Battle of Coronea (394 BC)
The Battle of Coronea in 394 BC, also Battle of Coroneia, took place during the Corinthian War, in which the Spartans and their allies under King Agesilaus II defeated a force of Thebans and Argives that was attempting to block their march back into the Peloponnese. It ranks among the deadliest of the Hoplite battles, despite its comparative obscurity, when matched up against more famous battles like the Battle of Delium in 424, and the Battle of Mantinea in 362.
Funeral rites after the Battle of Coroneia
Funerary crown dedicated to five Athenian cavalrymen including Dexileos, also known from the famous Grave Stele of Dexileos, who fell in the Battle of Corinth (394 BC) and the Battle of Coronea. 394/3 BC. Athens National Archaeological Museum, Nb.754
The Corinthian War was a conflict in ancient Greece which pitted Sparta against a coalition of city-states comprising Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos, backed by the Achaemenid Empire. The war was caused by dissatisfaction with Spartan imperialism in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, both from Athens, the defeated side in that conflict, and from Sparta's former allies, Corinth and Thebes, who had not been properly rewarded. Taking advantage of the fact that the Spartan king Agesilaus II was away campaigning in Asia against the Achaemenid Empire, Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos forged an alliance in 395 BC with the goal of ending Spartan hegemony over Greece; the allies' war council was located in Corinth, which gave its name to the war. By the end of the conflict, the allies had failed to end Spartan hegemony over Greece, although Sparta was durably weakened by the war.
Athenian cavalryman Dexileos fighting a Peloponnesian hoplite in heroic nudity, in the Corinthian War. Dexileos was killed in action near Corinth in the summer of 394 BC, probably in the Battle of Nemea, or in a proximate engagement. Grave Stele of Dexileos, 394–393 BC.
Tens of thousands of Darics, the main currency in Achaemenid coinage, were used to bribe the Greek states to start a war against Sparta.
Tetradrachm of the satrap Pharnabazus II, with the prow of a galley on the reverse. He was victorious against Sparta at Cnidus
Tridrachm minted by Kyzikos, probably in 394 BC. The obverse with Herakles killing snakes is inspired from Theban design, and likely directed against the Spartan hegemony. The inscription ΣYN stands for symmachia, meaning alliance.