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History -- Military
history -- List of battles
The battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC was the destruction of the
Athenian navy in the Peloponnesian War, and led directly to Athens' final defeat by Sparta in the following year.
After the Athenian victory at the Arginusae Islands,
Conon took the fleet to the small river mouth at Aegospotami in the Hellespont. The Spartan fleet was close by
on the opposite side of the Hellespont, and for four days Conon rowed his fleet over to it, trying to engage the Spartans, who
for their part stayed put. On the fifth day, after repeating this maneuver once more, the Athenians returned, beached their ships
and scattered to look for food, Aegospotami being too small to have a market.
However, the Spartan commander Lysander had sent a couple ships as scouts, to
shadow the Athenians and report back. Upon hearing that the ships were unguarded, Lysander quickly brought his troops across and
burned nearly all of Conon's 170 ships, only 9 escaping in time, the flagship Paralus
returning to Athens and the others fleeing to Cyprus.
This fleet was nearly the entirety of Athens' naval power, which was in turn the basis of her empire, so when Lysander sailed up to the Athenian port Piraeus and blockaded it, no allies appeared to help, and after holding out for a few months, Athens surrendered.
Its walls were torn down, Sparta imposed a new government, and the Peloponnesian War was over.
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