Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/881

Rh LYSIMACHUS. Abas, and the wife of Talaus (Apollod. i. 9. § 13 ; Adrahtus). Another personage of the same name occurs in Apollodorus (iii. 12. § 5). [L. S.] LfSIMA'CHIDES (AvaL/jLaxlSvs), a Greek writer, the author of a work on the Attic orators, addressed to Caecilius. He seems also to have Avritten on other subjects connected with the Athe- nians. (Ammon. de Diff. Voc. s. v. &ewp6s ; Har- pocrat. s. vv. Matjua/CTTjptcJi/, MeTayeirviwu ; Voss. de Hist. Graec. p. 231, ed. VVesterniann.) [C.P.M.] LYSI'MACHUS (Avaifxaxos). 1. An Athe- nian, father of Aristeides the Just. (Herod, viii. 79; Thuc. i. 91 ; Plut. Arist init.) 2. Son of Aristeides, and grandson of the pre- ceding, is spoken of as a man liimself of an insigni- ficant character, but who received a grant of lands and money, as well as an allowance for his dail}' maintenance, by a decree of Alcibiades, in con- sideration of his father's services. He left two children, a son, Aristeides, and a daughter named Polycrita, who also received a public allowance for her grandfather's sake. (Plut. Arist. 27 ; Dem. c. Lept. § 95, p. 491, and Schol. ad loc.) 3. Son of Lysimachus, king of Thrace (see be- low), by Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemy Soter. After the death of his father (b. c. 281), he fled with his mother and younger brother, Philip, to Cassandria, where they remained for some time in safety, until Ptolemy Ceraunus, who had established himself upon the throne of Macedonia, decoyed Arsinoe and her two sons into his power, by pro- mising to marry the former, and adopt the two young men. But as soon as they met their trea- cherous uncle, both Lysimachus and Philip were instantly seized and put to death, in the very arms of their mother. Lysimachus was at the time 16 years old ; his brother three years younger ; and both were remarkable for their beauty. (Justin, xxiv. 2, 3 ; Memnon, c. 14.) 4. Son of Ptolemy Philadelphus by Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace. He survived both his brother Ptolemy III. Euergetes, and his nephew, Ptolemy IV. Philopator ; but was put to death by Sosibius, the minister and guardian of Ptolemy Epiphanes. (Schol. ad Tkeoa: Idyll. xvii. 128 ; Polyb. xv. 25.) 5. A friend and counsellor of Philip V., king of Macedonia, was one of the two selected by him to assist in the secret council for the trial of his son, Demetrius. (Liv. xl. 8.) [Demetrius.] 6. A brother of ApoUodotus, the general who defended Gaza against Alexander Jannaeus. He caused his brother to be assassinated, and then surrendered the city into the hands of Alexander. (Joseph. ^w<. xiii. 13. § 3.) 7. A Jew, one of the friends of Herod, who was put to death by him as being connected with the conspiracy of Costobar us. [Herodes. ] (Joseph. Ant. XV. 7. §v^ 8, 10.) [E. H. B.J LYSI'MACHUS {hvai^iaxos), king of Tlirace. He was a Macedonian by birth (according to Ar- rian, a native of Pella), but not by origin, his father, Agathocles, having been originally a Penest or serf of Cranon in Thessaly, who had insinuated himself by his flatteries into the good graces of Philip of Macedon, and risen to a high place in his favour. (Arr. Anab. vi. 28; Theopomp. ap. Athen. vi. 259, f. ; Euseb. ^n«. p. 156.) Lysimachus himself was early distmguished for his undaunted courage, as well as for his great activity and strength of body, qualities to which he probably owed his appoint- LYSIMACHUS. 867 ment to the important post of one of the (Tujxaro. <pvaKfs, officers immediately about the person of Alexander. But though we find him early attain- ing this distinction, and he is frequently mentioned as in close attendance on the king, he does not seem to have been readily entmsted with any separate command, or with the conduct of any enterprise of importance, as was so often the case with Ptoleraj', Perdiccas, Leonnatus, and others of the same officers. Hence it would appear that Alexander deemed him more qualified for a soldier than a general. (Arr. A?tah. v. 13, 24, vi. 28, vii. 5, I?id. 18 ; Curt. viii. 1, § 46 ; but comp. Aelian. F. H. xii. 16, who calls him orpar-rp^itv ayaQds,) We are told by Q. Curtius that Lysimachus, when hunting in Syria, had killed a lion of immense size single-handed, though not without receiving severe wounds in the contest ; and this circumstance that writer regards as the origin of a fable gravely re- lated by Justin, Plutarch, Pliny, and other authors, that on account of some offence, Lysimachus had been shut up by order of Alexander in the same den with a lion ; but though unarmed, had suc- ceeded in destroying the animal, and was pardoned by the king in consideration of his courage. (Curt, viii. 1. § 15 ; Plut. Demetr. 27 ; Pans. i. 9. $ 5 ; Justin. XV. 3; Plin. //. N. viii. 16 (21); Val. Max. ix. 3, ext. 1 ; Seneca, de Ira., iii. 17.) In the division of the provinces, after the death of Alexander, Thrace and the neighbouring countries as far as the Danube were assigned to Lysimachus, an important government, which he is said to have obtained in consequence of his well-known valour, as being deemed tlie most competent to cope with the warlike barbarians that bordered that country on the north. (Diod. xviii. 3; Airian, op. Phot. p. Q9^ b ; Dexippus, ibid. p. 64, b ; Curt. x. 10, § 4 ; Justin, xiii. 4.) Nor was it long before he had occasion to prove the justice of this opinion ; he had scarcely arrived in his government when he waa called upon to oppose Seuthes, king of the Odry- sians, who had assembled a large army, with which he was preparing to assert his independence. In the first battle Lysimachus obtained a partial victory, notwithstanding a great disparity of force ; but we know nothing of the subsequent events of the war. (Diod. xviii. 14 ; Paus. i. 9. § 6. ) It seems probable, however, that he was for some time much occupied with hostilities against the Odry- sians and other barbarian tribes ; and that it was this circumstance which prevented him from tjiking any active part in the wars which arose between the other generals of Alexander. But during the seven years which he thus spent in apparent inac- tivity, it is clear that he had not only consolidated his power, but extended his dominion as far as the mouths of the Danube, and occupied with his gar- risons the Greek cities along the western shores of the Euxine. (Diod. xix. 73; Droysen, Hellenism. vol. i. p. 326.) At length, in B. c. 315, the increasing power of Antigonus induced Lysimachus to join the league which Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Cassander, had already formed against that monarch : he laid claim to the Hellespontine Phrygia, in addition to the territories he already possessed ; and on the refusal of Antigonus, immediately prepared for war. Still we do not hear of his taking any active part in the hostilities that ensued, until he was aroused by the revolt of the Greek cities on the Euxine, Callatia, Istrus, and Odessus. He thereupon immediately 3 K 2