Battle of Cynossema

Significance

The naval Battle of Cynossema in 411 BC came at a moment of acute political vulnerability for Athens: the city's traditional democratic government had been displaced by an oligarchy, and a defeat at sea could have ended the war outright. The Athenian fleet under Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, though initially pressed onto the defensive by a numerically superior Spartan force under Mindarus, secured a narrow victory whose strategic consequences exceeded its tactical weight. The win restored confidence to the Athenian fleet, which followed it with two further victories in the Hellespont in rapid succession. The second of these was the decisive rout at Cyzicus, which eliminated the immediate Spartan threat to Athens' Black Sea lifeline — the supply corridor on which the city depended. Cynossema thus served as the opening of a short campaign sequence that reversed what had appeared to be a terminal Athenian crisis in the Hellespontine theater.

Tactics

Commanders (3)