Gylippos

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Gylippos was a Spartan general during the Peloponnesian War in the late 5th century BC. He played a decisive role in the sinking of the Athenian Sicilian expedition . His role there is described in detail by Thucydides .

He was the son of the Spartian Kleandridas and a helotine , so he was considered a Mothax and not a full Spartiat. 415 BC He was sent to the aid of Syracuse, which was besieged by the Athenians , and landed in the spring of 414 BC. BC with four ships in Himera , from where he moved to Syracuse, not hindered by the Athenian strategist Nikias and reinforced by auxiliary troops. He then procured this considerable reinforcement from the Sicilian cities, which he persuaded to join Syracuse. An attack on the entrenchments of the besiegers brought them considerable losses and put them in possession of the Labdalon fortifications. In the following year he captured the Athenian fortifications on the Plemmyrion promontory and repelled the city with a new storm of the Athenians. On the Assinaros, Gylippos destroyed the retreating Athenian army and took the general Nicias prisoner, who was then executed by the Syracusans. On the way back to Sparta in 412 BC Gylippus was surprised by a superior Athenian fleet at Leukadia , but suffered only insignificant losses.

Xenophon reports that Gylippus was born in 404 BC. BC, after the end of the Peloponnesian War, was supposed to bring the booty from defeated Athens to Sparta for Lysander , but withholding part of it. When this was revealed, according to several sources, he evaded the death sentence by fleeing or exile (according to Poseidonios , he committed suicide).

literature

  • Salvatore Alessandri: Le civette di Gilippo (Plut. Lys. 16-17). In: Annali della Scuola normal superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia. Series 3, Vol. 15, No. 4, 1985, pp. 1081-1093, JSTOR 24306953 .
  • Luigi Piccirilli: Callicratida, Gilippo e Lisandro erano motaci? In: Civiltà classica e cristiana. Vol. 12, 1991, ZDB -ID 225515-7 , pp. 265-269.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gylippos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spartan general
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.