Sellasia (Ancient Greek: Σελλασία), or Selasia (Σελασία),[1] was a town of ancient Laconia, situated in the valley of the Oenus, on the road leading from Tegea and Argos, and one of the bulwarks of Sparta against an invading army.
We learn from Polybius that this battle took place in a narrow opening of the vale of the Oenus, between two hills named Evas and Olympus, and that the river Gorgylus flowed across the plain into the Evenus.
On the first invasion of Laconia by the Thebans in 369 BCE, Sellasia was plundered and burnt;[4] and because the inhabitants at that time, together with several others of the Perioeci, went over to the enemy, the town was again taken and destroyed four years later by the Lacedaemonians themselves, assisted by some auxiliaries sent by the younger Dionysius.
[5] It suffered the same fate a third time after the defeat of Cleomenes III in the Battle of Sellasia.
[6] The ruins of Sellasia lie 1.5 miles (2.5 km) beyond Palaiogoulas upon the summit of a mountain.