Lyndus, a town of Sicily.
Lyrcæ, a people of Scythia, who live upon hunting.
Lyrcæus, a mountain of Arcadia. See: [Lycæus].——A fountain. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 4, li. 711.
Lyrcea, a town of Peloponnesus, formerly called Lyncea. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 35.
Lyrcus, a king of Caunus in Caria, &c. Parthenius.
Lyrnessus, a city of Cilicia, the native country of Briseis, called from thence Lyrnesseis. It was taken and plundered by Achilles and the Greeks at the time of the Trojan war, and the booty divided among the conquerors. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2, li. 197.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 108; Heroides, poem 3, li. 5; Tristia, bk. 4, poem 1, li. 15.
Lysander, a celebrated general of Sparta, in the last years of the Peloponnesian war. He drew Ephesus from the interest of Athens, and gained the friendship of Cyrus the younger. He gave battle to the Athenian fleet, consisting of 120 ships, at Ægospotamos, and destroyed it all, except three ships, with which the enemy’s general fled to Evagoras king of Cyprus. In this celebrated battle, which happened 405 years before the christian era, the Athenians lost 3000 men, and with them their empire and influence among the neighbouring states. Lysander well knew how to take advantage of his victory, and the following year Athens, worn out by a long war of 27 years, and discouraged by its misfortunes, gave itself up to the power of the enemy, and consented to destroy the Piræus, to deliver up all its ships, except 12, to recall all those who had been banished, and, in short, to be submissive in every degree to the power of Lacedæmon. Besides these humiliating conditions, the government of Athens was totally changed, and 30 tyrants were set over it by Lysander. This glorious success, and the honour of having put an end to the Peloponnesian war, increased the pride of Lysander. He had already begun to pave his way to universal power by establishing aristocracy in the Grecian cities of Asia, and now he attempted to make the crown of Sparta elective. In the pursuit of his ambition he used prudence and artifice; and as he could not easily abolish a form of government which ages and popularity had confirmed, he had recourse to the assistance of the gods. His attempts, however, to corrupt the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, and Jupiter Ammon, proved ineffectual, and he was even accused of using bribes by the priests of the Libyan temple. The sudden declaration of war against the Thebans saved him from the accusations of his adversaries, and he was sent, together with Pausanias, against the enemy. The plans of his military operations were discovered, and the Haliartians, whose ruin he secretly meditated, attacked him unexpectedly, and he was killed in a bloody battle, which ended in the defeat of his troops, 394 years before Christ. His body was recovered by his colleague Pausanias, and honoured with a magnificent funeral. Lysander has been commended for his bravery, but his ambition deserves the severest censure, and his cruelty and his duplicity have greatly stained his character. He was arrogant and vain in his public as well as private conduct, and he received and heard with the greatest avidity the hymns which his courtiers and flatterers sung to his honour. Yet in the midst of all his pomp, his ambition, and intrigues, he died extremely poor, and his daughters were rejected by two opulent citizens of Sparta, to whom they had been betrothed during the life of their father. This behaviour of the lovers was severely punished by the Lacedæmonians, who protected from injury the children of a man whom they hated for his sacrilege, his contempt of religion, and his perfidy. The father of Lysander, whose name was Aristoclites or Aristocrates, was descended from Hercules, though not reckoned of the race of the Heraclidæ. Plutarch & Cornelius Nepos, Lives.—Diodorus, bk. 13.——A Trojan chief, wounded by Ajax son of Telamon before Troy. Homer, Iliad, bk. 11, li. 491.——One of the Ephori in the reign of Agis, &c. Plutarch.——A grandson of the great Lysander. Pausanias.
Lysandra, a daughter of Ptolemy Lagus, who married Agathocles the son of Lysimachus. She was persecuted by Arsinoe, and fled to Seleucus for protection. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 9, &c.
Lysaniax, a man made king of Ituræa by Antony, &c.
Lyse, a daughter of Thespius. Apollodorus.