The Megara Campaign was a series of battles and sieges fought around the Greek city of Megara in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War. The city changed hands several times as the armies of Athens and Sparta alternated in the roles of defender and attacker, with the mercenary Kassandra fighting for both sides.
Background[]
The city-state of Megaris, centered around the city of Megara, controlled the narrow spit of land which separated Athens-dominated Attica in the north and the Sparta-dominated Peloponnese in the south. The Siege of Megaris in early 431 BC saw the Spartan army of Nikolaos of Sparta conquer the city with the help of the mercenary Kassandra, but he abandoned his post soon after, and the city was recaptured by the Athenians under unclear circumstances.
When Kassandra returned to Megaris to hunt down the Cult of Kosmos member Sotera later that year, she found that the city had fallen under the rule of the Athenian puppet Priskos the Reformed. She chanced upon him on the road from Megara to Nisaia and killed him, and she also killed several Athenian soldiers at Nisaia. This weakened the government enough that a Spartan army from Corinth invaded Megaris and laid siege to the city. Kassandra decided to join the besiegers during the siege, and she slew 29 soldiers and 4 captains, as well as killing the Athenian mercenary general Pigres the Childish. The Megarians switched their allegiance to the Spartans as a result of the Spartan victory, and the city was garrisoned by the Spartans. Tisandros, Bringer of Crows was installed as the Spartan puppet ruler, but, not long after, Kassandra cleared the Eirena Military Camp of Spartan soldiers and assassinated Tisandros before fleeing to Corinth. The Athenians took advantage of the lack of Spartan leadership and installed Peneleos the Meticulous as their puppet leader, restoring Athenian control to Megara. However, Kassandra returned, infiltrated the palace, and assassinated Peneleos, again throwing the city-state into anarchy.
Kassandra would return quite some time later after she returned from head-hunting several Cult of Kosmos leaders in the Aegean Sea, and he was recruited by the Athenian strategos Menekrates the Smart to repel a Spartan attack under captain Xenophanes the Brute, among others. The Spartans lost 32 soldiers and 6 captains in the failed attack, and the Athenians were victorious. However, she killed the new leader Zeuxis the Drunken Bard not long after, again throwing the city into anarchy.