Battle of Sphacteria

[1] Athens, meanwhile, with increased prestige and confidence, went on to pursue the war with more vigor and initiative for several years, returning to the negotiating table only after a string of defeats had eroded its position.

[2] These negotiations, however, proved fruitless, and with the news of their failure the armistice came to an end; the Athenians, however, refused to return the Peloponnesian ships, alleging that assaults had been made against their fortifications during the truce.

Some of these men reached the island by approaching from the seaward side at night during rough weather; others swam underwater towing bags of food.

[6] Noting this turn of popular opinion, Cleon, who had been the principal advocate of rejecting the peace offer, claimed that the reports brought back from the scene must be inaccurate.

[7] Cleon was probably aware that an attack was already being planned at Pylos, as he was likely to have been in communication with Demosthenes,[8] but once he realized that Nicias's offer was more than a rhetorical ploy he attempted to back down from his challenge.

Naming Demosthenes as his partner in command, he set out from Athens with a force composed of Athenian sailors and ships carrying allied peltasts and archers.

At dawn, the remainder of the Athenian force streamed ashore; these included some 2,000 light troops (psiloi) and archers (toxotai) and some 8,000 rowers from the fleet, armed with whatever weapons could be found.

At this point, the commander of the Messenian detachment in the Athenian force, Comon, approached Demosthenes and asked that he be given troops with which to move through the seemingly impassable terrain along the island's shore.

At Pylos, a Messenian garrison was installed, and these men, launching raids into country that had once been their home, did significant damage to the Spartans and instigated the desertion of numerous Helots.

The next few years would see a newly aggressive Athens, and it would take a string of Athenian reverses to diffuse the impetus that the surrenders had given and bring the two sides to the table to negotiate the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC.

Thucydides says it was only with victory at the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC that Sparta “did away with all the reproaches that had been levelled against them by the Hellenes, whether for cowardice, because of the disaster on the island, or for incompetence and lack of resolution on other occasions.”[15]