Lamachus ( el, Λάμαχος) was an

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

strategos or general in the Peloponnesian War. He commanded as early as 435 BCE, and was prominent by the mid 420s.

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

caricatured him in ''

The Acharnians ''The Acharnians'' or ''Acharnians'' (Ancient Greek: ''Akharneîs''; Attic: ) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young drama ...

'' and subsequently honoured his memory in ''

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' ( grc-gre, Βάτραχοι, Bátrakhoi, Frogs; la, Ranae, often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in ...

''. He was one of the three generals (alongside

Nicias Nicias (; Νικίας ''Nikias''; c. 470–413 BC) was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy and had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was inve ...

and Alcibiades) placed in command of the

Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devas ...

. Lamachus, though older, was known for his fiery disposition and was fond of taking risks in battle. He was also so poor that during the campaigns in which he served as a general, he would charge the Athenian people money for his own clothes and boots. Although Lamachus was known for his courage and military skill, he was sometimes thought less qualified than other generals because he lacked the necessary wealth and social position.

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

first mentions Lamachus in ''The Life of Pericles''. Lamachus was given command of a fleet of thirteen ships so that he might aid the citizens of Sinope against Timesileos. The probable date of this expedition is 438–432 BCE between the

Samian War The Samian War (440–439 BC) was an Ancient Greek military conflict between Athens and Samos. The war was initiated by Athens's intervention in a dispute between Samos and Miletus. When the Samians refused to break off their attacks on Miletus ...

and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

states that Lamachus was sent to the

Euxine The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

again in 424 BCE for the purpose of collecting tributes. Lamachus had sailed into the Pontus and anchored his ships in the river Calex. There he lost ten of his ships during a sudden flood, but was able to deliver his men safely to

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

. In 415 BCE, Lamachus was elected general of the Sicilian Expedition with

and Alcibiades. Lamachus proposed an aggressive strategy against Syracuse thinking that the Athenians should attack as soon as possible while the inhabitants were still unprepared for battle. His proposal was rejected in favor of the strategy of Alcibiades, which consisted of gathering allies around

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

prior to engagement.

Donald Kagan Donald Kagan (; May 1, 1932August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. He formerly taught in the Departm ...

has suggested that Lamachus's strategy might well have brought

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

a quick victory instead of the disaster that ensued.Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'' Lamachus died fighting in Sicily after he and a handful of his men were trapped on the wrong side of a ditch and overwhelmed.

References

,
The Acharnians
'. From the

Perseus Project The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...

* Diodorus Siculus,
Library
'. From the

,
Alcibiades
'. From the

,
Nicias
'. From the

,
Pericles
'. From the

,
History of the Peloponnesian War
'. From the

* Kagan, Donald. ''The Peloponnesian War'' (Penguin Books, 2003). *Fine, John V.A. ''The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History'' (Harvard University Press, 1983) *Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth ed., ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (Oxford University Press, 2003) *Stadter, Philip A. ''A Commentary On Plutarch's Pericles'' (The University of North Carolina Press, 1989). *West, Allen B. ''Notes on Certain Athenian Generals of the Year 424-3 B.C.'' The American Journal of Philology 45.2 (1924):141-160 *Hanson, Victor D. ''A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War'' (random House, 2006)

Footnotes

{{reflist

External links

Livius.org: Lamachus
414 BC deaths 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Athenian generals Ancient Greeks killed in battle Year of birth unknown Athenians of the Peloponnesian War