Tydeus (Athenian)

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Tydeus ( Greek Τυδεύς Tydeús ; † 405 BC at Aigospotamoi ) was an Attic strategist during the Peloponnesian War .

ancestry

According to the testimony of speaker Lysias , an unspecified Tydeus was already in the allied Katane during the expedition of the Athenians against Sicily . There is then speculation that this person was the later strategist, who, by the way, was a son of 414 BC. Attic general Lamachos , who fell in Sicily . However, in view of the extremely poor sources, these possible connections can no longer be clarified.

Aigospotamoi

After the Athenians 406 had sentenced their best admirals to death in the Arginusen trial and executed them, Tydeus 405 was elected strategist along with several others and went to the Hellespont with the Attic fleet. There, the incompetent fleet management of the admirals Philokles , Konon , Adeimantos , Menandros and Tydeus aroused the displeasure of the deposed general Alkibiades , who approached the Athenian ship camp to warn the strategists. However, they believed they could do without the advice of their experienced predecessor, and Tydeus and Menandros in particular expelled him from the camp with gross abuse.

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. Nothing is known about the exact fate of Tydeus. If he had not already died in battle, Lysander would execute him along with the others.

evaluation

With the destruction of the Attic fleet at Aigospotamoi, Athens was cut off from all supplies and had to capitulate the following year. Since the Athenians repeatedly accused their best and most experienced strategists and in the worst case even executed them, in the end they were left with only such inexperienced commanders as Tydeus, who ultimately led the fleet, the city and the empire into disaster.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Lysias, 20, 26.
  2. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika 2, 1, 16.
  3. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2, 1, 26; Plutarch , Alkibiades 36-37.
  4. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika 2, 1, 27-32; Diodor , Bibliothek 13, 105-106; Plutarch, Lysander 13.
personal data
SURNAME Tydeus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek general
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 405 BC Chr.
Place of death at Aigospotamoi