Battle of Aegospotami

In 405 BC the Athenians anchored on an open beach at Aegospotami across from the Spartan fleet at Lampsacus. For four days they sailed out to offer battle and Lysander declined. Each time the Athenians returned they scattered ashore to forage. On the fifth day the Spartans struck as the crews were on land, and captured almost the whole fleet without a fight. With no navy left, Athens was starved into surrender the next spring.

The principal source is Xenophon, who gives a brisk account that makes the Athenian failure a matter of carelessness, while Diodorus and Plutarch add details that sometimes contradict him, including claims that treachery was involved. The location is plausible but not secure: Aegospotami means goat's rivers and the stream the site is named for has not been conclusively identified. The execution of Athenian prisoners, which Xenophon explains as retaliation for Athenian cruelty to captured Spartan allies, is told as fact but should be treated with care.