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The Battle of Rhium or the battle of Chalcis
was a naval battle in the
Peloponnesian War
between an Athenian fleet commanded by
Phormio and a Peloponnesian
fleet composed of contingents from various states, each with its own commander.
The battle came about when the Peloponnesian fleet, numbering 47 triremes,
attempted to cross over to the northern shore of the Gulf of Patras to attack
Acarnania in support of
an offensive in northwestern Greece; Phormio's fleet attacked the
Peloponnesians while they were making the crossing. In the battle, the
Peloponnesian ships, hampered by the fact that many of them were equipped not
as fighting vessels but as transports, circled together in a defensive posture.
Phormio, taking advantage of his crews' superior seamanship, sailed around the
clustered Peloponnesians with his ships, driving the Peloponnesians closer and
closer together until they began to foul oars and collide with each other. The
Athenians then suddenly attacked, routing the Peloponnesians and capturing 12
ships.
Opponents: Athenians versus Spartans, Corinthians, and other members of the
Peloponnesian League
Commanders and leaders:
Athens - Phormio
Corinthians - Machaon, Isocrates, Agatharchidas, and others
Strength:
Athens - 20 triremes
Sparta- Corinth 47 triremes, some being used as transports
Casualties and losses:
Athens None
Sparta 12 ships captured, with most of their crews
Prelude:
The summer of 429 was marked by a Peloponnesian offensive in the Greek
northwest. The Spartans and their allies hoped to knock several Athenian allies
such as Acarnania, Zacynthus, and Cephallenia out of the war, and if possible
to capture the Athenian base at Naupactus. The Spartan navarch Cnemus was
placed in command of the campaign. He set out against Acarnania with 1,000
hoplites from Sparta, crossing over the Corinthian Gulf unnoticed by the
Athenian fleet under Phormio. Combining his forces with 2,000 troops sent from
allied states, Cnemus moved against the Acarnanian city of Stratus. The
Acarnanians appealed to Phormio for help, but he refused to leave Naupactus
undefended. The Peloponnesian fleet, meanwhile, was charged with ferrying
troops to the southern coast of Acarnania to prevent the residents of that area
from supporting their allies inland. As the Peloponnesians moved westward along
the south coast of the Gulf of Corinth, the Athenian fleet followed them on the
northern shore. The Peloponnesians, with 47 ships, were not particularly
concerned about the 20 Athenian ships across the gulf, but they nonetheless
left their moorings at night to pass through the strait between Rhium and Cape
Antirrhium, hoping to give their pursuers the slip. This ruse failed, as the
Athenians noticed the move and gave chase, catching the Peloponnesians in the
open water of the Gulf of Patras.
Battle:
Although the Peloponnesian fleet was numerically superior to the Athenian, many
of its ships were rigged out as transports instead of fighting vessels. Thus,
as the Athenian fleet approached them, the Peloponnesian commanders (the names
of all of these are not known, but the Corinthian commanders were Machaon,
Isocrates, and Agatharchidas) ordered their 47 triremes to draw into a circle,
prows outward, for defense. In the center of the circle were gathered the
smaller ships and the five fastest triremes, which were to plug any gap that
opened in the circle. Phormio chose to attack this formation by using a risky
and unorthodox tactic. He led his ships, in line, in a tightening circle around
the Peloponnesians, darting inwards at times to drive the defending ships
closer to each other. This tactic left the Athenians highly vulnerable to a
swift attack, as any of the defending ships would only have to move a short
distance straight ahead to ram a circling Athenian ship in the side.[4] No such
attack materialized, however, and the Peloponnesians were driven closer and
closer together. At this point, Phormio was aided by his experience with the
local weather patterns, which had taught him that a wind usually blew out of
the gulf at dawn. Expecting that this wind would severely discomfort the
inexperienced Peloponnesians but not interfere at all with the work of his own
more experienced crews, he waited for the moment it arose to attack. As
expected, when the wind blew up the Peloponnesian ships were driven together;
confusion reigned in the circle, with steersmen shouting and cursing, oars
fouling between ships, and crews attempting to shove off from each other's
ships with poles. At this moment the Athenians rushed in to attack. The rout
was instant and total; the Peloponnesians, in their short flight to the
southern shore, saw 12 of their ships, with their crews, captured by the
pursuing Athenians.
The Peloponnesian fleet retreated to Cyllene where it met up with Cnemus, who
was retreating from a defeat by the Stratians. This double defeat seriously
embarrassed Cnemus, and was in general an embarrassing failure for the
Spartans; their first attempt at an amphibious offensive had ended in ignominy.
The victory did not, however, put an end to the Peloponnesian offensive in the
Gulf. Within a short period of time the Spartans were able to assemble a
substantially larger fleet, this time of 77 triremes; Athens, meanwhile, though
it dispatched 20 ships to reinforce Phormio, sent them by way of Crete. Thus,
Phormio's 20 ships were forced to fight on their own, and only narrowly
preserved Athenian dominance in the gulf at the Battle of
Naupactus.
Phormio's tactic: The Athenians (red) sail around the circled Peloponnesian
ships (black). The Athenians risk a sudden attack by exposing their flanks to
the enemy, but by compressing the Peloponnesian circle they cause confusion
among the inexperienced Peloponnesian crews.
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