Pylos and Sphacteria 425 BC: Sparta’s island of disaster

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Osprey Publishing,

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 78096 271 0

E-book ISBN: 978 1 78200 272 7

E-pub ISBN: 978 1 78200 273 4

Editorial by Ilios Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK (www.iliospublishing.com)

Index by Zoe Ross

Typeset in Myriad Pro and Sabon

Maps by Bounford.com

3D bird’s-eye view by The Black Spot

Battlescene illustrations by Peter Dennis

Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

Text references are given for translated extracts from Thucydides and other ancient sources in the normal fashion. The translations are my own. I have also given references where my narrative paraphrases or summarises substantial passages of Thucydides. I have used the more comfortable latinised spellings of Greek names, in Oxford Classical Dictionary style. The photographs are my own other than images whose sources are acknowledged in the captions.

My thanks to Paul Cartledge and Jeremy Mynott for reading and commenting on parts of the text at various stages, and to others who have generously shared insight and expertise, especially Boris Rankov and Hans van Wees; also to Peter Dennis for, yet again, time-travelling with me so brilliantly, and to Marcus Cowper for his patient support.

This book is dedicated to Netta, my wife, and to my children, Chrissie, Jess, Henry and Flo.

ARTIST’S NOTE

Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the color plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. The Publishers retain all reproduction copyright whatsoever. All enquiries should be addressed to:

Peter Dennis, Fieldhead, The Park, Manselfield, Notts, NG18 2AT, UK magie.h@ntlworld.com

The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter.

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