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In 415 B.C., Athens voted to send 135 triremes and more than 5,000 hoplites under the generals Alcibiades, Lamachus, and Nicias to assist Segesta against Selinus. The size of the force indicated that their real objective was Syracuse. The Athenians failed to define their priorities well, however, and elected a board of generals who were bound to clash. Nicias, who opposed the expedition, repeatedly urged delay. Alcibiades intrigued to win over Sicelot and Italiot cities, but was recalled to stand trial for impiety at Athens and soon defected to Sparta. Lamachus, the most experienced commander, lacked the prestige of Nicias. Thus the campaigning season of 415 B.C. was wasted on secondary objectives. The Athenians won a battle before Syracuse but withdrew to winter quarters at Catana. In 414 B.C., Lamachus and Nicias returned, surprising the Syracusans. The Athenians fortified a base and put in place siege works to cut off the city. Under Hermocrates, the Syracusans built counter walls to deny the Athenians the Epipolae, the heights overlooking the city. Lamachus fell in one of the skirmishes. Nicias, in sole command, soon lost the initiative. He failed to gain the Epipolae, and he failed to prevent the Spartan officer Gylippus from entering Syracuse with reinforcements. Nicias, rather than abandon the siege and risk prosecution, dishonestly induced the Athenians to vote a second expedition under Demosthenes in 413 B.C. When this force arrived, Nicias was besieged in his camp, and the Syracusans launched a fleet. When a night attack failed to gain the Epipolae, Demosthenes urged withdrawal. Nicias delayed for a month, and the retreat ultimately deteriorated into a rout and the slaughter of the Athenian forces at the Assinarus River. The magnitude of the defeat stunned the Greek world; suddenly, the initiative had shifted to Sparta.
