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the battle of pylos and sphacteria and the effects on the spartan war…
the battle of pylos and sphacteria and the effects on the spartan war effort and reputation
in 425 - athenian general demosthenes fortified a position on the promontory of pylos (south western coast of the peloponnese)
this tactic is known as epiteichismos
demosthenes was hoping to incite fresh revolts amongst the helots living there
immediate response from spartans - withdrew from their annual invasion of attica - after shortest stay of only 15 days
was the first to pursue a more aggressive offensive strategy - in favour of taking war to the enemy instead of surviving - ran the risk of battle between athens and sparta
at pylos - spartans counter attacked by land and sea
occupied the island of sphacteria - hoping to control the entrance to the harbour below the promontory so the athenians would have nowhere safe to shelter
athenians had the repel attacks until their fleet arrived - secured the harbour and isolated the spartan hoplites on the island
spartans concerned with the athenian repelling the attacks and isolation of hoplites - arranged armistice before sending an embassy to athens to call for peace - thucy 4.19-20
at athens - cleon incited the assembly to ask for better terms - sources treat him as an opportunistic rabble-rouser
mustering of popular support and his nature would have offended aristocratic thucydides and aristophanes
cleon was popular with the people
called for the return of the places that athens had given up during the 30 year peace - nisaea, pegae, troezen and achaea - spartan embassy couldnt accomodate such demands and returned empty handed
later in 425, athens realised they could not continue the blockade through the winter - regretted not taking the peace offer
led to challenges + disagreement between cleon and general nicias
nicias offered to relinquish his command if cleon thought he could do a better job
as a result- cleon claimed that he would take the island of pylos within 20 days - had no military experience
athenians landed 800 hoplites on the island, 70 ships and 1600 archers and javelin throwers
spartans fell back under the weight of the numbers to the north end of the island and dug in - cleon and demosthenes offered to cease attacks if the spartans surrendered - they did to the great surprise of the greeks
' this event caused much more surprise among the hellenes than anything else had happened in the war. the general impression had been that the spartans would never surrender their arms whether because of hunger or any other form of compulsion: instead they would keep them to the last and die fighting as the best they could' (thucy, history of the peloponnesian war 4.40)
spartan reputation for never surrendering - earned after thermopylae in 480 - collapsed
seen that the spartans were no longer super-human and no better than any other greek
should be remembered that archidamus had counselled against going to war in 432 and the spartans had voted with him
pleistonax retreat from athens in 446 may have resulted from his well being disposed to peace
quite conceivable that the spartan commander on the ground in 425, styphon, was similarly disposed to peace
athenians brought spartan prisoners to athens and threatened to kill them if there wan another invasion of attica - making prisoners human shields
brought about a change to spartan strategy - cleons power at athens was increased as a result of this