The Siege of Athens was a protracted Spartan siege of the city-state of Athens from 431 to 430 BC during the Peloponnesian War. The Spartan army camped outside of the city walls, but it was never able to cut off the city by sea, and its army was forced to withdraw during a devastating plague outbreak in the city.
Background[]
Following the Theban-led Boeotian League's unsuccessful preemptive attack on the pro-Athenian Boeotian city of Plataea in 431 BC, the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League and the Athenian-led Delian League prepared for war. Sparta was backed by all of the Peloponnesians within the Isthmus except for Argos and Achaea, Megaris, Locris, Boeotia, Phocis, Ambracia, Leucadia, and Anactoria. The Spartan navy was furnished by Corinth, Megaris, Sicyon, Pellene, Elis, Ambracia, and Leucadia. Meanwhile, Athens was backed by Chios, Lesbos, Plataea, the Messenians in Naupactus, most of the Acarnanians, the Corcyraeans, Zacynthians, Caria, Ionia, the Hellespont, the Thracian towns, the islands lying between the Peloponnese and Crete towards the east, and all the Cyclades except Melos and Thera. Chios, Lesbos, and Corcyra furnished Athens' ships, while the other poleis provided infantry and money.
Immediately after the affair at Plataea, Sparta sent round orders to the cities in Peloponnese and the rest of her confederacy to prepare troops and the provisions requisite for a foreign campaign, in order to invade Attica. The several states were ready at the time appointed and assembled at the Isthmus, the contingent of each city being two-thirds of its whole force. After the whole army had mustered, the Spartan king Archidamus II, the leader of the expedition, called together the generals of all the states to address them, after which he sent Melesippus to Athens to demand its surrender. The Athenians refused to let him enter, as PEricles had already carried a motion against admitting either herald or embassy from the Lacedaemonians after they had once marched out. The herald was ordered to be beyond the frontier that same day, and Pericles commanded that no emissaries would be admitted unless the other states' armies withdrew from Athenian territory.
Following the Siege of Megaris, the Spartans marched north and ravaged the countryside of Attica weekly, and they set up camps to the northwest of Greater Athens, beginning a siege of the city. The Athenian leader Pericles decided on a strategy of refusing battle against the Spartans, instead conserving manpower by having his army protect the city. Meanwhile, the city relied on its powerful navy to ensure that supplies from the Black Sea and trade goods from across the Greek world continued to arrive in the city, which was itself barely affected by the Spartan siege outside of the city walls. However, the populist demagogue and general Cleon stirred up the crowds in Athens and demanded that Pericles take action against the Spartan invaders, and he decided to take matters into his own hands by hiring the mercenary Kassandra to burn the Spartan army's supplies, kill their Polemarch, and decrease their hold on Attica. The general Demosthenes also hired Kassandra to hamstring the Spartans as they mobilized for the siege, asking her to attack their forts and remove the commanders in charge, despite opposition from other Athenian generals.
Siege[]
Attacks on the Spartan camps[]
A Spartan tent burning
Kassandra decided to infiltrate the Acharnai Military Camp at night to destroy the supplies. Using stealth, she succeeded in silently killing several Spartan soldiers and using torches to burn down supply tents, causing panic among the Spartans. She also lured the Spartan strategos Xouthos towards the Athenian city walls, where he and a party of his soldiers came under arrow fire from Kassandra and Athenian archers. Kassandra killed Xouthos with an arrow to the face, and she returned to the camp to continue burning down the supply tents. She then killed the Spartan polemarch and camp commander Hiketaon, dealing another blow to the Spartans. After finishing off the Acharnai camp, she proceeded towards Odomantian's Spartan Camp, where she killed the commander and burned down the tent. She brought proof of his death back to Cleon, who told her that the Spartans had captured his messenger Heremos, who was en route to Mytilene to help the locals revolt against their oppressors. He then told her that he could be found with the other prisoners at the quarry, and he sent Kassandra to rescue him.
Battle for Mt. Pentelikos[]
The battle at Mt. Pentelikos
Weeks later, after returning from Argolis, Kassandra headed to the Mt. Pentelikos Marble Quarry to rescue Heremos from Spartan captivity. She weakened the base's defenses by killing dozens of Spartan soldiers and their commanders (including their captains Trypho the Strict and Tiro the Warrior), as well as the mercenaries Halkyone the Hairless Beast, Pleistos, Son of Sirens, Hektor the Iron Stomach, Alektryon the Rooster, Trechos the Profane, and Xander the Poison King. During the battle, Athenian soldiers also attacked the Spartan base, and Kassandra had to slay several Athenians when they attempted to kill her as well, believing her to be an outlaw. She later found that the Spartans had hanged Heremos, but she rescued his fellow agent Onomakles and helped him on his quest to Mytilene, defeating the Spartans at the Battle of Dicastica in the process.