battle of Pylos

Pylos, battle of (425 bc) fought during the Peloponnesian war. Pylos was the headland at the north-west corner of Navarino Bay seized by the Athenian Demosthenes in 425. Sparta recalled its army from Attica, but failed to take the position by a land and sea assault. Worse still, 420 hoplites placed on Sphacteria, the island south of Pylos, in order to deny it to the enemy, were trapped when Athenian ships arrived in force and defeated the Spartan fleet in the bay. When negotiations failed, the Spartans kept them supplied by boat and swimmer, until Demosthenes was joined by specialized light troops brought by Cleon. Demosthenes then landed on the island in overwhelming strength, with 800 hoplites and the rest divided into easily controllable groups of about 200. The guards at the southern tip of the island were taken by surprise and annihilated, and when the main body of Spartans tried to close on the Athenian hoplites, they were deluged with missiles by the light troops to flank and rear. Eventually they retired to the north end of the island, but were compelled to surrender when an enterprising Messenian climbed the supposedly inaccessible cliffs behind them.

Bibliography

• Kagan, Donald, The Archidamian War (Ithaca, NY and London, 1974).
• Thucydides, 4. 2-6, 8-23, 26-41

— John Lazenby