Derkylidas

Derkylidas (incorrect spelling Derkyllidas , also Derkellidas ) was a general of the Spartans in the 5th / 4th centuries . Century BC Chr.

After Derkylidas 411 BC After he had conquered the cities of Abydos and Lampsakos for Sparta, he became Harmost (commander of the troops) in Abydos for a while. In the initial phase of the Spartan-Persian War he used 399 BC. The dispute between the Persian satraps ( governors ) Pharnabazos and Tissaphernes and invaded Aiolis , taking a number of cities in a few days. After he had concluded an armistice with Pharnabazos, he marched into the Chersonese peninsula (today Gallipoli ) in the spring of 398 , whose inhabitants had asked Sparta for protection against the predatory incursions of the Thracians , and had a protective wall built across the isthmus . After the subsequent capture of Atarneus , opposite Lesbos , he was ordered to advance into Caria and there to threaten the goods of the Tissaphernes.

When King Agesilaus II intensified the war in 396 and came to Asia with a new army, Derkylidas stayed with him for some time. In 394, however, a Persian fleet, led by the Athenian Konon , destroyed the Spartan fleet at Knidos and with it the basis of Sparta's overseas power. With his steadfastness and prudence, Derkylidas was able to save Abydos and Sestos on the Hellespont for Sparta. Nevertheless, he had to cede the position of a harmost in Abydos to Anaxibios in 390, who had known how to win the favor of the Ephors . From then on, Derkylidas is no longer mentioned.