Editing Peloponnesian War (section)

==Athenian defeat==
[[File:Lysander outside the walls of Athens 19th century lithograph.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Lysander outside the [[Long Walls|walls of Athens]]; 1899 lithograph]]

The faction hostile to Alcibiades triumphed in Athens following a minor Spartan victory by their skillful general [[Lysander]] at the naval [[battle of Notium]] in 406 BC. Alcibiades was not re-elected general by the Athenians and he exiled himself from the city. He would never again lead Athenians in battle. Athens won the naval [[battle of Arginusae]]. The Spartan fleet under [[Callicratidas]] lost 70 ships and the Athenians lost 25 ships. But, due to bad weather, the Athenians were unable to rescue their stranded crews or finish off the Spartan fleet. Despite their victory, these failures caused outrage in Athens and led to a [[Battle of Arginusae#Trial of the generals|controversial trial]]. The trial resulted in the execution of six of Athens's top naval commanders. Athens's naval supremacy would now be challenged without several of its most able military leaders and a demoralized navy.

[[File:La mort d'Alcibiade Philippe Chéry 1791.jpg|thumb|In 404 BC, the Athenian General [[Alcibiades]] was assassinated by Persian soldiers, who may have been following the orders of Satrap [[Pharnabazus II]], at the instigation of Lysander.<ref name="Isocrates 16.40">Isocrates, ''Concerning the Team of Horses'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0144&layout=&loc=16.40 16.40]</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=H. T. |last=Peck |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aid%3Dalcibiades |title=Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=W. |last=Smith |title=New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography |page=39}}</ref><ref name="Alcibiades39">Plutarch, ''Alcibiades'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182&query=chapter%3D%2339&layout=&loc=Alc.%2038.1 39].</ref> ''La mort d'[[Alcibiades|Alcibiade]]''. [[Philippe Chéry]], 1791]]

Unlike some of his predecessors, the new Spartan general, Lysander, was not a member of the Spartan royal families and was also formidable in naval strategy; he was an artful diplomat, who had even cultivated good personal relationships with the Achaemenid prince [[Cyrus the Younger]], son of Emperor [[Darius II]]. Seizing its opportunity, the Spartan fleet sailed at once to the [[Dardanelles]], the source of Athens's [[cereal|grain]]. Threatened with starvation, the Athenian fleet had no choice but to follow. Through cunning strategy, Lysander totally defeated the Athenian fleet, in 405 BC, at the [[Battle of Aegospotami]], destroying 168 ships. Only 12 Athenian ships escaped, and several of these sailed to [[Cyprus]], carrying the ''[[strategos]]'' (general) [[Conon]], who was anxious not to face the judgment of the [[Ecclesia (ancient Athens)|Assembly]].

Facing starvation and disease from the prolonged [[Siegecraft in Ancient Greece|siege]], Athens surrendered on 25&nbsp;April 404&nbsp;BC,<ref name=Britannica1929/> and its allies soon surrendered as well. The democrats at [[Samos]], loyal to the bitter last, held on slightly longer, and were allowed to flee with their lives. The surrender stripped Athens of its walls, its fleet, and all of its overseas possessions. Corinth and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved. However, the Spartans announced their refusal to destroy a city that had done a good service at a time of greatest danger to Greece, and took Athens into their own system. Athens was "to have the same friends and enemies" as Sparta.<ref>Xenophon, ''Hellenica'', 2.2.20,404/3</ref>