521:
with the
Spartan commander Styphon (Styphon had initially been the third in command, but Epitadas had been killed and his first successor was severely wounded and had been left for dead). Styphon requested to send a herald to the mainland to seek advice; the Athenians refused to allow any of the trapped men to leave, but permitted as many heralds from the mainland as were desired to pass back and forth. Several messengers did so, the last of whom left Styphon with the message "The Spartans order you to make your decision yourselves, so long as you do nothing dishonorable." Styphon and his men, with no hope of victory or escape, surrendered. Of the 440 Spartans who had crossed over to Sphacteria, 292 survived to surrender; of these, 120 were men of the elite
446:, which resulted in the isolation of over 400 Spartan soldiers on the island of Sphacteria, Sparta sued for peace, and, after arranging an armistice at Pylos by surrendering the ships of the Peloponnesian fleet as security, sent an embassy to Athens to negotiate a settlement. These negotiations, however, proved fruitless, and with the news of their failure the armistice came to an end; the Athenians, however, refused to return the Peloponnesian ships, alleging that assaults had been made against their fortifications during the truce. Hostilities resumed immediately, with the Athenians guarding the island night and day against attempts at rescue or resupply.
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approached. When the
Spartans rushed at their tormentors, the light troops, unencumbered by heavy hoplite armor, were easily able to run to safety; dust and ash from the recent fire, stirred up by the commotion, further contributed to the Spartans' predicament by obscuring their attackers from their sight. Unable to make any headway, the Spartans withdrew in some confusion to the northern end of the island, where they dug in behind their fortifications and hoped to hold out. A stalemate took hold for some time, with the Athenians trying unsuccessfully to dislodge the Spartans from their strong positions. At this point, the commander of the
495:
Pylos, had denuded the island of vegetation and allowed
Demosthenes to examine both the contours of the island and the number and disposition of the defenders. Seeing that only thirty Spartans were detailed to guard the southern end of the island, away from Pylos, Demosthenes landed his 800 hoplites on both the seaward and landward sides of the island one night. The Spartan garrison, thinking that the Athenian ships were only mooring in their usual nightly watch posts, was caught off guard and massacred. At dawn, the remainder of the Athenian force streamed ashore; these included some 2,000 light troops (
48:
482:
this, and Cleon was eventually compelled to accept command. Reassuming the bold attitude he had taken at the start of the debate, Cleon proclaimed that, with the force he had been given, he would either kill or capture the
Spartans within twenty days. Naming Demosthenes as his partner in command, he set out from Athens with a force composed of Athenian sailors and ships carrying allied
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swiftly broken. The politician Cleon took out reinforcements from Athens and joined forces with
Demosthenes, and the Athenians launched an assault on Sphacteria. Landing in great force on a weakly defended point, the Athenians swamped the beachfront defenses and moved inland, harassing the Spartans by using bows and spears, whenever they attempted to come to grips with the Athenian
537:. At Athens, Cleon, his seemingly mad promise fulfilled, was the man of the hour; he was granted meals at the state's expense in the prytaneum (the same reward granted to Olympic champions), and most scholars see his hand in the legislation of the following months, the most prominent item of which was an increased levy of tribute on the
457:
of food. The
Athenians, meanwhile, found themselves frequently short on rations, and the entire force was forced to depend on a single spring for its fresh water. In these adverse circumstances, the Athenians began to doubt that they could resolve the issue by siege before winter forced them to lift their blockade.
434:, and the annual invasions which had occurred since the war's declaration were thus halted. Athens, meanwhile, with increased prestige and confidence, went on to pursue the war with more vigor and initiative for several years, returning to the negotiating table only after a string of defeats had eroded its position.
511:
detachment in the
Athenian force, Comon, approached Demosthenes and asked that he be given troops with which to move through the seemingly impassable terrain along the island's shore. His request was granted, and Comon led his men into the Spartan rear through a route that had been left unguarded on
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for that year, proposed to send a commission, with Cleon among its members, to verify the reports from Pylos, Cleon attacked him for proposing to waste time that should have been spent attacking. Nicias countered this rhetorical thrust by offering to stand aside as a general, and allow Cleon to take
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and monetary rewards to free men who would volunteer to carry food across to the island, the
Spartans were able to bring in a small but critical stream of food. Some of these men reached the island by approaching from the seaward side at night during rough weather; others swam underwater towing bags
520:
At this point, Cleon and
Demosthenes declined to push the attack further, preferring to take as many Spartans as they could prisoner. An Athenian herald offered the Spartans a chance to surrender, and the Spartans, throwing down their shields, agreed at last to negotiate. Cleon and Demosthenes met
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Demosthenes had already been planning an attack on
Sphacteria, as the difficulty of the circumstances his men were in had led him to doubt the viability of a prolonged siege. Moreover, a fire on the island, ignited by Spartan sailors lighting a fire to cook a meal away from the crowded confines of
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would lead to the execution of their prisoners. For the first time since the beginning of the war, the Athenians could farm their crops securely. At Pylos, a Messenian garrison was installed, and these men, launching raids into country that had once been their home, did significant damage to the
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The Spartans, under their commander Epitadas, attempted to come to grips with the Athenian hoplites and push their enemies back into the sea, but Demosthenes detailed his lightly armed troops, in companies of about 200 men, to occupy high points and harass the enemy with missile fire whenever they
481:
Cleon was probably aware that an attack was already being planned at Pylos, as he was likely to have been in communication with Demosthenes, but once he realized that Nicias's offer was more than a rhetorical ploy he attempted to back down from his challenge. The crowd, however, refused to permit
418:
In the wake of the failed peace negotiations, Demosthenes initially attempted to starve out the Spartans on Sphacteria, but was unable to blockade the island tightly enough. In Athens there was concern that the approach of winter would necessitate abandoning the blockade, unless the impasse was
541:. Sphacteria had changed the nature of the war. The next few years would see a newly aggressive Athens, and it would take a string of Athenian reverses to diffuse the impetus that the surrenders had given and bring the two sides to the table to negotiate the
452:, commanding the force at Pylos, initially planned to starve the Spartans out rather than attack them, but as time wore on it became clear that the Spartans would be able to hold out for longer than anticipated. By offering freedom to
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that Sparta “did away with all the reproaches that had been levelled against them by the Hellenes, whether for cowardice, because of the disaster on the island, or for incompetence and lack of resolution on other occasions.”
528:"The outcome," Donald Kagan has observed, "shook the Greek world." Spartans, it had been supposed, would never surrender. Now, with Spartiate hostages in their hands, the Athenians issued an ultimatum; any invasion of
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account of its roughness. When he emerged with his force, the Spartans, in disbelief, abandoned their defenses; the Athenians seized the approaches to the fort, and the Spartan force stood on the brink of annihilation.
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command of an expeditionary force to Pylos. Although he had no authority to make this offer, the assembly, caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment, went along with him, urging Cleon to back up his words with action.
465:
This downturn of fortunes was the source of much concern at Athens, the decision to reject Sparta's peace offer became an item of much popular regret. Noting this turn of popular opinion,
430:
The capture of over 292 hoplites (120 of which were Spartans) by Athens radically shifted the balance of power in the war. Athens threatened to execute its prisoners if Sparta invaded
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193:
469:, who had been the principal advocate of rejecting the peace offer, claimed that the reports brought back from the scene must be inaccurate. When
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general Comon succeeded in bringing his troops through seemingly impassable terrain into their rear, the Spartans surrendered.
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423:. The Spartans retreated to the northern end of the island and dug in behind their fortifications, but when the
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24:
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Unless otherwise noted, all details of the debate at Athens and its results are drawn from Thucydides,
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and subsequent peace negotiations, which failed, a number of Spartans were stranded on the island of
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20:
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Unless otherwise noted, all details of the surrender and aftermath are drawn from Thucydides,
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503:) and some 8,000 rowers from the fleet, armed with whatever weapons could be found.
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For all details of events immediately after the end of the truce, see Thucydides,
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Unless otherwise noted, all details of the battle are drawn from Thucydides,
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Unless otherwise noted, all details of the siege are drawn from Thucydides,
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425 BCE battle between Athens and Sparta, part of the Peloponnesian War
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551:says it was only with victory at the
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473:, a political opponent of his and a
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787:. Penguin classics. p. 395.
955:Battles involving ancient Athens
915:Battles of the Peloponnesian War
836:History of the Peloponnesian War
785:History of the Peloponnesian war
577:History of the Peloponnesian War
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861:Livius.org: Pylos/Sphacteria
553:battle of Mantinea in 418 BC
7:
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386:, fought in 425 BC between
25:Battle of Sphacteria (1825)
10:
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402:. An Athenian force under
148:8,000 lightly armed rowers
19:For the battle during the
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891:36.9301361°N 21.6657250°E
382:was a land battle of the
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21:Greek War of Independence
960:Battles involving Sparta
940:5th century BC in Greece
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818:(Penguin Books, 2003).
516:Surrender and aftermath
438:Prelude and early moves
896:36.9301361; 21.6657250
115:Commanders and leaders
950:Amphibious operations
816:The Peloponnesian War
771:The Peloponnesian War
758:The Peloponnesian War
743:The Peloponnesian War
727:The Peloponnesian War
714:The Peloponnesian War
698:The Peloponnesian War
685:The Peloponnesian War
672:The Peloponnesian War
656:The Peloponnesian War
641:The Peloponnesian War
625:The Peloponnesian War
609:The Peloponnesian War
594:The Peloponnesian War
156:Casualties and losses
490:Attack on Sphacteria
380:Battle of Sphacteria
33:Battle of Sphacteria
887: /
783:Thucydides (1954).
322:Sicilian Expedition
866:2013-07-07 at the
166:Remainder captured
925:420s BC conflicts
384:Peloponnesian War
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205:Peloponnesian War
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40:Peloponnesian War
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935:History of Pylos
930:Ancient Messenia
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741:Thucydides,
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379:
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357:2nd Mytilene
281:
252:1st Mytilene
225:
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98:Belligerents
38:Part of the
894: /
545:in 421 BC.
450:Demosthenes
408:Demosthenes
367:Aegospotami
164:148 killed,
134:Hippagretas
121:Demosthenes
909:Categories
847:Wikisource
830:Thucydides
806:References
573:Thucydides
549:Thucydides
442:After the
400:Sphacteria
297:Amphipolis
282:Sphacteria
72:Sphacteria
674:, 149-150
523:Spartiate
509:Messenian
475:strategos
425:Messenian
362:Arginusae
337:Cynossema
242:Naupactus
232:Spartolos
129:Epitadas
864:Archived
484:peltasts
421:hoplites
414:Overview
302:Mantinea
226:Potidaea
141:Strength
87:Athenian
67:Location
773:, 152-3
769:Kagan,
756:Kagan,
730:4.37-41
712:Kagan,
701:4.29-36
683:Kagan,
670:Kagan,
659:4.27-29
525:class.
501:toxotai
347:Cyzicus
332:Eretria
272:Idomene
262:Aetolia
257:Tanagra
247:Plataea
136:Styphon
89:victory
920:425 BC
838:
822:
791:
539:empire
535:Helots
530:Attica
497:psiloi
471:Nicias
454:Helots
432:Attica
392:Sparta
388:Athens
352:Notium
342:Abydos
312:Orneae
307:Hysiae
292:Delium
287:Megara
219:Sybota
109:Sparta
104:Athens
83:Result
62:425 BC
23:, see
760:, 152
716:, 151
687:, 148
560:Notes
467:Cleon
404:Cleon
317:Melos
277:Pylos
267:Olpae
237:Rhium
125:Cleon
76:Pylos
820:ISBN
789:ISBN
746:4.38
644:4.27
628:4.26
612:4.23
597:4.16
406:and
390:and
378:The
327:Syme
59:Date
579:",
161:Few
151:440
911::
832:.
814:.
849:.
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732:.
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630:.
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575:"
195:e
188:t
181:v
131:†
27:.
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