Lysicles ( grc-gre, Λυσικλῆς ''Lysikles''; died 428 BC) 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 ...

general and leader of the democratic faction in the city. He lived during the fifth century BC and possibly was a friend of

Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...

. According to Aeschines Socraticus, Lysicles lived with

Aspasia Aspasia (; grc-gre, Ἀσπασία ; after 428 BC) was a ''metic'' woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son, Pericles the Younger. Acco ...

after Pericles's death and had a son with her. Aeschines Socraticus is said to have credited Aspasia with all of Lysicles's political success.Plutarch, ''Pericles''
XXIV
/ref> During the Peloponnesian War Lysicles was one of the "hawks"; he was convinced that the war against

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

, which could not conceal its envy of Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable if not to be welcomed.

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 ...

taunts him and calls him a "dealer in sheep".Aristophanes, ''The Knights'', 132 Lysicles was killed in action in 428 BC. The Athenians sent out twelve ships to levy subsidies from their allies, with Lysicles and four others in command. After cruising to different places and laying them under contribution, Lysicles went up the country across the plain of

Meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

, in

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...

. Being attacked by the Carians, he was slain with many of his soldiers.Thucydides, III
19
/ref>

Citations

428 BC deaths 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Athenian generals Ancient Greeks killed in battle Year of birth unknown Athenians of the Peloponnesian War {{AncientGreece-bio-stub