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Thrasybulus (d. 388 BC) was an Athens|Athenian
general and one of the key leaders of the
democracy against the oligarchy during and after
the Peloponnesian War.  The first of these was the
rule of the Four Hundred, established in 411 BC
while the fleet was at Samos.  The navy employed
mostly poorer citizens and included many of the
most ardent supporters of the democracy, and under
Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus these declared their
opposition to the revolutionaries, believing
themselves to be in as good a position as the men
of the city.  They also recalled the exile
Alcibiades, hoping by his influence to obtain an
alliance with Persian Empire|Persia.

During this time the Peloponnesian ships, under
Mindarus, sailed for the Hellespont, and were
intercepted by the Athenians.  The Athenians
weakened their center in an attempt to outflank
their enemies, and initially were defeated there,
but the right wing under Thrasybulus took
advantage of their disorder and put them to flight
(see Battle of Cynossema).  The fleet had to
disperse for the winter, but next spring surprised
Mindarus while he was besieging Cyzicus, killing
him and taking some 60 trireme|triremes.  This
annihilated the Peloponnesian navy, and the
democrats at Athens took the opportunity to
restore the old democracy.

With the final defeat of Athens at battle of
Aegospotami|Aegospotami, in 404 BC, the Spartans
set up a new oligarchy, called the Thirty Tyrants
and led most notably by Critias.  These executed a
great number of men, while others were exiled,
taking up refuge in neighboring countries who had
grown dissatisfied with Sparta's leadership.  Then
in December, Thrasybulus and Anytus left Thebes,
Greece|Thebes and seized the border fort of Phyle.
 The first attempt to dislodge them was halted by
a storm, and the second, in May, by a surprise
attack.  Then Thrasybulus seized the Piraeus, and
managed to defeat the oligarchs in a battle on the
hill of Munychia, where Critias was killed.

The Thirty were replaced by Ten, chosen to
represent those genuinely interested in oligarchy
as opposed to simply gaining power for themselves,
but these failed to come to terms with Thrasybulus
and called in the Spartans to settle matters.  By
then Lysander, who had set up the original
oligarchy, had lost influence there, and the
negotiations were carried out by Pausanias of
Sparta|Pausanias, a personal enemy of his and so
inclined to be more generous to the democrats.  In
the end, the democracy was restored again, the
oligarchs being allowed to retreat to Eleusis.

A decade later new war had broken out with the
Spartans, who had made an attempt to claim their
own maritime empire, but were seriously checked by
the Persian Empire|Persians at Cnidus.  In 389 BC,
Thrasybulus was sent out with 40 ships, ultimately
to help Rhodes maintain her independence but first
to levy money from her allies and to plunder when
they could not receive it.  They won over Thasos,
Samothrace, Byzantium and Chalcedon,
reestablishing Athenian supremacy in the
Propontis, and expelled the Spartans from Lesbos. 
At Aspendus, however, the locals were outraged by
the violent Greek soldiers, and at night surprised
and killed Thrasybulus in his tent.

== Weblink ==
* Biography. Cornelius Nepos (latin and german):
http://www.gottwein.de/Lat/nepos/thras01.htm

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Thrasybulus was also the tyrant of Miletus in the
7th century BC. He was an ally of Periander, the
tyrant of Corinth, Greece|Corinth.