC. Scholars such as Sordi have concluded that the Spartan authorities decided to attack Elis because they were angry at the Eleians for certain offences against them committed during the period following the Peace of Nikias, such as their exclusion from the Olympic festival of 420 BC and the punishment of one of their elders for his barely-disguised defiance of that exclusion. Cartledge, on the other hand, has briefly identified a deeper political motive.