Lysias (Admiral)

Lysias ( Greek  Λυσίας ; † 406 BC in Athens ) was an admiral in classical Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). For a short time he was one of the ten generals who gave the famous Alcibiades , who assumed his command of the fleet in 407 BC. BC lost, followed.

Two of the ten generals elected by the Athenian people's assembly, Archestratos and Leon , were 406 BC. Already perished. Both died as a result of the events in the port city of Mytilene on Lesbos , where a large part of the Athenian ships sent to the coast of Asia Minor were besieged by an overpowering Spartan fleet. Presumably, Lysias was named afterwards to fill the gap in the Athenian Admiralty.

For this reason, his name does not appear in the list handed down by the historian Xenophon ( Hellenika I. 5. § 16), which lists the ten generals originally named, but Xenophon also reports that Lysias participated in the Battle of the Arginus in 406 BC . Was actually involved as an admiral.

In this sea battle in which the Athenians won a glorious victory that was trireme of Lysias sunk, and he could only narrowly escape death. Many other Athenian seamen perished in the floods. Because of a storm, not even their bodies could be recovered.

A violent dispute arose between the admirals and the Trierarchs Theramenes and Thrasybulus about who was to blame . The Athenian people's assembly - as soon as it became aware of the incidents - removed all generals from their office. Two of the admirals, Protomachus and Aristogenes, therefore preferred not to return to Athens at all. The fate that awaited the others on their return to Athens was cruel: Lysias and his five colleagues Perikles the Elder. J. , Diomedon , Erasinides , Aristocrates and Thrasyllos were brought to justice and charged with failing to rescue the shipwrecked and their corpses, sentenced to death and immediately executed .

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• Xenophon: Hellenika . Book I. 6. § 30, 7.
• Diodor : Libraries . Book XIII. 74, 99, 101.