Battle of Cyzicus

Significance

The Battle of Cyzicus, fought in May or June 410 BC, delivered Athens a decisive naval victory over Sparta during the Peloponnesian War. The Athenian fleet under Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, and Theramenes routed and destroyed the Spartan fleet commanded by Mindarus, producing an outcome consequential enough that Sparta extended a peace offer in its aftermath — an offer Athens rejected. The victory directly enabled Athens to recover control over a number of cities in the Hellespont over the following year, restoring Athenian influence over a strategically vital waterway that governed access to Black Sea grain supplies. That Sparta sought terms following the engagement indicates the scale of the Spartan loss and the degree to which the battle shifted the balance of naval power in the eastern Aegean theater of the war.

Commanders (7)