This original book looks in detail at arguably the two most significant
characters on either side in the middle years of the great Peloponnesian
War and the showdown in and around Amphipolis that led to both their
deaths in 422 BC.
The Spartan commander Brasidas was already a veteran of many campaigns
when he headed for the strategically important northern theater. Cleon
was the key hawk in the Athenian assembly who led his fellow citizens in
a major effort to counter the impact that Brasidas was having in the
north. The two finally clashed in battle outside the Athenian colony of
Amphipolis which Brasidas had by then captured (the great historian
Thucydides being exiled for his failure to defend it). The Spartans won
but both men died in the fighting, their passing having far-reaching
consequences for the subsequent course of the war. By focusing on the
fatal duel between Brasidas and Cleon, and drawing on all available
sources to supplement Thucydides' seminal account, Mike Roberts offers a
valuable new perspective on the Peloponnesian War.