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

2. Cyrus, Lysander, and
the Fall of Alcibiades
The great procession to Eleusis took place in September, but Alcibiades
had been in Athens since June without undertaking any serious
military action. The delay was understandable; his ships needed attention
and repair, and even more, their crews needed rest and recreation
after years at sea. Alcibiades himself needed time to restore
his political base before mqving on, but the time had come to fulfill
the high hopes the Athenians had for him. Not long after the triumphant
return from Eleusis, the assembly had voted to place a force of
I ,500 hoplites, I 50 cavalrymen, and 100 triremes under his command.
He was accompanied by. Aristocrates and Adeimantus, skilled as infantry
commanders, and Conon, an experienced admiral, all designated
in accordance with his wishes.' In October, some four months after
his arrival in Athens, Alcibiades sailed out of the Piraeus at the head
of his powerful force.' The target of the expedition was lonia and the
goals obvious. The Spartans had been effectively driven from the
straits, but imponant pans of the Anatolian coast and some significant
islands in the Aegean remained under their control. Major cities such
'Xen. 1.4.21. Diodorus (IJ.~-J) says the Athenians chose the generals Alcibiades
wanted, naming Adeimantus and Thrasybulus. Plutarch (Ale. 35-•) tells us merely that
they chose the generals he wanted. Since Conon seems to have been with Alcibiades
at Andros, the first stop on his campaign, and stayed behind for the siege (Xen. 1.5.18;
Hatzfeld, Alcibiade, 306), he may have been one of those designated by Alcibiades as
well.
2 Xenophon (1 ·4· 2 1) tells us that Alcibiades sailed in the fourth month after his arrival
at Athens. The expedition is genera11y placed in October. See, e.g., Hatzfeld, Alcibiade,
305; D. Lotze, Lysander und derPeloponnesische Krieg(Berlin, 1965), 19;].-F. Bommelaer,
Lysandre de Sparte (Paris, 1981), 71.
293