View source for Battle of Deres

{{Short description|Battle of 2nd Messenian war with Sparta}}
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{{More citations needed|date=February 2025}}
{{Primary sources|date=February 2025}}
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{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Battle of Deres
|partof=the [[Second Messenian War]]
|date={{circa}} 684 BC?
|place=[[Messenia]]
|result=Disputed
|combatant1=[[Messenia]]
|combatant2=[[Sparta]]
|commander1=[[Aristomenes]]
|commander2=
}}
{{Second Messenian War}}
The '''Battle of Deres''' was a fight between the [[Sparta|Spartans]] and the [[Messenians]] which occurred c. 684 BC. It was the first major military engagement of the [[Second Messenian War]]. The Spartans and Messenians didn't have any allies at the time of the conflict and the outcome of the battle was highly disputed. Neither side won a clear victory, but [[Aristomenes]] is said to have achieved more than it seemed that one man could, so that, as he was of the race of the [[First_Messenian_War#Acceptance_of_the_Aepytidae|Aepytidae]], the Messenians offered to make him king after the battle. However, he declined the offer, preferring instead to become general with absolute powers.

This battle did not take place at the Lakonian [[Dereion]], but one would expect Derai to mean a "small hill". the place-name Dera occurs in a fragmentary late second century Messenian inscription, which appears to have been a definition of the Messenian borders with [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], otherwise, nothing else is known about this place.

==References==
===Ancient Sources===
* [[Pausanias (geographer)]] 4.15.4

[[Category:7th-century BC conflicts|Deres]]
[[Category:Messenian Wars|Deres]]
[[Category:7th century BC]]
[[Category:Battles involving Sparta|Deres]]
[[Category:680s BC]]
[[Category:7th century BC in Greece]]


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