Osprey Publishing Home
- Home
- OSPREY PUBLISHING
- Series
- Campaign
- Pylos and Sphacteria 425 BC
Pylos and Sphacteria 425 BC
Sparta's island of disaster
Pylos and Sphacteria 425 BC
Sparta's island of disaster
You must sign in to add this item to your wishlist. Please sign in or create an account
Description
A superbly illustrated account of the battles that saw the Athenians overwhelm a Spartan force in the field for the first time.
During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians occupied the promontory of Pylos to counter Sparta's repeated invasions of Attica. Over two days of fighting the small garrison beat off the Spartan army and the returning Athenian fleet won a crushing victory in the nearby waters, stranding a contingent of elite Spartan hoplites on the island of Sphacteria.
With the campaigning season drawing to a close the Athenians mounted an attack on the island using an unconventional amphibious night assault. They overran the Spartan outpost covering the beaches and light-armed missile troops landed at daybreak in overwhelming numbers. The Spartans were slowly driven back to their stronghold, losing men steadily as they were prevented from engaging in the hand-to-hand fighting at which they excelled. With their commander dead and his deputy incapacitated by wounds, the 292 survivors surrendered.
In this book, William Shepherd outlines this surprising blow to the Spartans' glorious reputation, and these prestigious prisoners-of-war served the Athenians very well as bargaining counters in the diplomatic activity that punctuated the hostilities that continued for the next four years.
Table of Contents
Chronology
Opposing commanders
Opposing armies
Orders of battle
Opposing plans
The campaign
Aftermath
The battlefields today
Further reading
Index
Product details
Published | Dec 20 2013 |
---|---|
Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 96 |
ISBN | 9781782002734 |
Imprint | Osprey Publishing |
Illustrations | Full colour maps; diagrams and illustrations throughout |
Series | Campaign |
Short code | CAM 261 |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors

Resources
Book Vote
Tell us what titles you would like to see published by Osprey, then vote for your favourites in our monthly book vote!