405 BC · Hellespont (Dardanelles straits) Theater
405 BC
Lysander waited at the Hellespont with the Peloponnesian fleet while the Athenian fleet lay beached opposite him at Aegospotami. For several days the Athenians rowed out to offer battle; Lysander refused. When the Athenian crews scattered to forage, he struck and captured almost the entire fleet on the beach. Xenophon says Conon escaped with nine ships, including the state ship Paralus. About 3,000 captured Athenians were subsequently executed. Without a fleet, Athens could not secure its grain route and was forced toward surrender.
Commanders