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A second command and Athens' surrender
In 405 BCE Aracus held the formal naval office while Lysander served as his deputy and exercised effective command. The arrangement demonstrates how institutions could be accommodated when military circumstances favored a particular individual. Lysander concentrated on the Hellespont, where control of shipping threatened Athens' access to grain. At Aegospotami he captured most of the Athenian fleet, though the surviving narratives differ over the exact sequence of the decisive attack.
The victory allowed Sparta to isolate Athens by sea while land forces added pressure. Athens surrendered in 404 after shortages became severe. The settlement required the destruction of its Long Walls and fortifications at Piraeus, the surrender of most warships, and alignment with Spartan policy. Lysander's presence during the transition made him a central figure in the end of the Athenian empire. Yet the decisions surrounding surrender also involved Spartan authorities and other allies.[2][1]
Networks of domination
Lysander cultivated groups of supporters in allied and formerly Athenian cities. Oligarchic boards, often described as decarchies because they contained ten men, and Spartan commanders known as harmosts helped sustain the new order. These arrangements could serve his personal influence as well as Spartan interests. The language of freeing Greeks from Athens sat uneasily beside garrisons, narrow ruling groups, and the coercion needed to keep opponents out of power.
At Athens the Thirty became associated with executions, confiscations, and exile. Lysander supported their position, but Spartan policy was not uniform. In 403 the king Pausanias pursued a settlement that helped restore democracy and limited Lysander's intervention. This Pausanias was a later king, not the regent who had fought at Plataea. Their disagreement makes clear that Spartan expansion was shaped by rival leaders and institutions rather than a single consistent imperial program.[2][1]
Royal ambitions and death
Lysander supported Agesilaus II in a disputed succession around 400 BCE, but the new king resisted becoming dependent on him. During the Asian expedition of 396, their relationship deteriorated as Agesilaus asserted his own authority. Plutarch also preserves a story that Lysander sought to change the rules of kingship and open the office more widely. Its details are difficult to verify, and it should remain a reported political project rather than a fully documented conspiracy.
In 395 BCE Lysander was killed during operations at Haliartus in Boeotia, near the beginning of the Corinthian War. His death ended a career that had made individual patronage unusually visible within Sparta's collective institutions. Later accounts used him to examine ambition, deception, money, and the moral costs of victory. Historically, his importance lies in the connections among Persian finance, naval labor, local oligarchies, and Spartan power. Athens' conqueror was the organizer of a wide and unstable political network.[1][2]
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References & further reading
- Ancient textPlutarch, Life of Lysander ↗
Bernadotte Perrin translation, public domain. A later moral biography preserving traditions about naval command, patronage, and Spartan power.
- Ancient textXenophon, Hellenica ↗
H. G. Dakyns translation, public domain. Covers the later Peloponnesian War and Greek affairs down to 362 BCE.
- Modern scholarshipEncyclopaedia Iranica: Lysander ↗
Scholarly account emphasizing Lysander's dealings with Persian authorities and his military and political career.