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Brasidas (d. 422 BC) was a Spartan officer during
the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.

He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won
his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which
was besieged by the Athens|Athenians (431 BC).
During the following year he seems to have been
eponymous ephor (Xenophon|Xen. Hell. ii. 3, 10),
and in 429 he was sent out as one of the three
commissioners (o'bu/3ovXoi) to advise the admiral
Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in
the assault on the Athenian position at the Battle
of Pylos, during which he was severely wounded
(Thucydides|Thuc. iv. II. 12).

In the next year, while Brasidas mustered a force
at Corinth for a campaign in Thrace, he frustrated
an Athenian attack on Megara (Thuc. iv. 70-73),
and immediately afterwards marched through
Thessaly at the head of 700 helots and 1000
Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian
king Perdiccas II of Macedon|Perdiccas. Refusing
to be made a tool for the furtherance of
Perdiccas's ambitions, Brasidas set about the
accomplishment of his main object, and, partly by
the rapidity and boldness of his movements, partly
by his personal charm and the moderation of his
demands, succeeded during the course of the winter
in winning over the important cities of Acanthus,
Stagirus, Amphipolis and Torone as well as a
number of minor towns. An attack on Eion was
foiled by the arrival of Thucydides, the
historian, at the head of an Athenian squadron. In
the spring of 423 a truce was concluded between
Athens and Sparta, but its operation was at once
imperilled by Brasidas's refusal to give up
Scione, which, the Athenian partisans declared,
revolted two days after the truce began, and by
his occupation of Mende shortly afterwards. 

An Athenian fleet under Nicias and Nicostratus
recovered Mende and blockaded Scione, which fell
two years later (421 BC). Meanwhile Brasidas
joined Perdiccas in a campaign against Arrhabaeus,
king of the Lyncesti, who was severely defeated.
On the approach of a body of Illyrians, who,
though summoned by Perdiccas, unexpectedly
declared for Arrhabaeus, the Macedonians fled, and
Brasidas's force was rescued from a critical
position only by his coolness and ability. This
brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and
Perdiccas, who promptly concluded a treaty with
Athens, of which some fragments have survived
(I.G. i. 42).

In April 422 BC|422 the truce with Sparta expired,
and in the same summer Cleon was despatched to
Thrace, where he stormed Torone and Galepsus and
prepared for an attack on Amphipolis. But a
carelessly conducted reconnaissance gave Brasidas
the opportunity for a vigorous and successful
sally. The Athenian army was routed with a loss of
600 men and Cleon was slain. On the Spartan side
only seven men are said to have fallen, but
amongst them was Brasidas. He was buried at
Amphipolis with impressive pomp, and for the
future was regarded as the founder (olKu7ri~s) of
the city and honoured with yearly games and
sacrifices (see Battle of Amphipolis; Thuc. iv.
78-v. II). At Sparta a cenotaph was erected in his
memory near the tombs of Pausanias
(general)|Pausanias and Leonidas, and yearly
speeches were made and games celebrated in their
honour, in which only Spartiates could compete
(Pausanias (geographer)|Paus. iii. 14). Thus the
two men from both Athens and the Peloponnese who
were the most open advocates of continuous war,
Brasidas and Cleon, were killed in a single
battle, and the way was open to a peace
negotiation under more moderate leaders.

Brasidas united in himself the personal courage
characteristic of Sparta with those virtues in
which the typical Spartan was most signally
lacking. He was quick in forming his plans and
carried them out without delay or hesitation. With
an oratorical power rare amongst the
Lacedaemonians he combined a conciliatory manner
which everywhere won friends for himself and for
Sparta (Thuc. iv. 81). 

See in particular Thucydides; what Diodorus
Siculus|Diodorus xii. adds is mainly oratorical
elaboration or pure invention. A fuller account
will be found in the histories of Greece (e.g.
those of George Grote|Grote, Beloch, Busolt,
Meyer) and in G Schimmelpfeng, De Brasidae
Spartani rebus gestis atque ingenio (Marburg,
1857).

1911