Battle of Arginusae 406 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Arginusae took place in 406 BC during the Peloponnesian War near the city of Canae in the Arginusae Islands, east of the island of Lesbos. In the battle, an Athenian fleet commanded by eight strategoi defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas. The battle was precipitated by a Spartan victory, which led to the Athenian fleet under Conon being blockaded at Mytilene. To relieve Conon, the Athenians assembled a scratch force composed largely of newly-constructed ships manned by inexperienced crews. The inexperienced fleet was thus tactically inferior to the Spartans, but its commanders circumvented the problem by employing new and unorthodox tactics, which allowed the Athenians to secure a dramatic and unexpected victory. Slaves and metics who participated in the battle may have been granted Athenian citizenship.
The news of the victory itself was met with jubilation at Athens. Their joy was tempered, however, by the aftermath of the battle, in which a storm prevented the ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes from performing their duties, and a great number of sailors drowned.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arginusae (revision 1370106956), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Mytilene (1464) 1464 · 22 km
- Battle of Mytilene (1690) 1690 · 23 km
- Siege of Mytilene (81 BC) 81 BC · 24 km
- Battle of Bergama 1919 · 36 km
- Battle of Focchies 1649 · 41 km
- Battle of the Oinousses Islands 1695 · 45 km
Other battles of the Decelean War
- Battle of Aegospotami 405 BC
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