Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/874

Rh B60 LYDIADES. monarchical government to be the best for his fellow- citizens. (Plut. Arat. 30 ; Pans. viii. 27. § 12.) So far as we are able to judge, his elevation appears to have taken place about the time that Antigonus Gonatas made himself master of Corinth, B. c. 244. (Droysen, Hellenism, vol. ii. p. 372.) We find him mentioned by Pausanias as one of the commanders of the forces of Megalopolis at the battle of Mantineia against Agis IV., king of Sparta (Paus. viii. 10. §§ 6, 10) ; but the date of that battle is unknown. From his being associated on that occasion with another general, Leocydes, we may perhaps infer that he had not then esta- blished himself in the absolute power. If the date above assigned to the commencement of his reign be correct, he had held the sovereign power about ten years, when the progress of the Achaean league and the fame attained by Aratus as its leader, led him to form projects more worthy of his ambition ; and after the fall of Aristippus, tyrant of Argos, instead of waiting till he should be attacked in his turn, he determined voluntarily to abdicate the sovereignty, and permit Megalopolis to join the Achaean league as a free state. This generous resolution was rewarded by the Achaeans by the election of Lvdiades to be strategus or commander- in-chief of the confederacy the following year, B. c. 233. (Concerning the date see Droysen, vol. ii. p. 438.) His desire of fame, and wish to dis- tinguish the year of his command by some brilliant exploit, led him to project an expedition against Sparta, which was, however, opposed by Aratus, who is said to have already begun to be jealous of his favour and reputation. Lydiades, indeed, threat- ened to prove a formidable rival ; he quickly rose to such consideration in the league as to be deemed second only to Aratus himself, and notwithstanding the opposition of the latter, was elected strategus a second and third time, holding that important office alternately with Aratus. The most bitter enmity had by this time arisen between the two ; each strove to undermine the other in the popular estimation ; but though Lydiades was unable to shake the long-established credit of Aratus, he himself maintained his ground, notwithstanding the insidious attacks of his rival, and the suspicion that naturally attached to one who had formerly borne the nance of tyrant. In B. c. 227 the conduct of Aratus, in avoiding a battle with Cleomenes at Pallantium, gave Lydiades fresh cause to renew his attacks, but they were again unsuccessful, and he was unable to prevent the appointment of Aratus for the twelfth time to the office of strategus, B. c. 226. His enmity did not, however, prevent him from taking the field under the command of his rival : the two armies under Aratus and Cleo- menes met at a short distance from Megalopolis, and though Aratus would not consent to bring on a general engagement, Lydiades, with the cavalry under his command, charged the right wing of the enemy and put them to the rout, but being led by his eagerness to pursue them too far, got entangled in some enclosures, where his troops suffered severely, and he himself fell, after a gallant re- sistance. His body was left on the field, but Cleomenes had the generosity to honour a fallen foe, and sent it back to Megalopolis, adorned with the insignia of royal dignity. Except Cleomenes himself, the later history of Greece presents few brighter names than that of Lydiades. (Polyb. ii. 44, 51 ; Plut. Arat. 30, 35, 37, Ckom. 6, de LYGODESMA. Ser. Num. tmid. 6, p. 552 ; Paus. viii. 27. § 12— .) 2. A native of Megalopolis, one of the three ambassadors sent by the Achaeans to Rome in b. c. 1 79, in pursuance of the view's of Lycortas. ( Polyb. xxvi. 1.) It was on this occasion that Callicrates, who was head of the embassy, betrayed the in- terests of his country to the Romans. [Calli- crates.] [E. H. B.] LYDUS (AvSo's), a son of Atys and Callithea, and brother of Tyrrhenus or Torybus, is said to have been the mythical ancestor of the Lydians. (Herod, i. 7, 94 ; Dionys. Hal. i. 27, &c. ; Strab. V. p. 219.) [L. S.] LYDUS, JOANNES. [Joannes, No. 79.J LY'GDAMIS {AvySafxis.) 1. The leader of the Cimmerians in their invasion of Lydia. They took Sardis, and were marching towards Ephesus, to plunder the temple of Artemis, when they suf- fered a defeat, which was ascribed to the inter- vention of Artemis, and were obliged to retire to Cilicia, where Lygdamis and all his army perished. Herodotus no doubt alludes to the same invasion of the Cimmerians, when he relates that in the reign of Ardys (b, c. 680—631), king of Lydia, the Cimmerians, expelled from their own settlements by the Nomad Scythians, invaded Asia, and took Sardis, with the exception of the citadel. (Strab. i. p. 61, xiii. p. 627 ; Plut. Mar. 11 ; Callimach. Hymn, in Dian. 252, &c.; Hesych. s.v. AuySa/^js ; Herod, i. 15.) 2. Of Naxos, was a distinguished leader of the popular party of the island iu their struggle with the oligarchy. He conquered the latter, and ob- tained thereby the chief power in the state. With the means thus at his disposal, he assisted Peisis- tratus in his third return to Athens ; but during his absence his enemies seem to have got the upper hand again ; for Peisistratus afterwards subdued the island, and made Lygdamis tyrant of it, about B.C. 540. He also committed to the care of Lyg- damis those Athenians whom he had taken as hostages. Lygdamis is mentioned again in B. c. 532 as assisting Polycrates in obtaining the tyranny of Samos. He was one of the tyrants whom the Lacedaemonians put down, perhaps in their ex- pedition against Polycrates, B.C. 525. (Aristot. Pol. V. 5 ; Athen. viii. p. 348 ; Herod, i. 61, 64 ; Polyaen. i. 23. § 2 ; Plut. Apophth. Lac. 64.) 3. The father of Artemisia, queen of Halicar- nassus, the contemporary of Xerxes. (Herod, vii. 99 ; Paus. iii. 11. § 3.) [Artemisia, No. 1.] 4. Tyrant of Halicarnassus, the son of Pisindelis, and the grandson of Artemisia. The historian Herodotus is said to have taken an active part in delivering his native city from the tyranny of this Lj'gdamis. [Herodotus, p. 431, b.] 5. A Syracusan who conquered in the Pancra- tium in the Olympic games in the 33rd Olympiad. A monument was erected to him near the Lau- tumiae in Syracuse. He is said to have been equal in size to the Theban Heracles, and to have mea- sured with his feet the Olympic stadium, which, like Heracles, he found to be only 600 feet in length, whereas, measured by the foot of a man of the ordinary size, it was 625 feet. (Paus. v. 8. § 8 ; African, ap. Euseb. 'EAA. 'OX, p. 40 ; Scaliger, 'IffTop. (Tvvay. p. 315 ; Krause, Oli/mpia, p. 321.) LYGDAMUS. [Tibullus.] LYGODESMA ( Avy oBecrfxa), a surname of Artemis whose statue had been found bv the bro-