In the battle, a substantially superior force composed of the Spartan garrison of Athens and the army of the oligarchic government attacked a hill in Piraeus (the Munychia) which had been seized by 1,000 exiles under Thrasybulus, but was defeated.

He and his men resisted an abortive attempt to dislodge them and then, as their numbers were swelled by new recruits, ambushed the Spartan garrison of Athens, which had been dispatched to watch them.

[1] The Athenian exiles drew up for battle in a formation ten ranks deep at the top of the Munychia, with light troops and spear throwers behind them.

Below, in one of the markets of Piraeus, the joint Spartan-oligarchic force drew up in a formation of equal width, but fifty ranks deep.

This charge broke the oligarchic line, and the exiles pursued their enemies down the hill onto the level ground.