Around the year 546 B.C., a Spartan army invaded the territory of the Argives. The Spartans captured the important border city of Thyrea, so Argos sent an army to evict the Spartans. The two armies were evenly matched, so the generals decided to avoid horrible losses, each side would select their best 300 warriors and the two groups of “champions” would fight it out, winner take all. The rule was no prisoners would be taken and no wounded would be spared. And the rest of the armies would withdraw so there was no temptation to intervene.
The battle was intense and at the end only two Argives were left standing. They returned to Argos to report their victory. They did not realize that one Spartan, Othryades, was still alive, but badly injured. When they were gone, he stood up using two broken spears and set up a trophy using Argive shields. When the Spartans sent some men to see what had happened, Othryades claimed victory since he possessed the battlefield. He then committed suicide because he had survived when all the rest of the Spartans were dead.
Naturally, both sides claimed victory with the Argives probably having the stronger claim. They sent an army to back up their claim. In the ensuing battle, the Spartan army won and they kept Thyrea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_300_Champions
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/ancient-history/battle-of-the-300-champions.html
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