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Battle of Arginusae
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Battle of Arginusae
The Battle of Arginusae took place in 406 BC during the Peloponnesian War near the city of Canae in the Arginusae Islands, east of the island of Lesbos. In the battle, an Athenian fleet commanded by eight strategoi defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas. The battle was precipitated by a Spartan victory, which led to the Athenian fleet under Conon being blockaded at Mytilene. To relieve Conon, the Athenians assembled a scratch force composed largely of newly-constructed ships manned by inexperienced crews. The inexperienced fleet was thus tactically inferior to the Spartans, but its commanders circumvented the problem by employing new and unorthodox tactics, which allowed the Athenians to secure a dramatic and unexpected victory. Slaves and metics who participated in the battle may have been granted Athenian citizenship.
The news of the victory itself was met with jubilation at Athens. Their joy was tempered, however, by the aftermath of the battle, in which a storm prevented the ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes from performing their duties, and a great number of sailors drowned. A fury erupted at Athens when the public learned of that, and a bitter struggle occurred after which the assembly tried and executed as a group six of the eight commanding generals.
At Sparta, meanwhile, traditionalists who had supported Callicratidas pressed for peace with Athens since they knew that a continuation of the war would lead to the reascendence of their opponent Lysander. The party initially prevailed, and a delegation was dispatched to Athens to make an offer of peace. The Athenians, however, rejected the offer, and Lysander departed to the Aegean to take command of the Spartan fleet for the remainder of the war, which would be decided less than a year later by his total victory at the Battle of Aegospotami.
In 406 BC, Callicratidas was appointed as the navarch of the Spartan fleet, replacing Lysander. Callicratidas was a traditionalist Spartan, distrustful of Persian influence and reluctant to ask for support from the Persian prince Cyrus, who had been a strong supporter of Lysander. Thus, Callicratidas was forced to assemble his fleet and funding by seeking contributions from Sparta's allies among the Greek cities of the region. In this fashion, he assembled a fleet of some 140 triremes. Conon, meanwhile, in command of the Athenian fleet at Samos, was compelled by problems with the morale of his sailors to man only 70 of the more than 100 triremes he had in his possession.
Callicratidas, once he had assembled his fleet, sailed against Methymna, on Lesbos, which he laid siege to and stormed. From Methymna, Callicratidas could potentially move to capture the rest of Lesbos, which would clear the way for him to move his fleet to the Hellespont, where he would be athwart the all-important Athenian grain supply line. To defend Lesbos, Conon was forced to move his numerically-inferior fleet from Samos to the Hekatonnesi Islands near Methymna. When Callicratidas attacked him, however, with a fleet that had swollen to a size of 170 ships, Conon was forced to flee to Mytilene, where at the Battle of Mytilene, he was blockaded with his fleet after losing 30 ships in a clash at the mouth of the harbor. Besieged by land and sea, Conon was powerless to act against the vastly superior forces that surrounded him and only barely slipped a messenger ship out to Athens to carry the news of his plight.
When the messenger ship reached Athens with news of Conon's situation, the assembly wasted no time in approving extreme measures to build and man a relief force. The golden statues of Nike were melted down to fund the construction of the ships, and slaves and metics were enlisted to crew the fleet. To ensure a sufficiently large and loyal group of crewmen, the Athenians possibly took the radical step of extending citizenship to thousands of slaves who rowed with the fleet. Over a hundred ships were prepared and manned through these measures, and contributions from allied ships raised the fleet's size to 150 triremes after it reached Samos. In a highly unorthodox arrangement, the fleet was commanded collaboratively by eight generals: Aristocrates, Aristogenes, Diomedon, Erasinides, Lysias, Pericles, Protomachus and Thrasyllus.
After leaving Samos, the Athenian fleet sailed to the Arginusae islands, opposite Cape Malea on Lesbos, where they camped for an evening. Callicratidas, who had sailed south to Malea with most of his fleet upon learning of the Athenians' movements, spotted their signal fires and planned to attack them by night but was prevented from doing so by a thunderstorm and so he was forced to delay his attack until morning.
At dawn the next day, Callicratidas led his fleet out to meet the Athenians. He had 140 ships to match the Athenians' 150 and had left 50 to watch Conon at Mytilene. For the first time in the war, the Spartan crews and commanders were more experienced than their Athenian opposites, as the Athenians' best crews had been at sea with Conon. To counter the Spartans' superior skill and maneuverability, the Athenian commanders implemented several new and innovative tactics. Firstly, the Athenian fleet was divided into eight autonomous divisions, each commanded by one of the generals. Secondly, they arranged their fleet in a double line, instead of the traditional single line, to prevent the Spartans from using the maneuver known as the diekplous in which a trireme raced into a gap between two enemy ships and then wheeled to strike one of them in the side. If the Spartans attempted that against a double line, a ship from the second line could move up to attack the Spartan ship.
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Battle of Arginusae
The Battle of Arginusae took place in 406 BC during the Peloponnesian War near the city of Canae in the Arginusae Islands, east of the island of Lesbos. In the battle, an Athenian fleet commanded by eight strategoi defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas. The battle was precipitated by a Spartan victory, which led to the Athenian fleet under Conon being blockaded at Mytilene. To relieve Conon, the Athenians assembled a scratch force composed largely of newly-constructed ships manned by inexperienced crews. The inexperienced fleet was thus tactically inferior to the Spartans, but its commanders circumvented the problem by employing new and unorthodox tactics, which allowed the Athenians to secure a dramatic and unexpected victory. Slaves and metics who participated in the battle may have been granted Athenian citizenship.
The news of the victory itself was met with jubilation at Athens. Their joy was tempered, however, by the aftermath of the battle, in which a storm prevented the ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes from performing their duties, and a great number of sailors drowned. A fury erupted at Athens when the public learned of that, and a bitter struggle occurred after which the assembly tried and executed as a group six of the eight commanding generals.
At Sparta, meanwhile, traditionalists who had supported Callicratidas pressed for peace with Athens since they knew that a continuation of the war would lead to the reascendence of their opponent Lysander. The party initially prevailed, and a delegation was dispatched to Athens to make an offer of peace. The Athenians, however, rejected the offer, and Lysander departed to the Aegean to take command of the Spartan fleet for the remainder of the war, which would be decided less than a year later by his total victory at the Battle of Aegospotami.
In 406 BC, Callicratidas was appointed as the navarch of the Spartan fleet, replacing Lysander. Callicratidas was a traditionalist Spartan, distrustful of Persian influence and reluctant to ask for support from the Persian prince Cyrus, who had been a strong supporter of Lysander. Thus, Callicratidas was forced to assemble his fleet and funding by seeking contributions from Sparta's allies among the Greek cities of the region. In this fashion, he assembled a fleet of some 140 triremes. Conon, meanwhile, in command of the Athenian fleet at Samos, was compelled by problems with the morale of his sailors to man only 70 of the more than 100 triremes he had in his possession.
Callicratidas, once he had assembled his fleet, sailed against Methymna, on Lesbos, which he laid siege to and stormed. From Methymna, Callicratidas could potentially move to capture the rest of Lesbos, which would clear the way for him to move his fleet to the Hellespont, where he would be athwart the all-important Athenian grain supply line. To defend Lesbos, Conon was forced to move his numerically-inferior fleet from Samos to the Hekatonnesi Islands near Methymna. When Callicratidas attacked him, however, with a fleet that had swollen to a size of 170 ships, Conon was forced to flee to Mytilene, where at the Battle of Mytilene, he was blockaded with his fleet after losing 30 ships in a clash at the mouth of the harbor. Besieged by land and sea, Conon was powerless to act against the vastly superior forces that surrounded him and only barely slipped a messenger ship out to Athens to carry the news of his plight.
When the messenger ship reached Athens with news of Conon's situation, the assembly wasted no time in approving extreme measures to build and man a relief force. The golden statues of Nike were melted down to fund the construction of the ships, and slaves and metics were enlisted to crew the fleet. To ensure a sufficiently large and loyal group of crewmen, the Athenians possibly took the radical step of extending citizenship to thousands of slaves who rowed with the fleet. Over a hundred ships were prepared and manned through these measures, and contributions from allied ships raised the fleet's size to 150 triremes after it reached Samos. In a highly unorthodox arrangement, the fleet was commanded collaboratively by eight generals: Aristocrates, Aristogenes, Diomedon, Erasinides, Lysias, Pericles, Protomachus and Thrasyllus.
After leaving Samos, the Athenian fleet sailed to the Arginusae islands, opposite Cape Malea on Lesbos, where they camped for an evening. Callicratidas, who had sailed south to Malea with most of his fleet upon learning of the Athenians' movements, spotted their signal fires and planned to attack them by night but was prevented from doing so by a thunderstorm and so he was forced to delay his attack until morning.
At dawn the next day, Callicratidas led his fleet out to meet the Athenians. He had 140 ships to match the Athenians' 150 and had left 50 to watch Conon at Mytilene. For the first time in the war, the Spartan crews and commanders were more experienced than their Athenian opposites, as the Athenians' best crews had been at sea with Conon. To counter the Spartans' superior skill and maneuverability, the Athenian commanders implemented several new and innovative tactics. Firstly, the Athenian fleet was divided into eight autonomous divisions, each commanded by one of the generals. Secondly, they arranged their fleet in a double line, instead of the traditional single line, to prevent the Spartans from using the maneuver known as the diekplous in which a trireme raced into a gap between two enemy ships and then wheeled to strike one of them in the side. If the Spartans attempted that against a double line, a ship from the second line could move up to attack the Spartan ship.