Lachares

Lachares ( Greek  Λαχάρης ; † probably 294 BC in Koroneia ) was a politician in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, who is traditionally considered a tyrant .

The Athenian Lachares resigned in the autumn of 301 BC. BC as the commander ( strategos ) of the mercenaries in the service of Athens, when it came to a stasis . The opposing party was led by the commander of the hoplite troops , Charias, who occupied the Acropolis in order to get the city under control. After the group around Lachares apparently did this in the spring of 300 BC. He had been able to take Charias and many of his followers after an unlawful urgent procedure on the basis of a judgment of the Ekklesia . Thus he succeeded in seizing power in Athens. The remaining followers of the Charias were able to stay in Piraeus , despite the start of a siege by Lachares.

Although Athens' emissaries had announced the future neutrality of their city to Demetrios I Poliorketes , Lachares leaned against his opponents Kassander and Lysimachus in terms of foreign policy . The city received from the latter in 299/8 BC. A grain delivery and for the former she sent a diplomatic mission in the same period. This was probably due to the military pressure that Demetrios exerted on Athens at this time. So he probably moved with his fleet from Corinth to Chalkis . However, there was no direct train against Athens, as Demetrios then sailed to the east for the time being.

Pausanias later described the rule of Lachares as lawless, blasphemous and corrupt. Among other things, he had the statue of Athena in the Parthenon "stripped" of its gold coating . He made many enemies and was therefore exposed to assassination attempts. 297 BC Cassander died, and Lachares lost his main support of power, which led Demetrios to return to Attica the following year . A first attack on Athens initially failed due to adverse weather conditions, whereupon he turned against the Peloponnese . From there in the spring of 294 BC When he returned BC, he took Aegina and Salamis ; then he allied himself with the opposition in Piraeus. Lachares vigorously defended Athens, besieged by Demetrios, but the city suffered a famine. When a delivery of relief from Ptolemy from Egypt for Athens was intercepted by Demetrios, the rule of Lachares finally collapsed when the Demos rose against him. Allegedly he stole golden shields from the Acropolis and fled the city to Boeotia , where he was murdered in Koroneia . The opposing party in Athens triumphed and let Demetrios into the city.

literature

• WS Ferguson: Lachares and Demetrios Poliorcetes. In: Classical Philology Vol. 24, No. 1 (1929), pp. 1-31
• Johannes Engels : Lachares [1]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 6, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01476-2 .
• Boris Dreyer: Athens under the rule of the tyrant Lachares. In: Studies on the history of late classical Athens: ( 322– approx. 230 BC) (1999), pp. 17–110
• Boris Dreyer: Athens and Demetrios Poliorketes after the battle of Ipsos (301 BC): Comments on the marble Parium, FGrHist 239 B 27 and on Demetrios' offensive in 299/8 BC. Chr. , In: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Vol. 29 (2000), pp. 54–66

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The ancient historians Hans Volkmann ( Der Kleine Pauly , Vol. 3, Col. 436) and Johannes Engels (Der Neue Pauly) set the date of Lachares' death to 278 BC. Chr.
2. ↑ Oxyrhynchus Papyri XVII 2082 = FGrHist 257a F1-3. The leader of this group, who accused Lachares of tyranny , was probably already Olympiodorus at that time .
3. ↑ Plutarch , Demetrius 30, 3; Inscriptiones Graecae II² 641 and 657 .
4. ^ Marble Parium , FGrHist 239 B27.
5. ↑ Pausanias 1:25 , 7; Plutarch, Isis, and Osiris 71; Oxyrhynchus Papyri XVII 2082 = FGrHist 257a F4. The deed happened before the start of the 121st Olympic Games in 296 BC. Chr.
6. ^ Pausanias 1:29 , 10.
7. ↑ Plutarch, Demetrius 33, 1-2.
8. ^ Polyainos , Strategemata 4, 7, 5.
9. ↑ Plutarch, Demetrius 33, 4; Pausanias 1, 25, 7-8. Johannes Engels (The New Pauly) states, referring to Polyainos ( Strategemata 3, 7, 2-3 and 6, 7, 2) that Lachares took part in battles at Sestos under Lysimachus , 278 BC. Chr. Kassandreia had to leave and was killed shortly thereafter.