Thrasybulus with thirty ships had been sent to Thrace, where he reduced various places, including Abdera and the island of Thasos. Thrasyllus with the army went back to Athens, where he discovered that the Athenians had already elected Alcibiades (who was still in exile), Thrasybulus and Conon as generals for 407/6 BC.
Alcibiades wanted to return to Athens. He sailed to Samos and then went with twenty ships to the Ceramic Gulf of Caria, where he collected twenty talents. He returned to Samos, visited Paros and then crossed the sea to Gytheum. Here he was able to gauge that his countrymen now were well disposed towards him. He sailed home and when he entered Piraeus the people flocked to see him. In the Assembly he defended himself against the charge of impiety. His property was restored and he was elected commander of the land and sea forces.
He was voted one hundred ships, fifteen hundred infantry and one hundred and fifty cavalry. With his colleagues Aristocrates and Adeimantus he set sail for Andros, which had rebelled from Athens. He landed his troops, defeated those of the enemy who had met him in the field, but was unable to take the town. Within a few days he set sail again for Samos, which became his base in the future conduct of the war.
Because of the Athenian successes the Persians decided to give their full support to Sparta. Cyrus the Younger (d.401 BC), the second son of Darius II (r.423-405 BC), was appointed supreme commander of all Persian forces in Asia Minor and given authority over all the lands along the sea. Tissaphernes was removed from the generalship and his satrapy limited to that of Caria.
Sparta sent Lysander (d.395 BC) to command the Aegean fleet. He arrived at Rhodes, then sailed to Cos and Miletus, and from there to Ephesus. When Cyrus arrived at Sardis, Lysander went to meet him, won his confidence, and was given money to pay for mercenary seamen. By the summer Lysander had ninety ships beached at Ephesus, and was waiting for his opportunity.
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