The world in 413 BC — what happened that year

44 events the sources record for this year, grouped by region.

What happened

Chios, Samos, Byzantium and other allies defected to the Spartan side. (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 13.34.2)
Athens sailed out to Oropus and fought a naval battle without preparation, and lost. (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 13.36.4)
Demosthenes appears in the harbor of Syracuse with a fleet of 73 ships (Plutarch's Parallel Lives Plut. Nicias 21)
On the eve of departure a lunar eclipse occurs at night and Nicias, frightened, postpones (Plutarch's Parallel Lives Plut. Nicias 23)
Nicias remains composed even during the eight-day retreat march (Plutarch's Parallel Lives Plut. Nicias 27)
Most Athenian prisoners die of disease and hunger in the quarries (Plutarch's Parallel Lives Plut. Nicias 29)
In early spring the Peloponnesian army invades Attica and fortifies Decelea as a permanent base (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.19.1)
600 Spartan helots, 300 Boeotians, 500 Corinthians and 200 Sicyonians set out for Sicily on merchant ships (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.19.3–4)
Demosthenes waits at Aegina for Charicles with 60 ships and 1,200 hoplites (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.20.2–3)
Gylippus attacks the Plemmyrium forts by land at night while the Syracusan fleet sallies from the harbor at the same time (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.22.1)