Thrasyllus (/θrəˈsɪləs/; Ancient Greek: Θράσυλλος; died 406 BC) was an Athenian strategos (general) and statesman who rose to prominence in the later years of the Peloponnesian War.
[7] The newly united Athenian army did, however, succeed in retaking Chalcedon, Byzantium, and other cities in the Hellespont in the summer of 408 BC; Thrasyllus commanded detachments in several operations during this period.
[8] Thrasyllus did not hold a generalship in 407-6 BC,[9] but was swept back into office in the following year, when Alcibiades and his political associates fell from power after the Athenian defeat at Notium.
He experienced some initial success in raiding enemy-held territory, but the tremendous financial support that the Spartans were receiving from the Persian prince Cyrus enabled them to expand their fleet until the Athenians were heavily outnumbered.
To rebuild their fleet, the Athenians were forced to melt down golden religious statues from the acropolis, and the 110 ships the city possessed after this construction were crewed by a mix of less-experienced rowers, farmers, wealthy cavalrymen, and emancipated slaves.
[14] Shortly after the main force had departed, however, a severe storm blew up, and the detachment assigned to rescue duty was unable to carry out its responsibility.
The public was furious that the dead from the battle had not been recovered for burial (in the religious atmosphere of ancient Greece, this failing may have been almost as serious as abandoning the survivors in the eyes of the Athenian populace);[16] the generals suspected that Thrasybulus and Theramenes, who had already returned to Athens, might have been responsible for stirring up the assembly against them, and so Thrasyllus and his colleagues wrote letters to the people denouncing the two trierarchs as responsible for the failed rescue.
Their defense initially met with a sympathetic response, but the festival of the Apaturia, on which families were supposed to meet for celebrations, provided an opportunity for their political enemies to remind the populace of the loss it had suffered.