Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/858

Rh 844 LYCINUS. Itone, was king of Crete and husband of Ida, the daughter of Corybas (Diod. iv. O'U). The town of Lycastus in Crete derived its name from him or an autochthon of the same name (Steph. Byz. s. v.). A story about another Lycastus, likewise a Cretan, is related by Parthenius {Erot. 35). [L. S.] LY'CEAS (AuKeas), of Naucratis, the author of a work on Egypt, which is mentioned by Athe- naeus (xiii. p. 560, e. ; xiv. p. b'16, d.) and by Pliny, in his list of authorities for his 36th book. [P. S.] LYCE'GENES {AvK-qycv/is), a surname of Apollo, describing him either as the god born in Lycia, or as the god born of light. (Horn. //. iv. 101, 119; comp. Lyceius.) [L. S.] LYCEIA (AuKeia), a surname of Artemis, under which she had a temple at Troezene, built by Hippolytus. (Paus. ii. 31. § 6.> [L. S.] LYCEIUS (AJ/cejos), a surname of Apollo, the meaning of which is not quite certain, for some de- rive it from Au/cos, a wolf, so that it would mean "the wolf-slayer;" others from Au/ctj, light, ac- cording to which it would mean " the giver of light ; " and others again from the country of Lycia. There are indeed passages in the ancient writers by which each of these three derivations may be satisfactorily proved. As for the derivation from Lycia, we know that he was worshipped at mount Cragus and Ida in Lycia ; but he was also wor- shipped at Lj'coreia on mount Parnassus, at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 9. § 7), Argos (ii. 19. § 3), and Athens (i. 19. § 4). In nearly all cases, more- over, where the god appears with this name, we find traditions concerning wolves. Thus the de- scendants of Deucalion, who founded Lycoreia, followed a wolfs roar ; Latona came to Delos as a she-wolf, and she was conducted by wolves to the river Xanthus ; wolves protected the treasures of Apollo ; and near tlie great altar at Delphi there stood an iron wolf with inscriptions. (Paus. x. 14. § 4.) The attack of a wolf upon a herd of cattle occasioned the worship of Apollo Lyceius at Argos (Pint. Pyrrh. 32 ; comp. Schol. ad Apolion. Rhod. ii. 124) ; and the Sicyonians are said to have been taught by Apollo in what manner they should get rid of wolves. (Paus. ii. 19. § 3.) In addition to all this, Apollo is called vkokt6vos. (Soph. Elect. 7; Paus. ii. 9. § 7 ; Plesych. s. v.) Apollo, by the name of Lyceius, is therefore gene- rally characterised as the destroyer. (Miiller, Dor. ii. 6. § 8.) [L. S.] LY'CIDAS (AuKiSTjs), a member of the senate of Five Hundred at Athens, who was stoned to death by his fellow-citizens, because he advised them to listen to the proposals of peace offered by Mardonius in B.C. 479 : his wife and children suffered the same fate at the hands of the Athenian women. (Herod, ix. 5.) The same story is related of Cyrsilus at the invasion of Xerxes eleven years before [Cyrsilus] ; and both tales probably refer to only one event. LY'CINUS (Aw/fti/oy), an Italian Greek, an exile from his native city, who entered the service of Antigonus Gonatas, and was appointed by him to command the garrison, which he left in pos- session of Athens, after the termination of the Chre- monidean war, b. c. 263. (Teles, ap. Stobaeum, Floril. ii. p. 82, ed. Gaisf. ; Droysen, Hellenism, vol. ii. pp. 206, 222.) Niebuhr conjectures, plausibly enough, that Lycinus was a native of Tarentum, and had been compelled to fly from that city on its j LYCISCUS. conquest b/ the Romans. (Niebuhr, Klelne Schn/l p. 461.) ^ [E. H.B.J LYCIS (AuKJs), an Athenian comic poet, who is only known by the reference to him in the Froffs of Aristophanes (14 ; comp. Schol. and Suid. s.v.). He is also called Lycus. In fact Lycis, Lycius, and Lycus, are only different forms of the same name. (Ruhnken, ad Riitil. Lup. p. 100.) [P. S.] LYCISCUS (AuKto-Kos). 1. A Messenian, de- scended from Aepytus. In the first Messenian war, the Messenians, having consulted the Delphic oracle, were told that to save their country, they must offer by night, to the gods below, an unstained virgin of the blood of the Aepytidae. The lot fell on the daughter of Lyciscus ; but Epebolus, the seer, pronounced her to be unfit for the sacrifice, as being no daughter of Lyciscus at all, but a suppo- sititious child. Meanwhile, Lyciscus, in alarm, took the maiden with hira and withdrew to Sparta, Here she died ; and several years after, as he was visiting her tomb, to which he often resorted, he was seized by some Arcadian horsemen, carried back to Ithome, and put upon his trial for treason. His defence was, that he had fled, not as being hostile to his country or indifferent to her fate, but in the full belief of what Epebolus had declared. This being unexpectedly confirmed by the priestess of Hera, who confessed that she was herself the mother of the girl, Lyciscus was acquitted. (Paus. iv. 9, 12.) [Aristodemus, No. l.j 2. An Athenian demagogue, obliged Eurypto- lemus to drop his threatened prosecution of Calli- xenus for his illegal decree against the commanders who had cojiquered at Arginusae', B. c. 406, by moving that such as attempted to prevent the peo- ple from doing what they chose should have their fate decided by the same ballot as the generals themselves. (Xen. Hell. i. 7. § 13.) It is possible that the comedy of Alexis, called " Lyciscus," had reference to this demagogue. (See Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec, vol. i. pp. 274,275, iii. p. 446 ; Athen. xiii. p. 595, d.) 3. An officer of Cassander, was sent by him to Epeirus as regent and general, when the Epeirots had passed sentence of banishment against their king Aeacides and allied themselves with Cassan- der, in B. c. 316. In b. c. 314, Cassander left hira in command of a strong body of troops in Acarna- nia, which he had organised against the Aetolians, who favoured the cause of Antigonus. Lyciscus was still commanding in Acamania, in b. c. 312, when he was sent with an army into Epeirus against Alcetas II. whom he defeated. He also took the town of Eurymenae, and destroyed it. (Diod. xix. 36,67, 88.) 4. An officer of Agathocles, by whom he was much esteemed for his military talents. During the expedition of Agathocles to Africa (b. c. 309), Lyciscus, being heated with wine at a banquet, assailed his master with abuse, which the latter met only with good-humoured jesting. But Archa- gathus, the son of Agathocles, was greatly exaspe- rated ; and when Lyciscus, in answer to his threats after the banquet, threw in his teeth his suspected intrigue with his step-mother Alcia, he seized a spear and slew hira. The consequence was a for- midable mutiny in the army, which it required all the boldness and prudence of Agathocles to quell. (Diod. XX. 33, 34.) 5. An Acarnanian, was sent by his countrj-men as ambassador to the Lacedaemonians, b. c. 21 1