Menandros (strategist)

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Menandros ( Greek Μένανδρος Ménandros ; † 405 at Aigospotamoi ) was an Attic strategist during the Peloponnesian War , who was involved in the decisive defeats of Athens during the siege of Syracuse and in the battle of Aigospotamoi .

Sicilian expedition

Trireme

Menandros, about whose ancestry and youth nothing is known, took from 415 BC. First part of the Athenian expedition against Sicily and the siege of Syracuse as an officer under the command of the generals Nikias , Alkibiades and Lamachos . After the flight of Alcibiades and the death of Lamachos, he and another officer, Euthydemus , were appointed strategists by the people's assembly in Athens at the end of 414 in order to support Nicias, who had kidney disease, on the spot. At the same time, Demosthenes and Eurymedon, two other experienced generals, were commissioned to set up an auxiliary fleet for the beleaguered expeditionary army and to lead it to Syracuse.

Even before the reinforcements arrived, the two newly appointed strategists Menandros and Euthydemus pushed for a battle to justify their appointment, but when they prevailed on the more cautious Nicias with their ambitious plan, they suffered a setback in port, killing several ships and the important outworks at the port entrance were lost. After the arrival of the auxiliary fleet under Demosthenes and Eurymedon, Menandros took part in the night battle on the high field ( Epipolai ) off Syracuse, which ended with a defeat for the Athenians.

The port of Syracuse

When Demosthenes urged the withdrawal, Nicias resisted for fear of the possible reaction of the Athenians. Eurymedon agreed with Demosthenes' opinion, while Menandros and Euthydemus apparently held back after their debacle. So there was no decision, and on August 27, 413, the horror of a lunar eclipse , which was considered a bad omen, caused further delays. In another naval battle in the port, Menandros faced the Corinthian Pythian in the center of the Athenians . The wings of the Athenians commanded Euthydemus and Eurymedon. Eurymedon was cut off on the right wing and perished, so that this battle also ended in defeat.

The Syracusans had meanwhile effectively blocked the harbor entrance, and so the Athenians now had to fight for their last chance to travel home unhindered. Since Nicias failed because of his illness, Menandros was in the decisive sea battle at the beginning of September next to Demosthenes and Euthydemus again among the commanders of the Attic fleet, whose attempt to break out failed in the narrowness of the port.

The defeat of the Athenian Trireme in the port of Syracuse left the only way out to retreat inland, which in September 413 resulted in a catastrophe for the Athenians. While Nicias led the main force and Demosthenes the rearguard, Menandros possibly commanded the vanguard and was thus able to save himself as the only strategist from Sicily. Demosthenes and Nicias, however, were overtaken by the Syracusans, captured with their forces and executed in Syracuse.

Aigospotamoi

Hoplite

After his return from Sicily, Menandros soon again commanded smaller troop units. In 409 he led 120 hoplites in the battle of Abydos on the Hellespont under the command of Alkibiades, who had meanwhile returned to the Athenian camp .

After the Athenians 406 had sentenced their best admirals to death despite their victory in the battle and executed them in the Arginusen trial , Menandros 405 was again appointed strategist along with Tydeus and Kephisodotos to support the previously elected Konon , Philocles and Adeimantos . When the Spartan fleet attacked the city of Lampsakos and threatened the vital artery of the straits, the Athenians followed them from Chios to the Hellespont. After a few days, the apparently incompetent fleet management of the Attic admirals aroused the displeasure of Alcibiades, who had fled again from popular anger, and who approached the Athenian ship camp from his possessions in Thrace in order to urge the strategists to be more careful. They believed, however, that they could do without the advice of the experienced general, and in particular Tydeus and Menandros expelled him from the camp with gross abuse, since other than him were now at the helm.

Hellespont and Propontis

The following day, the Spartan sea ​​lord Lysander managed to surprise the Athenian fleet at its unprotected camp at Aigospotamoi and to destroy it completely in a raid like a blow. Of around 180 ships, only nine escaped the rearguard under Konon's command. Since most of the rowers and soldiers did not get into their ships in time and were caught on the bank, Lysander took 3,000 prisoners. He had the Attic citizens among them executed, as well as the strategists. There is evidence of the murder of Philocles, whose throat Lysander himself cut because he persuaded the others to decide to cut off the hands of all possible prisoners. The only one who was pardoned was Adeimantos, who had spoken out against this decision in the army assembly. Nothing is known about the exact fate of Menander. If he had not already died in battle, Lysander would execute him along with the others.

With the destruction of the Attic fleet at Aigospotamoi, Athens was cut off from all supplies and had to capitulate the following year.

evaluation

The use in land battles, highlighted several times in the sources, suggests that Menandros was a competent and brave captain of the infantry, but apparently overtaxed with the leadership of larger naval units. Its use in naval battles at the center of the fleet rather than on the more difficult wings suggests that his colleagues apparently saw it no differently. With his insults against the much more competent Alkibiades, Menandros also showed a rather limited awareness of his own inadequacy. Beyond these meager findings, however, the thin tradition hardly reveals his personal contribution to the various defeats, which makes an individual assessment difficult.

The importance of Menandros therefore lies in his mediocrity, which allowed him to be present in all major catastrophes in his city without ever becoming more prominent. Menandros therefore stands for the back row of Attic strategists who moved up because the People's Assembly had repeatedly accused their more experienced colleagues. After the Athenians drove their best military leaders to death or to flee and executed the second squad in the Arginus Trial, they were ultimately left with only third-rate commanders like Menandros and his colleagues, who ultimately led the fleet, city and empire into disaster.

swell

  • Diodoros , Greek World History , Book 11-13, translated by O. Veh, introduced a. commented by W. Will, (Library of Greek Literature), Hiersemann-Verlag, Stuttgart 1998.
  • Plutarch , Alkibiades , Lysander and Nikias , in: Große Greeks und Römer , German translation by Konrat Ziegler, 6 volumes, Zurich 1954–1965 (numerous reprints).
  • Thucydides , The Peloponnesian War . Translated by GP Landmann (Library of the Old World). Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-7608-4103-1 .
  • Xenophon , Hellenika . Greek-German. Edited and translated by G. Strasburger. Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7608-1670-3 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thucydides , 7:16 .
  2. ↑ Plutarch , Nicias 20.
  3. ↑ Thucydides, 7:43.
  4. ^ Diodorus , Bibliothek 13, 13.
  5. ↑ Thucydides, 7:69.
  6. ↑ Thucydides, 7, 69-87.
  7. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika 1, 2, 16.
  8. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2, 1, 16.
  9. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2, 1, 26; Plutarch, Alkibiades 36-37.
  10. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2, 1, 27-32; Plutarch, Lysander 13; Diodorus , Bibliothek 13, 105-106.
personal data
SURNAME Menandros
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek general
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 405 BC Chr.
Place of death at Aigospotamoi