Event · battle

Battle of Arginusae

406 BCE · 5th century BCE

The Battle of Arginusae was a naval battle of the Peloponnesian War, fought in 406 BCE near Canae in the Arginusae Islands, east of Lesbos, in which an Athenian fleet under eight strategoi defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas. Athens had built and manned the fleet in haste to relieve Conon, blockaded at Mytilene, enlisting slaves and metics; facing more experienced crews, the generals fought in eight divisions and a double line. Callicratidas was killed, and the Spartans lost some 70 ships to the Athenians' 25. A storm kept the ships from rescuing the survivors of the disabled triremes, many sailors drowned, and the Athenian assembly tried and executed six of the generals as a group.

Battle of Arginusae
Image: A. du Sein (colors added) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Battle of Arginusae. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-arginusae
MLA
“Battle of Arginusae.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-arginusae. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Battle of Arginusae.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-arginusae.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Battle of Arginusae’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-arginusae (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻