Battle of Mytilene

Battle of Mytilene

Part of: Peloponnesian War

Ancient Trier , (wall painting in Pompeii )

date	406 BC Chr.
place	in the Channel of Lesbos and in the port of Mytilene
output	Victory of the Spartans
consequences	Enclosure of the Attic fleet and siege of Mytilene

Parties to the conflict
Athens	Sparta
Commander
Konon , Leon †, Erasinides	Kallikratidas , Eteonikos, Klearchos , Thrasondas, Thorax
Troop strength
70 Trier	140 Trier
losses
30 Trier

The Battle of Mytilene was a naval battle in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta that took place in 406 BC. A Peloponnesian fleet defeated an outnumbered Attic fleet and forced a retreat to the port of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos . The enclosed Athenians were then besieged and only liberated by the battle of the Arginus .

The history

During the Ionian-Decelean War , Athens fought against a Peloponnesian coalition whose ability to equip ever new fleets, thanks to Persian subsidies, seemed almost unlimited. Four years after its complete loss in the battle of Kyzikos (410 BC) , Sparta had once again put together a fleet that was clearly numerically superior to the Athenian.

End of the year 407 BC The fleet leaders changed on both sides. In Athens, Alkibiades , the victor of Cyzicus, was recalled and replaced by the strategist Konon , who was preceded by a reputation as an excellent sailor. On the Spartan side, the regular change led to the replacement of Lysander, who was successful in the Battle of Notion (407 BC), by the quite young Kallikratidas .

After the successful and popular Lysander, Kallikratidas initially had difficulties with his sub-generals and with the Persian ally, whose subsidy payments failed to materialize. However, he was able to prevail and, after he had solved the pay problem in another way, attracted more ships so that his fleet soon consisted of 140 ships. With these forces he drove in the summer of 406 BC. From Miletus via Chios to Lesbos, one of the last possessions of Athens off the coast of Asia Minor.

The island of Lesbos with the main towns of Mytilene and Methymna was one of the more restless allies of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. In the years 428 BC BC and 412 BC It fell twice in BC and was then forced to return to the Attic Empire by force of arms . After these events, however, the Athenians had made arrangements to strengthen the forces devoted to them in both cities.

The attack by Kallikratidas against the island was initially directed against the city of Methymna in the north, which was defended by an Attic garrison. After an appeal to the Methymner was unsuccessful, the Spartan hoplites took the city by storm. Against the demands of his soldiers, Kallikratidas spared the inhabitants of Methymna, but sold the Athenian occupiers into slavery . He then made a dashing threat to his adversary Konon, stating that he would end his liaison with the sea.

The naval battle

When he took office in Samos, Konon had found the Attic fleet largely demoralized. Although he had 100 triremes in the port, the crews were only enough to man 70 boats. At the news of the attack on Methymna, he hurried with these ships to Lesbos without knowing the strength of the enemy fleet. As soon as Kallikratidas noticed his arrival, he drove to meet him from Methymna in order to transfer his retreat to Samos. Thanks to the speed of his ships, however, Konon managed to escape, since he had carefully taken only the strongest rowers with him.

A chase through the channel from Lesbos to the south developed, in which Konon deliberately did not allow the rowers to be rowed too fast in order to pull the fastest ships of the Peloponnesians behind him. When he saw at the height of Mytilene that the enemy fleet had spread far apart, he gave the signal to attack. The foremost ships of the Peloponnesians had sailed without order and, in the face of the sudden threat, saw no other option than to row backwards to re-establish contact with the stragglers. The Athenians chased them for a while, but when the bulk of the Peloponnesian fleet arrived, Konon thought it wiser to call at the safe port of Mytilene.

The battle in the harbor

However, the turning maneuver cost valuable time, and so the ships of the Kallikratidas managed to unlock. Troubled on all sides, some Athenians ran ashore on the coast, leaving their boats behind to walk to safety behind the walls of Mytilene. Other ships were captured by Kallikratidas, so that Konon lost a total of 30 trireme. With the remaining 40 he reached the outer port of Mytilene, but only at the same time with the ships of the Kallikratidas, so that the battle in the harbor basin was continued. However, the Athenians were able to repel the Spartans and finally withdrew into the inner harbor basin under the protection of the walls of Mytilene.

The siege

The two fleets were now facing each other in the port of Mytilene, the Athenians in the inner port basin, the Peloponnesians in the outer. Kallikratidas therefore called his land forces under the command of the Thorax of Methymna and had the city enclosed on all sides. The situation of the Athenians seemed desperate: supplies in the city lasted for a month at most, and help was not to be expected as Athens had no news of the events.

The outbreak

Konon knew what to do and came up with a plan. Without the besiegers noticing, he had the two fastest boats manned by the strongest rowers, which were hidden under a tarpaulin. He placed the two ships under his command, Leon and Erasinides, with the task of bringing news to Athens. When the guards' attention waned in the midday sun, both boats drove off and broke the blockade. The Spartans only pursued Leon's ship, which took the direct route to Athens. After a while they caught up with it and brought it up, and Leon presumably died. The ship of Erasinides had meanwhile rowed north through the Channel from Lesbos to the Athenian possessions on the Hellespont, from where the crossing to Athens was possible.

The Liberation

Notified by Erasinides, the Athenians immediately equipped a fleet to free Mytilene and save Konon. A first attempt at liberation with only 12 ships under the general Diomedon ended with the loss of 10 boats, but finally the Athenians, using all their forces, dispatched 150 triremes to the scene of the siege. When the arrival of the Athenian relief fleet was reported, Kallikratidas left 50 ships under the orders of Eteonikos to guard the trapped in Mytilene and drove the remaining 120 ships to meet the newcomers. In the battle of the Arginus he was defeated by the Athenians and found death himself.

At the news of the defeat, Eteonikos had the Spartan triremes decorated as if to celebrate a great victory. With this deception he managed to get his ships to safety in good time before the Athenians arrived in Chios, while he himself returned to Methymna with the land troops.

The consequences

The siege of Mytilenes forced Athens to make a final effort in the struggle against the Peloponnesian-Persian alliance. Because of the short preparation time, the rowers in the Battle of the Arginus had to be recruited from all social classes. This explains the bitterness in the city because of the high losses and the failure to rescue the dead, which then ended in the famous Arginus Trial, in which, with the sole exception of Konon, the last experienced naval leaders (including Diomedon and Erasinides) were sentenced to death and executed were. Without competent companions, Konon was then unable to prevent the final defeat of Athens in the Battle of Aigospotamoi (405 BC).

literature

• Bruno Bleckmann : Athens' path to defeat. The last years of the Peloponnesian War . Teubner, Leipzig / Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-519-07648-9 .
• Karl-Wilhelm Welwei : Classical Athens. Democracy and Power Politics in the 5th and 4th Centuries . Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-89678-117-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika , I 6, 1-15; Diodor , Bibliothek , XIII 76. On the prehistory of Lesbos and Mytilene cf. Thucydides III 2-18 and 27-50 as well as VIII 22f.
2. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothek , XIII 77f; Xenophon, Hellenika , I 5, 20 and 6, 15-16.
3. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothek , XIII 78f; Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6, 16-18.
4. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothek , XIII 76, 6 and 79, 6f .; Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6, 17-19.
5. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6, 19-22.
6. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6, 22-35; Diodor, Bibliothek , XIII 97-100, 4.
7. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6, 36-38; Diodorus, Library , XIII 100, 5.