Nicostratus

Family: Athenian · Role: general · First appears: Book 3 · Chapter 10 · Part 4

At Corcyra, Nicostratus, son of Diitrephes, arrived from Naupactus with twelve ships and five hundred Messenian heavy infantry. He persuaded the opposing parties to agree to a settlement, then prevented the commons from attacking their opponents when they refused to sail with them.

In the same summer, he led an expedition against Cythera with Nicias and Autocles. After the one-year armistice was concluded, he and Nicias commanded an expedition against Mende and Scione. When the Athenians failed to take Mende’s hilltop position, they retreated; the next day they captured Scione’s suburb and plundered the countryside. Nicias then ravaged the area near Scione while Nicostratus besieged Mende. After Mende’s commons attacked the Peloponnesians and their allies, the Athenians entered and sacked the town, then allowed its people to retain their civil rights and judge those accused of revolt. They blockaded the citadel, and, having secured Mende, proceeded against Scione.