Thucydides, who was on the nearby island of Thasos at the time of the initial attack on Amphipolis (424 BC), was unable to recapture the city, though he did manage to fend off a Spartan attempt to capture the Atheniancontrolled port city of Eion. The Athenians were shocked by the loss of Amphipolis and immediately sent garrisons to other allied cities to prevent further defections to the Spartans, and they exiled Thucydides for his failure to protect the city. When Thucydides came to recount Cleon’s attempt to recapture the city, his unique familiarity with the region clearly shaped his retelling of the battle:
“I lived through the entirety of the war, being old enough to comprehend it and taking care so that I might know what was true: and it was also my lot to be an exile from my homeland for 20 years after my command at Amphipolis, and since I was familiar with the affairs of both sides, not least of which the affairs of the Peloponnesians on account of my exile, I was at leisure to understand some of these things all the better.”
– Thucydides, 5.26.5
Nevertheless, scholars have not been able to convincingly situate the battle within the mountainous environs of Amphipolis.
The battle
Ancient accounts of battles are notoriously
