The Siege of Megaris occurred in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War when the army of Sparta, commanded by Nikolaos of Sparta and his adopted son Stentor, launched a final push to rid the state of Megaris of Athenian forces. The Spartans overthrew the pro-Athenian ruler Hippias the Vivacious and defeated the Athenians in battle, capturing the city.
Background[]
The Peloponnesian War started in 431 BC as a contest between the two most powerful Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, and their allies. Militaristic Sparta decided to take on the Athenian Empire (the Delian League) and end Athenian dominance in the Hellenic world, causing several city-states to take sides with the opposing powers. Megaris, situated on a narrow isthmus providing the only land route between the Peleponnese in the south and Attica in the north, was of utmost strategic importance in the first year of the war. The city's leader, Hippias the Vivacious, sided with Athens and invited Athenian troops to garrison the city in preparation for a Spartan siege. Surely enough, a Spartan army commanded by Nikolaos of Sparta and his adoptive son Stentor approached Megaris from the south and laid siege to the city. Megaris saw some of the fiercest fighting of the first year of the war, and the Spartans decided to make a final push to rid Megaris of the Athenians.
Siege[]
Siege preparations[]
The base camp at Megaris
The Spartans established two camps in the Occupied Forest of Tripodiskos, with Nikolaos commanding the beach camp and Stentor commanding the forward camp. The Spartans were forced to steal food and supplies from the locals in order to sustain the siege, so the Athenian general Hyrkanos the Cunning took advantage of the supply line problems by raiding Spartan supply convoys. At the same time, the Athenian navy blockaded the port in a desperate move to halt the Spartan advance, preventing the Spartans from receiving reinforcements or supplies from the sea. The emboldened Athenians launched attacks on the Spartan camps in the forest and beach, threatening to overwhelm them.
The wreck of the Athenian blockade
This situation changed when the Spartan mercenary Kassandra, captain of the trireme Adrestia, sunk the three Athenian blockade ships in order to enter the port. Kassandra was secretly on a mission from Elpenor to assassinate Nikolaos (her own father, unbeknownst to Nikolaos), and she asked Stentor if she could speak with the general. However, Stentor asked that she prove herself before she could speak to the general, so Kassandra joined in the effort to conquer Megaris for Sparta. The Spartans sent forward scouts to identify key targets in preparation for the assault, and they sought to weaken the Athenians by slaying their general, stealing their war chest, and destroying their supplies before slaying Hippias.
Supply convoy ambush[]
The Athenian attack on the convoy ambush site
Kassandra met with the Spartan officer Dolios, who was at the scene of a bloody ambush of a Spartan supply convoy. Kassandra found clues as to where the supplies had gone, tracking the stolen supplies to a cave behind the Grave of Tereus; there, she found several refugees, including Neaera, with fresh-cooked food. During the conversation, Neaera revealed that the Spartans had stolen food from the civilians, and that they had taken the supplies from the convoy; however, they said that they had found the convoy already slain, and they believed that Hyrkanos was responsible. Kassandra then told them that they would be spared if they would give back a significant portion of the supplies, as this would allow for Kassandra to lie to Dolios and say that she had killed the thieves and recovered the supplies from them. The starving civilians reluctantly agreed, and Kassandra brought the supplies back to Dolios. Shortly after, the Athenian mercenary Nymphikos the Weak and a group of Athenian soldiers attacked Dolios and Kassandra at the site of the ambush, but Kassandra slew Nymphikos and his men.
Port of Nisaia[]
The port of Nisaia
Kassandra then headed into the city of Megara itself, and she was allowed to roam freely by the Athenian soldiers, who were unaware that she was a Spartan mercenary. She arrived at the port of Nisaia, where she intended to destroy the Athenian supplies, thin out their number of soldiers, and assassinate their local officers. She used her torch to set the Athenian supplies ablaze, and she often hid underwater in the harbor or even under the docks to evade the Athenian soldiers. She assassinated the mercenary Cheimonas of the Sacred Watch when he was sent to hunt her down, and she slew another mercenary, Hiketaon the Lucky Drunk, in battle as well. She also slew the Athenian officers Meleagros and Timotheus, weakening their war effort, and she released some captured Spartans. With the base's strongpoints and officers eliminated, Kassandra weakened the Athenian war effort.
Assassination of Hippias[]
Hippias' death
Kassandra then rode on her horse from Nisaia towards Megara, but, along the way, she spotted Hippias the Vivacious reclining in a blue tent, protected by several well-equipped guards. She hid in a bush across the road from the tent, and she watched Alexandra the Ravager head from Megara to the port, searching for her. Kassandra used her bow to shoot at some of Hippias' guards, causing the guards and Hippias to form a frantic search party in an attempt to find the bowman. Kassandra continued this strategy until she was able to cross the road and hide in a bush next to the tent. When the guards and Hippias returned, Hippias relaxed at the same original spot, while his guards stood in front of the tent, only facing the road. Kassandra stealthily crept into the tent and quickly stabbed Hippias dead with her dagger, and she then fled to the Spartan lines to inform Stentor that the Athenian leader was dead.
Death to Hyrkanos[]
While scouting around Megaris, Kassandra discovered the Militarized Temple of Megara, and she discovered that the mercenary general Hyrkanos the Cunning and the Athenian captain Prokopos Dellis were stationed there with a handful of troops. Kassandra succeeded in assassinating Dellis and several of his soldiers stealthily, and she then engaged in open combat with Hyrkanos, slaying him after a short fight. With Hyrkanos dead, the Athenians were leaderless, and Kassandra decided to return to Stentor to initiate the final assault.
Final battle[]
The aftermath of the battle
Stentor and Kassandra, ready to crush the Athenians, initiated battle with them on a small plain between the Spartan forward camp and the Megara city walls. Kassandra fought valiantly, slaying 24 Athenian soldiers and 4 captains (Methodios, Evios, Kepheos, and Meliboios). The Athenians routed due to the loss of their captains, and Megaris was forced to side with Sparta once more.
Aftermath[]
Megaris' fall led to the installation of a pro-Spartan leader, and the city became an ally of Sparta in the growing war against Athens. After the battle, Stentor complimented Kassandra's performance, but he grew jealous when a Spartan soldier said that Nikolaos wanted to speak with the mercenary alone. Kassandra headed up a cliff to meet Nikolaos, and she greeted him "Chiare, pater" ("hello, father"), shocking him - several years before, he was ordered to execute her for accidentally pushing her brother and a priest off of a cliff during a sacrificial ceremony, and he believed her to be dead. She angrily confronted him, saying that he had failed to protect his family. Ultimately, she spared him, and he decided to abandon his post to find his honor, while telling Kassandra that he was not her real father, and to search for her mother Myrrine. Nikolaos then vanished, and command of the army fell to Stentor.
That autumn, as the Spartans besieged Athens, the Athenians invaded the Megarid with their whole levy, resident aliens included, under the command of Pericles. A 100-ship fleet of Athenians, on its way home from Aegina, stopped at Megara, where the citizens at home were in full force. Megara largest army of Athenians ever assembled: 10,000 heavy infantry (all Athenian citizens), besides the 3,000 before the Battle of Potidaea, and 3,000 resident aliens joined them, as well as a multitude of light troops. They ravaged the greater part of the territory, and then retired. Other incursions into the Megarid were afterwards made by the Athenians annually during the war, sometimes only with cavalry, sometimes with all their forces. This went on until the capture of Nisaia.