Lysander in the context of "Peloponnesian War"

⭐ In the context of the Peloponnesian War, Lysander’s ultimate success in defeating Athens was largely made possible by what external factor?

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⭐ Core Definition: Lysander

Lysander (/lˈsændər, ˈlˌsændər/; Ancient Greek: Λύσανδρος Lysandros; c. 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan commander and statesman who was one of the leading military and political leaders of Sparta during the Peloponnesian Wars. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian Wars to an end. He then played a key role in Sparta's domination of Greece for the next decade until his death at the Battle of Haliartus.

Lysander's vision for Sparta differed from most Spartans; he wanted to overthrow the Athenian Empire and replace it with Spartan hegemony.

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👉 Lysander in the context of Peloponnesian War

The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called the Peloponnesian War, was fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the ancient Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens, which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.

Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who invaded Attica several times with the full Hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). The Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' alliance) raided the Peloponnesian coast to trigger rebellions within Sparta. The precarious Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BC and lasted until 413 BC. Several proxy battles took place during this period, notably the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, won by Sparta against an ad-hoc alliance of Elis, Mantinea (both former Spartan allies), Argos, and Athens. The main event was the Sicilian Expedition, between 415 and 413 BC, during which Athens lost almost all its navy in the attempt to capture Syracuse, an ally of Sparta.

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Lysander in the context of Battle of Aegospotami

The Battle of Aegospotami (Greek: Μάχη στους Αιγός Ποταμούς) was a naval confrontation that took place in 405 BC and was the last major battle of the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, a Spartan fleet under Lysander destroyed the Athenian navy. This effectively ended the war, since Athens could not import grain or communicate with its empire without control of the sea.

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Lysander in the context of Battle of Haliartus

The Battle of Haliartus was fought in 395 BC between Sparta and Athens. After the Athenian defeat at the Peloponnesian War, Athens tried to recover, but also gained the support of Boeotia. Dissatisfied with this situation, Sparta sent an army against Athens and was defeated by the Athenians and Boeotians. Lysander, one of Sparta's most successful generals, was killed in this battle. Haliartus marked the start of the Corinthian War, which continued until 387 BC.

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Lysander in the context of Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; Ancient Greek: Κῦρος Kyros; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC in battle during a failed attempt to oust his elder brother, Artaxerxes II, from the Persian throne.

The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of his Greek mercenaries is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of Stymphalus, was used by Ephorus. Further information is contained in the excerpts from Artaxerxes II's physician, Ctesias, by Photius; Plutarch’s Lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander; and Thucydides' History of Peloponnesian War. These are the only early sources of information on Cyrus the Younger.

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Lysander in the context of Autolycus of Athens

Autolycus (Ancient Greek: Αὐτόλυκος; fl. 5th century BC), son of Lykon, was a young Athenian athlete of singular beauty and the lover of Callias. It is in honour of a victory gained by him in the pentathlon at the Panathenaic Games that Callias gives the banquet for him described by Xenophon in his Symposium.

After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars at the hands of Lysander, Autolycus defeated the Spartan-appointed governor Callibius by "tripping up his heels and throwing him to the ground". Callibius in turn hit Autolycus with his staff upon which Callibius was scolded by Lysander who told him that he "didn't know how to govern free men". Puppets of Lysander and the Spartans killed Autolycus soon after to appease Callibius.

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Lysander in the context of Pausanias (king of Sparta)

Pausanias (Ancient Greek: Παυσανίας) was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 427 BC and again from 409 BC to 395 BC. He was the leader of the faction in Sparta that opposed the imperialist policy conducted by Lysander.

Pausanias became king in 445 BC, when his father Pleistoanax was forced into exile because he made a peace settlement with Athens, which was deemed dishonourable in Sparta. Too young to reign, his uncle Cleomenes acted as regent. Pleistoanax then returned in 427 BC and resumed his reign. Pausanias effectively became king in 409, at the death of his father. As he continued the conciliatory policy with Athens favoured by Pleistoanax, Pausanias clashed with Lysander, the Spartan general who had won the Peloponnesian War against Athens in 404 BC and supported an imperialist policy in the Aegean Sea. In 403 BC, Pausanias engineered the restoration of the Athenian democracy, which had been replaced by the regime of the Thirty Tyrants installed by Lysander after his victory. The latter's supporters and the other king Agis II attempted a prosecution for betrayal against Pausanias, who narrowly escaped condemnation.

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Lysander in the context of Haliartus

Haliartus or Haliartos (Ancient Greek: Ἁλίαρτος), also known as Ariartus, Ariartos, Hariartus, or Hariartos (Ἀρίαρτος or Ἁρίαρτος), was a town of ancient Boeotia, and one of the cities of the Boeotian League. It was situated on the southern side of Lake Copais in a pass between the mountain and the lake. It is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer, who gives it the epithet ποιήεις (grassy) in consequence of its well-watered meadows. According to tradition it was founded by Haliartus, a son of Thersander, and grandson of Sisyphus.

During the Second Persian invasion of Greece, it was destroyed by the Persians (480 BC), but afterwards the citizens rebuilt it.In the Peloponnesian War appears as one of the chief cities of Boeotia. It is chiefly memorable in history on account of the Battle of Haliartus fought under its walls between Lysander and the Thebans, in which the former was slain, 395 BCE. In 171 BCE Haliartus was destroyed a second time. Having espoused the cause of Perseus of Macedon, it was taken by the Roman praetor Lucretius, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, carried off its statues, paintings, and other works of art, and razed it to the ground. Its territory was afterwards given to the Athenians, and it never recovered its former prosperity. Strabo speaks of it as no longer in existence in his time, and Pausanias, in his account of the place, mentions only a heroum of Lysander, and some ruined temples which had been burnt by the Persians and had been purposely left in that state.

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