# Battle of Eretria

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Naval battle between Sparta and Athens (411 BC)

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Battle of Eretria Part of the Peloponnesian War Date September 411 BC Location off the coast of Euboea Result Spartan victory Belligerents Athens Sparta Commanders and leaders Unknown Hegesandridas Strength 36 ships 42 ships Casualties and losses 22 ships Minimal

v t e Peloponnesian War Prelude Sybota Potidaea Archidamian War Spartolos Rhium Stratos Naupactus Plataea 1st Mytilene Tanagra Aegition Olpae Idomene Pylos Sphacteria Megara Delium Lynkestis Amphipolis Interlude Mantinea Hysiae Orneae Melos Sicilian Expedition Decele-Ionian War Syme Eretria Cynossema Abydos Cyzicus Notium 2nd Mytilene Arginusae Aegospotami

The naval **Battle of Eretria**, between [Sparta](/source/Sparta) and [Athens](/source/Athens), took place in September 411 BC, off the coast of [Euboea](/source/Euboea).

## Background

During the spring of 411 BC, the [Eretrians](/source/Eretria) drove the Athenians out of [Oropos](/source/Oropos) with the help of the [Boeotians](/source/Boeotia). This city was a strategic point for Athens because it allowed them to control all of Euboea. Moreover, all the commercial traffic was made through the city. The Eretrians would hope that Sparta would help them to end the Athenian rule on Euboea.

## Battle

By the end of the summer 411 BC, a large Spartan fleet sailed towards Euboea. The Athenians tried to prevent the Euboeans from switching sides by sending a squadron to Eretria under [Thymochares](/source/Thymochares). However, the Eretrians supported the Spartans. While the Athenians were in the harbour of Eretria in order to supply themselves, the Eretrians informed the Spartan [admiral](/source/Admiral) [Hegesandridas](/source/Hegesandridas) by a signal fire that it was an appropriate time to attack. The Athenians hurriedly embarked but were defeated during the naval battle which followed with the Athenians losing 22 ships.[1] The Athenians who tried to take refuge in Eretria were killed by the town's inhabitants. Only those who decided to go to the Athenian fort in Eretria (which was likely on the Pezonisi Peninsula) survived.

## Aftermath

Following the battle, almost all of Euboea switched sides. Then there was a huge debate as to whether the Athenians would take them back, ending up in a massacre of Eretrians.

## See also

- [Siege of Eretria](/source/Siege_of_Eretria)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Thucydides, viii.95.2-7; Xenophon, *Hellenica*, i.1.1; Diodorus Siculus, xiii.36.4. See D. H. Kelly, *Xenophon's Hellenika: a Commentary* (ed. J. McDonald), Amsterdam, 2019, p. 67.

## Sources

- [Swiss School of Archeology](https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202030/http://www.unil.ch/esag/page26151.html)

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