Gylippus

Family: Lacedaemonians · Role: commander · First appears: Book 6 · Chapter 20 · Part 6

In Book 6, Section 20, Gylippus was appointed to command the Syracusans and arrange aid for Sicily. He went to Thurii to seek the citizenship rights his father had held, but, failing to persuade the townspeople, continued along Italy with Pythen.

In Book 7, he gathered allies at Himera and marched to Syracuse with troops from several communities. His arrival helped prevent the Syracusans from ending the war. At Epipolae, he offered the Athenians a truce if they left Sicily within five days; they rejected it. His forces took Fort Labdalum, but the Syracusans and their allies were defeated in an early battle against Nicias. Afterward, Gylippus traveled through Sicily to raise forces and bring more cities into the war. With Hermocrates, he encouraged the Syracusans to prepare for a sea-fight, and captured the Athenian forts at Plemmyrium.

Later, Gylippus and Sicanus arrived at Syracuse. During the fighting, he tried to cut off the Athenians as they landed, but the Tyrrhenians routed his leading troops. The Syracusans and their allies eventually defeated the Athenian fleet. When the Athenians were worn down, Gylippus and the Syracusans offered freedom to islanders who changed sides; some cities accepted. He and the Syracusans rejected Nicias’s offer to repay the war costs in exchange for his army’s release. At Assinarus, Nicias surrendered himself to Gylippus and asked him to stop the slaughter. Gylippus ordered the surviving Athenians taken prisoner, but Nicias and Demosthenes were killed against his will; he had hoped to take the generals to Lacedaemon as the crowning achievement of his triumph.