Brasidas

Also known as: Bradidas · Family: Lacedaemonians · Role: commander · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 6 · Part 5

Brasidas, son of Tellis, was a Spartan commander; at Methone, he broke through the Athenian army and saved the place. In Book 2, the Lacedaemonians sent him with Timocrates and Lycophron to help Cnemus prepare the fleet for another battle, and he joined the other Peloponnesian commanders in encouraging their men. Later, after the failed Lesbian expedition, he arrived as counsellor to Alcidas and sailed with him toward Corcyra; Brasidas urged an attack, but the fleet held back.

In Book 4, Brasidas marched with an army to Thrace, reached Perdiccas and Chalcidice, and helped win towns over from Athens. At Megara, he was first refused entry, but after the Athenians withdrew, supporters of the exiles opened the gates to him. He then took Amphipolis and secured the allegiance of other towns. His alliance with Perdiccas broke down after Brasidas persuaded him not to invade Arrhabaeus’s country; later they fought together against Arrhabaeus, but Perdiccas came to regard Brasidas as an enemy. Brasidas defended Scione against Aristonymus’s attempt to exclude it from the armistice, and accepted Mende’s revolt as well.

In Book 5, after turning back when he learned that Torone had fallen, Brasidas took up a position at Cerdylium to watch Cleon’s army, while the rest of his forces were stationed with Clearidas in Amphipolis. Brasidas and Clearidas defeated the Athenians there, but Brasidas was wounded and died soon afterward. The Amphipolitans buried him at public expense, honored him as a hero, and made him the founder of their colony.