The Battle of Phyle was fought between Athenian

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 exiles who were seeking to restore democracy to Athens and a Sparta

Sparta

Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

n garrison trying to protect the oligarchic Thirty Tyrants

Thirty Tyrants

The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Contemporary Athenians referred to them simply as "the oligarchy" or "the Thirty" ; the expression "Thirty Tyrants" is due to later historians...

. In the battle, 700 Athenian exiles under Thrasybulus decisively defeated the Spartans and their Athenian cavalry in a dawn ambush.

Prelude

Following Athens' defeat in the Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...

, a narrow oligarchic

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...

 government was imposed on the city by Lysander

Lysander

Lysander was a Spartan general who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC...

 and the victorious Spartans. This government, which came to be known as the Thirty Tyrants as a result of its brutal actions, exiled or drove away a number of citizens. Many of these gathered at Thebes, where they received support and assistance from the anti-Spartan government of Ismenias

Ismenias

Ismenias was an ancient Theban politician of the 4th century BC. He rose to power in the years after the Peloponnesian War and pursued an anti-Spartan policy, which included harboring exiles fleeing the Thirty Tyrants in Athens. During a Spartan occupation of Thebes, he is identified as the...

. Late in 404 BC, 70 of these exiles, commanded by Thrasybulus

Thrasybulus

Thrasybulus was an Athenian general and democratic leader. In 411 BC, in the wake of an oligarchic coup at Athens, the pro-democracy sailors at Samos elected him as a general, making him a primary leader of the successful democratic resistance to that coup...

, crossed the border into Attica

Attica

Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

 and occupied the strong point of Phyle

Phyle

Phyle is an ancient Greek term for clan or tribe. They were usually ruled by a basileus...

 on Mount Parnes

Parnitha

Mount Parnitha is a densely forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m and a summit known as Karavola...

.

The Thirty, seeking to dislodge this threat, marched out to attack Phyle, but, after an initial assault was repulsed, a snowstorm drove the force back to Athens. Meanwhile, more exiles began to arrive at Phyle, swelling the size of the force there. The Thirty dispatched the Spartan garrison of Athens, along with an Athenian cavalry force, to keep a watch on Phyle and prevent the exiles from raiding the countryside.

The battle

The Spartan force made its camp in a field two miles from Phyle, and from there kept a watch on the area. By this time, however, so many exiles had come to Phyle that Thrasybulus was now in command of a 700 man force. With this army, he came down from Phyle at night and surrounded the Spartan camp; at dawn, the exiles attacked, catching the Spartan force in the midst of waking up. A total rout ensued; 120 hoplite

Hoplite

A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. Hoplites were primarily armed as spearmen and fought in a phalanx formation. The word "hoplite" derives from "hoplon" , the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, "hopla" could also denote weapons held or even...

s, just under a fifth of the Spartan force, were killed, as were three cavalrymen. The defeated force fled back to Athens in disarray; after pursuing for a mile, the victorious exiles returned to Phyle.

Aftermath

This unexpected defeat shook the confidence of the government at Athens, and the Thirty began shortly afterward to prepare a refuge for themselves at Eleusis by seizing and executing a number of potential dissenters there. The exiles, meanwhile, received a great boost in prestige from the victory, and new recruits swelled their numbers rapidly. Just a few days after the battle at Phyle, Thrasybulus led a force of 1000 men to Piraeus

Piraeus

Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

. There, he won another victory, after which the Thirty fled to Eleusis. A stalemate then ensued, with Thrasybulus and his men holding the Piraeus while a new oligarchic government held Athens; this was brought to a close when a Spartan force under Pausanias

Pausanias of Sparta

Pausanias King of Sparta from 409 BC. He was in frequent conflict with the Ephors. Aristotle said that he tried to overthrow them. Army leader Lysander sent a letter to him, requesting help against Thebes, but it was intercepted...

arrived; after fighting an inconclusive battle with the men from Phyle, Pausanias arranged a settlement that restored democratic governance to Athens.