Siege of Melos 415 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 415 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Peloponnesian War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 36.6833, 24.4167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Melos occurred in 416 BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, when the Athenians attacked Melos, an island in the Aegean Sea roughly 110 kilometres (68 miles) east of mainland Greece. Though the Melians had ancestral ties to Sparta, they were neutral in the war. Athens invaded Melos in the summer of 416 BC and demanded that the Melians surrender and pay tribute to Athens or face annihilation. The Melians refused, so the Athenians laid siege to their city. Melos surrendered in the winter, and the Athenians executed the men of Melos and enslaved the women and children.
This siege is best remembered for the Melian Dialogue, a dramatization of the negotiations between the Athenians and the Melians before the siege, written by the classical Athenian historian Thucydides. In the negotiations, the Athenians offer no moral justification for their invasion, but instead bluntly tell the Melians that Athens needs Melos for its own ends and that the only thing Melians stand to gain in submitting without a fight was self-preservation.
The Melian Dialogue is taught as an advocation of imperialism at the expense of other states, and that the only rational approach is based on power and advantage.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Melos (revision 1368617611), 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.
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Other battles of the Peloponnesian War
- Siege of Plataea 429 BC
- Battle of Pylos 425 BC
- Battle of Sphacteria 425 BC
- Battle of Delium 424 BC
- Battle of Mantinea (418 BC) 418 BC
- Battle of Cynossema 411 BC
- Battle of Cyzicus 410 BC
- Battle of Notium 406 BC
All 13 battles of the Peloponnesian War →
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