Lysander of Sparta

Soldier and statesman

Born: Late fifth century b. c.e.; Sparta Died: 395 b. c.e.; Haliartus, Boeotia Category: Military; government and politics

Life A friend of Agesilaus II of Sparta from the junior royal family, Lysander (li-SAN-dur) of Sparta won the Battle of Notion in 407 b. c.e.

Lysander of Sparta. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lysander of Sparta

With the support of Persian Cyrus the Younger, resulting in Alcibiades’ second exile from Athens. Then he built an international oligarchy, subverted his successor Callicratidas, who was lost and was drowned at the Arginusae in 406 b. c.e., and aimed to conquer the whole Aegean.

In 405 b. c.e., Lysander, supported by Cyrus the Younger’s wealth, destroyed the Athenian navy at Aegospotami in the Hellespont, starved Athens into submission, and installed Spartan commandants (harmosts) and ten-man oligarchies (decarchies) everywhere he could. In spring, 404 b. c.e., Lysander as harmost established the Thirty Tyrants and ruled Athens until king Pausanias of the senior royal family recalled him in 403 b. c.e., restored Athenian democracy, and changed Lysander’s hated governance elsewhere.

In 401 b. c.e., Lysander supported Cyrus the Younger’s revolt against Artaxerxes II until Cyrus was killed at Cynaxa. He then made Agesilaus king, to lead another war against Artaxerxes II in 396 b. c.e. Agesilaus despatched him to the Hellespont to counsel another Persian revolt and then back to Sparta to attack Persia’s ally Thebes. He was killed in 395 b. c.e. trying to coordinate with Pausanias, who was exiled for bad faith and bad timing.

Influence Lysander won the Peloponnesian War (431-404 b. c.e.) and tried to build an elective Spartan monarchy and a maritime empire governed by his friends.

Further Reading

Cartledge, Paul. Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History, 1300-362 B. C.

2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Forrest, W. G. A History of Sparta. London: Bristol Classics, 1995. Hanson, Victor Davis. A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War. New York: Random House, 2005. Kagan, Donald. The Peloponnesian War. New York: Viking, 2003.

Rood, Tim. Thucydides. New York: Clarendon Press, 1998.

O. Kimball Armayor

See also: Aegospotami, Battle of; Agesilaus II of Sparta; Alcibiades of Athens; Pausanias of Sparta; Peloponnesian Wars; Thirty Tyrants.