Lysicles (5th Century BC)
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Lysicles ( ''Lysikles''; died 428 BC) was an
Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
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 (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...
. According to
Aeschines Socraticus Aeschines of Sphettus (, c. 425 BC – c. 350 BC) or Aeschines Socraticus (), son of Lysanias, of the deme Sphettus of Athens, was a philosopher who in his youth was a follower of Socrates.Plato. ''Apology'', 33d-e Historians call him Aeschines ...
, Lysicles lived with
Aspasia Aspasia (; ; 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 named Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional h ...
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 The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...
Lysicles was one of the "hawks"; he was convinced that the war against
Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
, which could not conceal its envy of Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable if not to be welcomed.
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
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 (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
, in
Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...
. 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