CALLICRATIDAS, Spartan admiral, succeeded Lysander as admiral of the Lacedaemonian fleet in 406 B.c. He found at once that his predecessor had made his position as difficult as possible, by setting his subordinates against him and returning to Cyrus all the supplies that he held. He won over the captains by calling them together, explaining that he had been appointed their commander, and asking "Now shall I stay, or go back and report that you do not wish me to command?", but he found the necessity of coming to Cyrus for money irksome, and declared that when he got home he would do his best to reconcile Sparta with Athens. He eventually got some money from Miletus, and fitted out a new fleet of 140 sail. He captured Methymna in spite of Conon's attempt to save it, and refused to sell into slavery the prisoners he took. He then chased Conon to Mity lene, and after a successful engagement in the harbour blockaded him there. Athens sent out a fleet of i 50 sail to relieve Conon, and Callicratidas left 5o ships to hold Mitylene and took 120 to meet the new fleet. In the battle of Arginusae that followed, we find a complete reversal of the old tactics, the Spartan fleet sailing one deep and aiming at the diekplous, while the Athenians massed their weight in the wings to defeat it. But all order was soon lost, and an individual struggle followed, in which the Spartans were defeated and Callicratidas was killed. In his honesty and straightforwardness Callicratidas was a Spartan of the old type, but with advanced Pan-Hellenic sympathies.
See Xen. Hell. I., vi. Plut. Lysander