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The battle of the Arginusae Islands (406 BC) was the last major
Athenian victory of the Great
Peloponnesian War,
but after the battle six of the eight victorious generals were executed for
failing to rescue the crews of the twenty five Athenian warships lost during
the battle. At the start of the campaigning season in 406 BC the Athenians had
a fleet of 70 ships in Asia Minor, commanded by
Conon, while the
Peloponnesians had 140 ships under the newly appointed
Callicratidas. He
achieved a series of early successes, capturing Delphinium in the territory of
Chios and Methymne on
Lesbos. He then chased Conon into
Mytilene, sinking or
capturing thirty of the seventy Athenian ships, and began a siege of Mytilene.
When this news reached Athens a new fleet was scraped together. Our two main
sources agreed on the eventual size of the Athenian fleet, but not on its
composition. According to Xenophon 110 ships came from Athens, ten were at
Samos and thirty were provided by other allies, for a total of 150. In Diodorus
Siculus sixty ships came from Athens, ten from Samos and eighty from other
Athenian allies, again for a total of 150. The fleet came together at Samos,
and sailed up the coast towards Lesbos, pausing on the night
before the battle at the Arginusae Islands, east of Lesbos and close to the
mainland. Callicratidas decided to intercept the Athenian fleet, a sign of the
greatly increased confidence of the Peloponnesian fleet. He left fifty ships at
Mytilene, and took one hundred and twenty with him. The Athenian fleet was
drawn up in two lines. At the far left was Aristocrates with fifteen ships, and
with Pericles (son of the famous statesman) behind him. Next was Diomedon with
fifteen ships and Erasinides behind. In the centre were the ten Samian ships,
ten ships commanded by the Athenian taxiarchs, three by the navarchs and other
allies. Next was Protomachus with Lysias
behind him, both with fifteen ships. Finally on the far right
Thrasylus commanded the
front line and Aristogenes the rear. The Athenian left wing pointed out to open
sea, the right towards the shore and the Arginusae islands were in the centre
of the line. The Athenians hoped that this formation would prevent the Spartans
from breaking their line, while the islands extended their line and would make
it harder for the Spartans to outflank it. Callicratidas was effectively forced
to split his fleet in two. He commanded on the right, while the Boeotians,
commanded by Thrasondas of Thebes, held the left. Neither Xenophon or Diodorus
give us any real details of the battle, other than to agree that it was hard
fought and lasted for some time. Callicratidas was killed during the battle,
although our sources disagree on how. According to Xenophon he fell overboard
after his ship rammed an Athenian ship, and was drowned. In Diodorus he was
killed fighting onboard his ship, after becoming entangled with Pericles'
ships. Our sources also disagree on which wing of the Peloponnesian fleet was
defeated first - the right wing goes first in Diodorus and the left wing in
Xenophon. In both sources most of the Peloponnesians fled south to Chios. Our
sources give largely similar casualty figures, with the Peloponnesians loosing
70-77 ships and the Athenians twenty ships along with most of their crews. This
loss of crew would lead to the most controversial aspect of the battle. The
Athenian commanders apparently decided to split their fleet, sending some ships
to lift the siege of Mytilene and some to rescue their shipwrecked comrades,
but a storm blew up, and the fleet was forced to return to shore without
achieving either objective. This gave Eteonicus, the Peloponnesian commander at
Mytilene, time to evacuate his army and fleet. Conon was able to emerge from
the blockaded city, and joined up with the main Athenian fleet. Meanwhile news
of the battled reached Athens, where the initial celebrations of victory were
marred by the news of the heavy losses. The generals were blamed for failing to
rescue the shipwrecked men, and were dismissed. Conon,
Adeimantus and
Philocles were appointed
to replace them. Of the eight generals in command during the battle Protomachus
and Aristogenes decided not to return to Athens. Pericles, Diomedon, Lysias,
Aristocrates, Thrasylus and Erasinides returned to the city, where they were
put on trial and after a somewhat lengthy process condemned and executed. The
Athenian people soon regretted their decision, but it was too late. The
execution of six victorious generals had a double effective - it removed most
of the most able and experienced commanders, and it discouraged the survivors
from taking command in the following year. This lack of experience may have
played a part in the crushing Athenian defeat at
Aegospotami
that effectively ended the war.
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