The Battle of Aegospotami

Aegospotami was a battle between the Athenian and Spartans that took place during the Peloponnesian War in 405, near the town of Lampsacus in northern Asia Minor near the Hellespont. The Athenian fleet had defeated the Spartan fleet earlier at the Battle of Arginusae, forcing the Spartans to reinstate their general, Lysander, who had earlier won a series of battles.

Lysander realized that to defeat the Athenians, their supply of grain from the Black Sea region needed to be cut off. Lysander was a friend of the Persian prince Cyrus, son of King Darius II, and he used this relationship to gain money for building a new fleet. With this fleet, Lysander began a series of campaigns in the Aegean Sea, but he avoided direct battle with the Athenian fleet stationed at Samos, which protected the Hellespont.

Lysander then attacked the region around Athens, including Salamis and Aegina, and landed near Athens itself, forcing the Athenian fleet to move in pursuit. Lysander then sailed past the Athenian fleet toward the Hellespont and took Abydos and then Lampsacus, which controlled access to the Hellespont and the grain trade.

The Athenians realized that without its grain supply, Athens would starve, so they moved their fleet of 180 warships to a protective base at nearby Sestos. The Athenians then moved their fleet away from Sestos to a beach near Lampascus; although it was not as well defended or supplied as Sestos, it was closer to the enemy. The Athenians would sail each day to Lampascus, but Lysander refused to engage in battle against the better-trained Athenian fleet.

At the same time, the exiled Athenian general Alcibiades (a nephew of Pericles), who lived nearby, suggested that the Athenians return to Sestos and offered help from some local Thracian warlords if he received a share of the command and glory, and presumably also an end to his exile. The Athenians refused his proposals.

Two accounts of the battle exist. In one, a small Athenian fleet of 30 ships sailed out to engage with the Spartans, and then the remainder would attack. Here, the small fleet was destroyed, and before the remaining Athenian fleet could sail out, the Spartans caught it unprepared on the beach and destroyed most of the ships.

The second account is similar, in that the Spartans sailed across from Abydos, which was apparently their new base, and caught the Athenian fleet by surprise since the Athenians were foraging for food and had left their ships undefended. In both cases, the majority of the fleet was destroyed on the beach, and there was no naval battle. Of the 180 warships, only 9 escaped.

A message was sent to Athens informing it of the disaster, including that over 3,000 Athenian sailors had been executed. Lysander ordered the execution of all but one of the Athenian generals (Adeimantus was spared, giving rise to his possible betrayal) and 3,000 Athenians; the other Greeks were spared.

Unable to move its grain fleet from the Black Sea region, Athens was doomed. Lysander then began a slow journey, island by island, toward Athens, allowing many of the islands’ inhabitants to flee to Athens and thereby swelling the city’s population.

Without food, and facing the prospect of a long siege with many dying of starvation, Athens surrendered. The Battle of Aegospotami effectively ended the war because without its fleet, Athens was powerless to stop the Spartans from dismembering its empire and advancing upon the city.