The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

102 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
Dercylidas arrived at Abydos, perhaps in early May, and quickly
brought the rebellion not only to that city but also to Lampsacus two
days later (see Map 5). The Athenians reacted as might have been
expected, sending Strombichides to the Hellespont with twenty-four
ships, some of them transports carrying hoplites. He was able to recover
Lampsacus but not Abydos. The best he could do was to sail
over to Sestus on the European side and establish it as "a fortress and
a look-out post for the whole Hellespont. "'" But the Spartans had
obtained a foothold on that vital waterway.
Word of Dercylidas' achievement reached Astyochus and the other
Spartans at Miletus about the same time that some very good news
from Chios arrived. While the Spartans had been at Rhodes, still not
daring to sail north to Chios at the risk of a naval battle with the
Athenians at Chalce and before the movement of the Athenian fleet
from there led them to go to sea, they had made one small effort to
help the Chians in another way. They had sent the Spartan officer
Leon, who had come to Ionia with Antisthenes' squadron, on a single
ship to Miletus. There he collected eleven others that had been left
behind to guard the port and sailed for Chios to replace Pedaritus as
commander of the island. This was possible only because the main
Athenian fleet was not at Samos but still at Chalce. At Chios Leon
joined twenty-four Chian triremes. Against this squadron of thirtysix
triremes, the Athenians had thirty-two ships; some of them, however,
were troop transports and not very effective in a battle of triremes.
134 Leon's contingent included some of the most zealous fighters
on the Peloponnesian side: five ships from Thurii, four from Syracuse,
and one from Anaea, where the oligarchic exiles from Samos were
settled. ' 35 Perhaps, although Thucydides does not mention them, the
extraordinary leaders Dorieus of Thurii and Hermocrates of Syracuse
were among their cities' contingents. However that may be, Lean's
force gave a good account of itself. In a tough battle, the Peloponnesian
ships got the better of the fighting but could not win a decisive victory
before darkness came. The men were compelled to withdraw into the
city, and the blockade continued. ' 16 But the Chians and their allies
had won the upper hand at sea. ' 17
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u~8.6I.2-3. Troopships: 8.zs.1, 30.2, 62.2.
IHHCT V, 150.
ll68.6I.J.
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