Lysander

Family: Alopece · Role: father of Archippe · First appears: Themistocles

Lysander of Alopece was said to be the son of Aristoclitus, who was not of the royal family but belonged to the stock of the Heraclidae. He was the father of Archippe, and his grandson Diocles was adopted by him. At Ephesus, he was appointed admiral of the Lacedaemonian fleet, and at Sardis Cyrus rewarded his public spirit with ten thousand darics, which Lysander used to increase the seamen’s pay; through their daily intercourse and his submissive conversation, he won the young prince’s affection. He later accused Tisaphernes to Cyrus, while Pharnabazus became his enemy after Lysander pillaged and wasted his country.

At Ephesus, Lysander defeated the Athenians, taking fifteen ships and contributing to Alcibiades’s removal from command, despite the hostility of Antiochus. At Aegos Potami he destroyed the Athenian fleet, captured its generals, and took three thousand prisoners; after the surrender at Piraeus, he pulled down Athens’s walls, burned its ships, and installed oligarchic rulers. He called Philocles to account after the Athenian prisoners were condemned, and sent money to Sparta through Gylippus, who embezzled part of it. He was succeeded as admiral by Callicratidas, whom his supporters viewed as a rival, while Aracus was made admiral and Lysander sent nominally as vice-admiral with full powers. Thorax, one of his friends and fellow-captains, was put to death by the ephors.

Lysander was attached to Agesilaus, whom he helped establish as king over Leotychides; Agesilaus later took him among his counselors, hoped to use him as an especial friend, and appointed him carver at his table. Lysander urged him to invade Asia, brought Spithridates to him after that Persian had revolted from Pharnabazus, and later formed a faction against him. He also became associated with Agis, who secured his election as ephor and used him to propose the reform decree that led to the Lacedaemonians’ bonds being burned in the market-place. Before Agesilaus returned from Asia, Lysander attacked Haliartus and was killed when the Thebans opened the gates and fell upon him; Neochorus, the man who killed him, bore a dragon on his shield.