In the spring the Athenian fleet sailed from Lampsacus to the Bosporus to besiege Chalcedon and Byzantium. The Athenian army, at least five thousand strong, was commanded by Theramenes, Thrasyllus and Alcibiades. The generals began with the siege of Chalcedon, on the Asian side of the Bosporus, and outside the city the Athenians won a battle during which the harmost Hippocrates was killed.
The blockade of the town was then secured and Alcibiades with part of the army went to levy money and assemble forces for the siege of Byzantium. During his absence, Theramenes came to an agreement with Pharnabazus in which the Athenians agreed not to threaten his domains in return for a payment of twenty talents and a regular tribute from Chalcedon. During this time Alcibiades had captured Selymbria and collected together a large body of Thracians, with whom he marched to Byzantium, now under siege by the Athenians.
The turning point of the siege came when the harmost Clearchus (d.401 BC) left the city to obtain a subsidy from Pharnabazus and raise a fleet to harass the Athenians at sea. During his absence a number of the citizens, angered by the way most food in the city was going to the Peloponnesians, decided to surrender the city to the Athenians. On a designated night they opened the gates on the land side to Alcibiades and his troops while the attention of the garrison was distracted by a feigned attack by the Athenian fleet on the harbour. Resistance by those citizens still loyal to the Peloponnesians ceased when Alcibiades issued a statement guaranteeing all the Byzantines would be safe. The garrison’s commanders, Helixus and Coeratados, were sent off as prisoners to Athens.
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