The battle of Assinar is the last battle of the Sicilian expedition during the Peloponnesian war . In this battle, the Athenians were finally defeated by the Syracusans.
| Battle of Assinar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: Peloponnesian War | |||
 Retreat of the Athenians | |||
| date | 413 BC e. | ||
| A place | Assinar River, Sicily | ||
| Total | Syracusan victory | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Losses | |||
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After four naval battles in the Gulf of Syracuse, as a result of which the Athenian fleet was cut off from the sea, Nikiy and Demosthenes decided to abandon the fleet and heavy convoy and make their way with the remaining 40,000th army to the north to the friendly Athenians Katana (Catania), from where they hoped return to Greece. However, having made such a decision, they delayed several days and this enabled the leader of the Syracusans Gilippus to occupy all the mountain passages. The Syracusans also managed to take advantage of 50 Athenian triremes . Unable to make their way north, the Athenians rushed south, pursued on the heels of the Syracuse cavalry, which did not give them rest day or night. With a random retreat, Demosthenes with 6 thousand people separated from Nikias, was surrounded and forced to surrender. The next day, Niky was surrounded, and only with the tremendous efforts of his army, exhausting from thirst, managed to break through to the Assinar, but here the Syracusans overtook him after the terrible battle, in which, according to Diodorus, 18 thousand Greeks died, and the rest had to surrender and Nikiyu.
Despite capitulation, Nikias and Demosthenes were executed, and the captive Athenians were exiled to the quarries, of which few were saved.
Literature
- Assinarus // Aral Flotilla - Mount Athos. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911. - P. 184. - ( Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / edited by V. F. Novitsky [and others ]; 1911-1915, v. 3).