Lysander: The Cunning Spartan Who Shaped an Era

Lysander, the brilliant and ambitious Spartan general, was a force who redefined the course of Greek history. As the mastermind behind Sparta's decisive victory in the Peloponnesian War, he shattered Athenian dominance and paved the way for a new era of Spartan hegemony. Known for his craftiness as much as his battlefield prowess, Lysander wasn't just a military genius—he was a shrewd politician who reshaped the Greek political landscape with his network of oligarchic allies. Yet, his relentless pursuit of power also sparked controversy and conflict, leaving a legacy as complex and turbulent as the man himself.

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Young Lysander

Not much is known about Lysander’s early life, but some information can be gleaned from ancient sources. It’s been estimated that he was born around 454 BC. His mother has never been confirmed, but some ancient sources claim she was either a helot (a subjugated population in Sparta) or a slave. His father, on the other hand, is known.

Lysander’s father was Aristocritus, a member of Sparta’s Heraclid clan. This means that his family claimed to be descendants of the legendary Heracles but held no royal titles. Despite his grand-sounding lineage, Plutarch wrote that Lysander grew up in poverty and needed financial help to complete his education and military training. Plutarch also said the young Lysander was obedient, conformed to societal rules, and was "manly." In other words, perfect soldier material.

In Spartan culture, it was normal for young men to be given the role of “inspirer" ( eispnelas) or "lover" ( erastes) to a prominent adolescent. Lysander was assigned to a young king, Agesilaus, the son of the mighty Archidamus II. Besides this role, nothing is known about Lysander’s early career until he was elected to the office of admiral in 408 BC, tasked with leading the never-ending Peloponnesian War with Athens.

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An Admiral During the Peloponnesian War 

Upon being elected Lysander wasted little time in taking the fight to his enemies. He left Gythium on the eastern side of the Peloponnese with 30 triremes (the Greeks’ go-to battleship of the time) and headed to Rhodes. Upon arriving there, he collected more ships and set out for Cos, Miletus, and Chios.

At each stop, he gathered ships in preparation for his arrival at Ephesus. With his ships in tow, he turned Ephesus into his navy’s base in Ionia. He was followed shortly afterward by Cyrus, the son of the Persian king Darius. Darius had made his son governor of Asia Minor after the Spartans had requested aid from Persia in their war against Athens.

Location of Ephesus and the Battle of Notium (Uwe Dedering/CC BY-SA 3.0 )

It was vital to Lysander that he get on Cyrus’s good side. Upon hearing of Cyrus’s arrival, Lysander visited him at his headquarters in Sardis. By showing the prince deference and respect, Lysander soon won his friendship. It was a friendship that would help Sparta (and Lysander’s political career) to no end in the coming battles.

For a start, Cyrus happily began throwing vast sums of money at the Spartan war effort. This meant Lysander could increase his crew’s pay from three to four obols, which had a massive effect on morale and made Lysander extremely popular among his men.

After palling up with Cyrus, Lysander returned to Ephesus, where he arranged a conference where the oligarchs of the Aegean’s Greek cities met. He promised them that if they organized themselves into political clubs called hetairai and promised to back Sparta, he would put them in charge of their cities when Athens was finally defeated. This made Lysander many powerful personal allies while also helping Sparta’s larger war effort.

Next, Lysander used his shiny new war chest to get his ships ready for war. While this process was underway, an Athenian fleet led by Alcibiades, a revered Athenian military leader, set anchor at the nearby port of Notium. Both fleets seemed equally matched, but Lysander was reluctant to be drawn into a battle he might not win.

Instead, Lysander stayed where he was. He hoped that the Athenian crews would hear of the higher pay he was offering and begin to desert. He was confident that he could win the waiting game.

Unfortunately for him, the Athenians weren’t as patient. An Athenian officer, who had been told not to attack first, decided to attack a party of Peloponnesian ships who had sailed a little too close to his ships for comfort. 

Lysander responded by sending his entire fleet in to attack. They easily drove off the lone officer and his ships. Alcibiades had been absent but, upon returning, offered to battle Lysander’s fleet just off Ephesus. Lysander refused again, happy to go back to his waiting game. The Athenians responded by withdrawing. Lysander had won one of the war’s dullest victories.

Time was up for Lysander, however. The office of navarch was an annual one and following his victory he was replaced by Callicratidas. Not wanting to be shown up, Lysander’s last act was to return all the funds Cyrus had donated to him. This made it awfully difficult for the new navarch to get much done. 

Lysander as Vice-Admiral

The result was that Callicratidas didn’t last very long. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Arginusae, leaving the Spartan navy leaderless. This is where Lysander’s earlier political maneuvering came in handy. The oligarchic clubs that he had set up all approached Sparta and requested that Lysander be put back in charge.

Highlighted map from 1890s indicating the Arginusae islands (now Garip Islands and Kalem Island). Original map by Heinrich Kiepert (1818–1899) (Heinrich Kiepert/CC0)

The only fly in the ointment was that under Spartan rule, an admiral could only hold office once. Not wishing to lose support, the Spartan government arranged for a compromise. They made Lysander vice-admiral under the new admiral, Aracus. However, behind closed doors, it was agreed that Lysander was the real leader and Aracus was to do as he was told. 

Lysander set up shop at Ephesus once again and soon got to work. He began rebuilding what was left of the Peloponnesian fleet in the Aegean, helped by his Oligarch allies and his old friend Cyrus. 

While his fleet was being restored, Lysander sailed to the city of Miletus, one of Sparta’s old allies. Upon arriving, he slaughtered its leading Democrats during the festival of Dionysus in 405 BC and put those loyal to him in charge. In doing so, he turned Miletus’ democracy into a more controllable oligarchy. 

That summer, things only got better for Lysander. Cyrus was summoned back home to visit his father on his deathbed. Not only was Cyrus about to become even more powerful, but before leaving, he entrusted Lysander with his treasury as well as the income stream Cyrus had coming in from the region’s Persian-ruled cities.

Lysander used these funds to complete his forces and get back to fighting. According to ancient sources, he used 125-150 of his best ships and sailed to Cedreae, an ally of Athens. The city had no hopes of winning against the Spartans, and Lysander had its entire population either massacred or enslaved.

He then sailed to the Hellespont, where he threatened vital grain transports headed for Athens from the Black Sea. The Athenians had no choice but to send their entire fleet, 180 ships, to reopen the trade route.

Lysander used this as an opportunity to sail to Lampsacus, an important Greek city on the eastern side of the Hellespont, which he then plundered. The Athenians laid anchor at Aegospotami on the opposite shore and prepared for battle. 

The battle didn’t come. Lysander yet again refused to be tempted into a fight he might not win and chose to wait around for several days, studying his enemies. This turned out to be the right choice. The Athenians grew careless and left nearly all their ships ashore, unmanned, and unguarded. 

Lysander swept in and captured nearly every Athenian ship. It was over. The Athenians had lost their entire navy in one fell swoop. Now came Lysander’s victory tour.

Lysander outside the walls of Athens, ordering their destruction. 19th century lithograph. (Public Domain)

With no one to oppose him, Lysander sailed the Aegean, accepting the surrender of enemy strongholds as he went. He could have massacred each Athenian garrison and colony he captured. Instead, he did something much worse: he sent them home to Athens.

The great Greek city rapidly became overcrowded, and famine set in. It wouldn’t take long for the city to surrender. 

On the anniversary of the Battle of Salamis, Lysander sailed into the port at Piraeus, ordered the razing of Athens's city walls and the burning of its fleet, and replaced the Athenian assembly with a governing board of thirty oligarchs.

In each Greek city he visited, Lysander set up a new ten-man government called a decarchy. The members of these ruling boards were chosen from the oligarchic clubs he had set up years ago. Of course, each decarchy was overseen by a Spartan military governor called a harmost. 

Bringing Home the Bacon

After drawing his victory tour to a close at Samos, Lysander returned home to Sparta. During this time, the former Athenian leader, Alcibiades, turned up in Phrygia, in northwestern Asia Minor. He had requested refuge from Pharnabazus, the Persian satrap (governor) of the region.

 The assassination of the exiled Athenian general Alcibiades was organized by Pharnabazes, at the request of Lysander.   (Public Domain)

Things didn’t go his way. The Persians weren’t about to upset one of their closest allies. Instead of helping the Athenians, Pharnabazus sent word to Lysander that Phrygia had an annoying guest. The two men arranged for Alcibiades to have an unfortunate accident. 

With the Athenian leader finally dead, the Spartans could revel in the spoils of war. The possession of money had been illegal in Lacedaemonia for centuries, but the Spartans didn’t really have a choice. Their massive navy was incredibly expensive, and they couldn’t keep relying on Persian charity forever. Sparta needed to start using money. Luckily for them, Lysander had brought untold riches home with him.

According to Plutarch, the introduction of money to Sparta was far from a good thing. He claimed it corrupted the common Spartans, who began lusting after it. Likewise, it led to corruption in Sparta’s leadership, with famous generals like Gylippus embezzling vast sums of money meant for Sparta’s forces. 

The Athenians Rebel

The Spartans placed a puppet government in control of Athens, but peace didn’t last long. In 403 BC, the exiled Athenian general Thrasybulus led a small army of fellow exiles and invaded Attica. His plan was to overthrow the puppets and lead a democratic resistance against the Spartans.

He did surprisingly well. The Spartans were caught off guard, and he managed to defeat the Spartan garrison at Attica. At the Battle of Munychia, he then beat back the forces led by the oligarchic government of Athens.

The Battle of Piraeus followed during which the Athenian exiles faced off against Sparta itself. With their overwhelming numbers, the Spartans defeated the exiles, but it had not been easy.  

Lysander argued that the exiles should be put down for good, but the king of Sparta disagreed. Instead, he opted for a peaceful approach and arranged a settlement where Athens would be allowed to reestablish its democratic government. It was a slap in the face for a general who had worked so hard to gather as much influence as possible.

Beginning of the End

The Athenian rebellion had been a rare black mark on Lysander’s career, but it was not over yet. He was still highly respected and wielded massive influence in Sparta. He used this to get his lover, Agesilaus II, crowned as the new Spartan king following the death of Agis II. 

Daric of Artaxerxes II (© Marie-Lan Nguyen / CC BY 2.5)

He next convinced his people to support his old friend Cyrus against his older brother, Artaxerxes II, in the fight for the Persian throne. The rebellion failed, and Artaxerxes remained king of Persia. This would later become a bit of a problem.

In 396 BC, Lysander sought to restore the oligarchic juntas he had established following Athens' defeat in 404 BC by arranging for Agesilaus II, the Eurypontid Spartan king, to lead the Greek forces against Persia. The Ionians had called upon Sparta for assistance against the Persian King Artaxerxes II, and Lysander aimed to secure command of the Spartan forces not involved in the campaign. However, Agesilaus, resentful of Lysander's influence, thwarted his plans by assigning him to command troops in the Hellespont, far from Sparta.

By 395 BC, back in Sparta, Lysander played a key role in igniting the Corinthian War, a conflict involving Thebes, Athens, Corinth, Argos, and the Achaemenid Empire. The Spartans, preparing to confront this new alliance, ordered Agesilaus to return to Greece, prompting him to march his troops westward through Thrace.

Death

He did not know it, but Lysander’s days were numbered. The Spartans sent two armies, one led by Lysander and one by Pausanias, to attack the city of Kaliartus in Boeotia. Lysander arrived first and made a rare mistake.

Once again, looking to bolster his own reputation. Lysander met with officials from the city of Orchomenus and convinced them to revolt against the Boeotian League. Overconfident, he then marched for Haliartus with his men.

At the ensuing Battle of Haliartus, Lysander led his troops too close to the city wall and was killed. According to Plutarch, Lysander’s body was buried in Panope on the road between Chaeronea and Delphi.

Soon after Lysander’s death, his old protege turned rival, Agesilaus II, found out about a scheme Lysander had come up with to bolster his power. Supposedly, Lysander had planned to make it so that the Spartan king wouldn’t automatically have control of the army, drastically decreasing the kingship's influence. Whether this was true or an attempt to discredit Lysander is unknown. However, it certainly sounds like something he’d do.

Without the crafty Lysander Sparta’s time in the sun would soon be over. Following the end of the Corinthian Wars, Sparta handed over its empire to the Persians but was allowed to continue dominating Greece. This lasted until the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, during which Thebes crushed the Spartan forces. Thebes then took Messenia, and Sparta was reduced to being a second-rate power.

Lysander's career was marked by both exceptional leadership and cunning ambition, making him one of Sparta's most influential figures. His strategic brilliance led to Sparta's victory in the Peloponnesian War, securing its dominance over Greece. As a statesman, Lysander established oligarchic regimes, demonstrating his craftiness in shaping political power. 

However, his ambition often led to controversial actions, including his role in igniting the Corinthian War. His legacy is a complex one—he strengthened Sparta's hegemony and left a lasting impact on Greek history, but his pursuit of power also sowed discord and instability throughout the region.

Top image: Meeting between Cyrus the Younger and Lysander, by Francesco Antonio Grue (1618-1673). Source: Public Domain

By Robbie Mitchell