Archidamus III, the Eurypontid Spartan king leading a mercenary army to help Tarentum against the Lucanians in 338, falls with most of his troops at the nearby Apulian town of Manduria.

The Messapian-Lucanian alliance had led to the conquest of Eraclea and Metaponto in 356 BCE and the subsequent intervention in support of Taras by the Spartan king Archidamus III, who ultimately finds his death in battle just below the walls of the Messapian city of Manduria in 338 BCE.