Callicratidas

Kallikratidas ( Καλλικρατίδας; † 406 BC) was a Spartan admiral during the Peloponnesian War.

He was in 406 BC as the successor Lysander commander of the Spartan fleet ( nauarchos ) appointed. After he had secured his authority, he joined the fleet in Miletus and sought a decisive battle with the Athenians. He threatened the Athenian fleet commander Conon that he would end his affair with Neptune, and as this could be irritating, it actually succeeded Kallikratidas to chase him with the bulk of the Athenian fleet at Lesbos in the port of Mytilene and there by land and sea include. When the Athenians sent a Entsatzflotte. let Kallikratidas this attack despite numerical inferiority. The Peloponnesians suffered in the ensuing battle at the Arginusae a heavy defeat, which also Kallikratidas came to death.

Kallikratidas is portrayed as a typical Laconians: without fine manners in dealing with people, personally unassuming, incorruptible, brave, his opinion straight out representative. Because of these characteristics he had to contend with problems with the allies, who would have preferred the smoother Lysander as admiral. Also in the Persian prince Cyrus, whose money payments depended on the fleet, he had a hard time as it was denied an audience with that, because the prince at the " drinking" was, he should have said, " Well, I wait, until he has emptied his cup. " Kallikraditas, who was against the alliance with the Persians, tried the Persian payments to be replaced by those of the city of Miletus, where the headquarters of his fleet lay.

Main sources of Kallikratidas ' lives are Xenophon ( Hellenica 1, 6, 1-33 ) and Diodorus (13, 70-79, and 97-99 ).