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Seeing that only thirty Spartans were detailed to guard the southern end of the island, away from Pylos, Demosthenes landed his 800 hoplites on both the seaward and landward sides of the island one night. The Spartan garrison, thinking that the Athenian ships were only mooring in their usual nightly watch posts, was caught off guard and massacred.
Demosthenes then hand-picked 60 hoplites and a few archers and brought them to the point where he anticipated the Spartans would launch their amphibious assault. Demosthenes expected that the Spartans would hit the south-west corner of the peninsula where the defensive wall was the weakest and the land was most suitable for a landing.
Sparta, meanwhile, landed an army on the nearby island of Sphacteria, and Demosthenes moved his men to the beach to prevent the Spartans, commanded by Thrasymelidas and Brasidas, from landing there. The Spartan landing was repulsed, and the main Athenian fleet (having turned back from its journey to Sicily) arrived in time to chase off the ...
Demosthenes landed his forces and attacked the Syracusan counter-wall on Epipolae in a risky night engagement (against the advice of Nicias). He succeeded in breaching the wall, routing or killing some of the first Syracusan defenders but was defeated by a force of Boeotians in the Spartan contingent. Many Athenians fell off the cliff to their ...
It is thought the incident occurred in part because no "state" shield devices were in use, which did not seem to have become general until the Second Battle of Mantinea, fought in 362 BC between the Thebans and the Spartans (and each side's allies) . In any case, Pagondas sent his cavalry to support the Boeotian left wing and the Athenians were ...
The Pylos post began attracting helot runaways. In addition, the fear of a revolt of helots emboldened by the nearby Athenians drove the Spartans to attack the post. Demosthenes outmaneuvered the Spartans in the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC and trapped a group of Spartan soldiers on Sphacteria as he waited for them to surrender. But weeks later he ...
The "Second Philippic" is an oration that was delivered by the Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes between 344–343 BC. The speech constitutes the second of the four philippics the orator is said to have delivered.
The slander that Demosthenes' wife also slept with the boy suggests that the relationship was contemporary with his marriage. [17] Aeschines claims that Demosthenes made money out of young rich men, such as Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, whom he allegedly deceived with the pretence that he could make him a great orator.