Brasidas (474 BC-October 422 BC) was a distinguished Spartan officer who served during the early years of the Peloponnesian War. He was Sparta's main war leader until his death at the Battle of Amphipolis in 422 BC.
Biography[]
Brasidas in 429 BC.
Brasidas was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and he took part in the relief of Methone from Athens in 431 BC. That same year, he was sent to Corinth to help Kassandra of Sparta take down The Monger, the Cult of Kosmos boss in the city, and he helped her burn The Monger's warehouse at the Lechaion. In 430 BC, he served as an Ephor (an elected leader of Sparta), and he went on to distinguish himself at the Battle of Pylos, where he was gravely wounded. The next year, he foiled an Athenian attack on Megara and led 700 helots and 1,000 mercenaries to join the Macedonian king Perdiccas II of Macedon, winning over the cities of Acanthus, Stagirus, Amphipolis, and Toroni. He soon fell out with Perdiccas, whom he felt was taking advantage of Spartan aid to further his own goals, and the two of them quarreled. In October 422 BC, he led his army into battle with the Athenian leader Cleon in the Battle of Amphipolis, where he was impaled on his own spear by Alexios. Kassandra, Alexios' estranged sister, later avenged Brasidas' death by convincing Alexios to defect and by killing Cleon herself.
