SOME FAMOUS SPARTANS

BRASIDAS, son of Tellis and Argileonis

" . . . the Athenian fleet of 100 ships which was sailing around the Peloponnesus . . . reinforced by 50 ships from Corcyra . . . landed in Spartan territory at Methone. Brasidas the son of Tellis, a Spartan officer, happened to be in this district with a special detachment of men. when he realized what was happening, he came to the support of the defenders of the place with 100 hoplites. Finding the Athenian army dispersed over the country and with its attention occupied on the fortifications, he charged right through it and forced his way into Methone, losing a few of his men in the action, but saving the city. Because of this exploit, he was the first personin the war to receive official congratulations at Sparta." (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War II. 25)

PYLOS: ". . . It was Brasidas who distinguished himself more than anyone else. He was in command of a trireme, and when he saw that, because of the difficult nature of the terrain, the captains and steersmen, even at points where it did not seem possible to land, were hanging back for fear of damaging their ships, he shouted out to them, asking them what was the point in sparing the ships' timbers and meanwhile tolerating the existence of the enemy's fortress in their own country . . . As he was trying to land, the Athenians fell upon him, and, after receiving many wounds, he fainted and fell down into the bow of the ship. His shield slipped from his arm into the sea, and later, when it was thrown up on the shore, was picked up by the Athenians and used for the trophy which they erected for their success in this attack . . . " (Thucydides IV. 11).

[Spring] Brasidas went went to the assistance of Corinth and Sicyon, and got involved in the Thracian campaign. On the way north he helped save Megara from Athenian pressure. A short campaign against the chief of the Lyncestians, Arrhibaios. Potidaea and Torone.

Armistice between Sparta and Athens. Even so, Brasidas supported the revolts of Scione and Mende against Athens.

[October, second half] Battle of Amphipolis. Brasidas was killed, along with the Athenian commander Cleon. He was honored at Amphipolis as a "hero-founder" with a cult. At home in Sparta a cenotaph memorial was erected for him. Descendants of his still existed in the time of the Emperor Augustus.

GYLIPPOS, son of Kleandridas

Gylippos, son of Kleandridas, is called a mothax in Aelian's Varia Historica (XII. 43) [cf. Thucydides VI. 93 and Plutarch Pericles 22.]

Gylippos was sent by Sparta (414) to assist the Syracusans in Sicily during the Athenian Expedition against Syracuse. He organized the resistance, and countered the Athenian siege operations. (Thucydides, Book VII).

"After this [the capture of Athens and destruction of the Long Walls], Lysander sailed to to Thrace, and what remained of the public money, and the gifts and crowns which he himself and received (numbers of people, as might be expected, being anxious to make presents to a man of such great power, who was, in a manner, the Lord of Greece) he sent to Lacedaemon by Gylippos, who had commanded formerly in Sicily. But he, it is reported, unsewed the sacks at the bottom, took a considerable amount of silver out of every one of them, and sewed them up again, not knowing there was a writing in every one of them, how much there was. And coming into Sparta, what he had thus stolen away he hid under the tiles of his house, and delivered up the sacks to the magistrates, and showed them the seals which were upon the sacks. But afterwards, upon their opening the sacks and counting it, the quantity of the silver differed from what the writing expressed; and the matter causing some perplexity to the magistrates, Gylippos' slave told them in a riddle, that under the tiles lay many owls; for, as it seems, the greatest part of the money then current bore the Athenian stamp of the owl. Gylippos having committed so foul and base a deed, after such great and distinguished exploits before, removed himself from Lacedaemon. But the wisest of the Spartans, very much on account of this occurrence, dreading the influence of money, as being what had corrupted the greatest citizens, exclaimed against Lysander's conduct, and declared to the Ephors that all the silver and gold should be sent away, as mere 'alien mischiefs'. The Ephors consulted about it. And Theopompos says it was Sciraphidas but Ephoros that it was Phlogidas, who declared they ought not to receive any gold or silver into the city, but to use their own country coin, which was iron, and was first of all dipped in vinegar when it was red-hot, that it might not be worked up anew . . . ." (Plutarch Lysander 19-20)

PAUSANIAS, son of Pleistoanax, King of Sparta

King of Sparta from 408/7, Pausanias was the son of Pleistoanax, the son of the Regent Pausanias, and thus a member of the Argiad Royal House. Pleistoanax was in disgrace at Sparta from 445-426, and thus Pausanias, though a minor, 'deputized' for him. King Pleistoanax died in 409/8.

Pausanias served in command of the Spartan force in Attica, replacing Lysander. He reversed the policy of Lysander, removed the Thirty Tyrants from power, and brought the democracy, led by Thrasyboulos, back to power in Athens.

The Theban Campaign (Xenophon Hellenica II. 5) Pausanias was sent to cooperate with Lysander in the invasion of Boeotia. He failed to join forces with Lysander. A truce was reached, which was favorable to Thebes, and when Pausanias reached Sparta he was indicted on a capital charge. He was charged with (1) having failed to arrive in time to meet Lysander at Haliartus, although he had agreed to be there on the same day; (2) taking back the bodies of the dead under truce, rather than trying to recover them in battle; and (3) having allowed the Athenian democrats to return to power. He fled from Sparta.

King Pausanias was exiled from Sparta, and took up residence at Tegea. He spent his time writing a work on the constitution of Lycurgus (Felix Jacoby Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 582). He died in exile at Tegea.