Laispodias

Laispodias was at the time of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) one of the generals and diplomats of Athens in its dispute with Sparta and a high representative of the oligarchical so-called "Government of the Four Hundred", which was founded in 411 BC. In Athens after an overthrow held power. As a member of this oligarchic government, Laispodias probably belonged to the aristocratic upper class. His exact life dates are not known.

In the summer of 414 BC When the army of Athens was still ready to fight in front of the besieged Sicilian capital Syracuse , and Sparta exercised cautious military restraint, Laispodias was one of the commanders of a fleet of 30 ships together with his colleagues Demaratus and Pythodoros (who was also mentioned by Plato ) who was in charge of military operations on the Peloponnesian coast in support of the Argives. The landings of these troops on the Laconian coast and advances at Epidauros Limera and Prasiai were not militarily significant, but they represented a flagrant breach of the peace of 421 BC. The open announcement “that Athens wants war” ( Thucydides VI, 105).

The comedy writer Aristophanes , who was obviously outraged by the choice of Laispodias as general, portrays him in his comedy The Birds as someone who has to try to hide a physical defect through his clothing ( Vögel 1572 ff.). According to Pauly, the name should allude to his ailment, an ulcer on his left foot.

411 BC In Athens, democracy had been overthrown and the oligarchic government of the four hundred came to power, made up of men for whom the Spartan government system was a political model. The new government therefore wanted to come to a peace settlement with the Peloponnesian supremacy as quickly as possible. An embassy was sent to Sparta to explore possibilities for this. This important task was entrusted to Laispodias together with his colleagues Aristophon and Melesias (the son of the politician Thucydides, also mentioned in Plato ). The ambassadors set out for the voyage on the splendid Athens ship of state Paralos , which was supposed to bring them to Sparta (Thucydides VIII, 86). However, the embassy never achieved its goal, as the envoys, including Laispodias, were held prisoner by the democratically-minded garrison of the Paralos as complicit in the political overthrow in Athens. The mutineers handed Laispodias and his colleagues over to the argivers who sided with the Athenian democrats.

Since from this point on the sources are silent about the fate of Laispodias, he probably perished during these events or in their wake.

An inscription from the beginning of the 5th century has been found on the Athens Acropolis , which refers to a Laispodias , whose father Spudis made votive gifts there. Whether this is the father of the Laispodias discussed here, which would be possible chronologically, cannot be said with certainty.

swell

• Aristophanes: The birds .
• Plato: Dialogues Menon , Laches , Theages .
• Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War .

literature

• Herbert Heftner: The oligarchic overthrow of the year 411 BC And the rule of the four hundred in Athens. Source studies and historical research. Publishing house Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2001.
• Eduard Meyer : History of antiquity . Volume IV, 2.
• August Pauly (ed.): Real Encyclopedia of Classical Classical Antiquities , Vol. 4 Stuttgart 1846.
• Peter Siewert (ed.): Ostracism-testimonies I . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001. Series: Historia Einzelschriften, Vol. 155, ISBN 3515079475 .

Remarks

1. ↑ See Meyer, p. 232; Nemeth, p. 170, note 23.
2. ↑ Cf. György Nemeth: Metamorphosis Critiae? In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 74 (1988), pp. 167–180, here: p. 170, note 23 ( online ; PDF; 261 kB).
3. ↑ RE 1846, Vol. 4, p. 787.
4. ^ IG I³ 755 .
5. ↑ See Siewert, pp. 60, 68.