Agathocles (son of Lysimachus)
{{short description|3rd-century BC Thracian general}}
Agathocles ({{langx|grc|Ἀγαθοκλῆς}}; between 320–310s[http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I, Footnote 3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126034435/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm |date=2011-11-26 }} – 284 BC) was a prince of Macedonian and Thessalian descent. He was the son of Lysimachus and his first wife, NicaeaBengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, p.569Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175 a daughter of Antipater, the regent of Alexander the Great's Empire.Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175 His full blooded siblings were his younger sisters EurydiceBengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, p.569Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175 and Arsinoe I.Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, p.569Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p.175
Life
In 292 BC Agathocles was sent by his father against the Getae, but was defeated and taken prisoner. Dromichaetes, the king of the Getae, sent him back to his father as a goodwill gesture; despite this, Lysimachus marched against the Getae, but was himself taken prisoner. He was released by Dromichaetes after a promise of loyalty secured by several high-born hostages, and the hand of Lysimachus' daughter in marriage. There are conflicting versions of this sequence of events as some ancient historians recount that it was only Agathocles, and according to others only Lysimachus, who was taken prisoner.Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/diodore/livre21.htm xxi. 12], Pausanias, Description of Greece, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.9.1 i. 9], Strabo, Geography, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+14.4.1 xiv. 4], Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", [http://www.attalus.org/old/demetrius2.html#39 39], Moralia, "On the delays of divine vengeance", Plutarch, "Demetrius", [http://www.attalus.org/old/demetrius2.html#46 46]
In 287 Agathocles was sent by his father against Demetrius I Poliorcetes, who had marched into Anatolia to deprive Lysimachus of Lydia and Caria. In this expedition he was successful; he defeated Demetrius and drove him out of his father's provinces.Plutarch, "Demetrius", 46 Agathocles was originally intended to be the successor of Lysimachus, and was popular among his subjects; however, in 284 he was executed for treason. Conflicting sources point to his stepmother, Arsinoe II, as the main accuser in an attempt to position her own son, Ptolemy, as Lysimachus' successor, while other sources indicate that Lysimachus was independently acting on a belief that his son was conspiring against him.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYGL8RM_jb0C&q=%22Arsinoe+of+Macedon%22&pg=PA31|title=Arsinoe of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life|last=Carney|first=Elizabeth Donnelly|date=2013-03-21|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780195365511|pages=44|language=en}} Agathocles' widow, Lysandra, fled with their children and Agathocles' paternal half-brother, Alexander, to Seleucus I Nicator in Syria, who subsequently declared war upon Lysimachus as consequence for his act of filicide.Memnon of Heraclea, History of Herakleia, [http://www.attalus.org/translate/memnon1.html#5 5], Pausanias, i. 10, Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, [http://www.attalus.org/translate/justin1.html#17.1 xvii. 1]
Coinage
The historian Louis Robert has suggested that 300 era coins bearing the letters ΑΓΑΘ originate from Agathocleia, a city in Mysia founded by Agathocles.Cohen, The Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands, and Asia Minor, p.163
References
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Sources
- Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051026200326/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0074.html "Agathocles (2)"]}}, Boston, (1867)
- {{SmithDGRBM|title= Agathocles (2)}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20111126034435/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/arsinoe_i.htm Ptolemaic Genealogy: Arsinoe I]
- H. Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte von den Anfängen bis in die römische Kaiserzeit, C.H.Beck, 1977
- M. Getzel, Hellenistic settlements in Europe, the islands and Asia Minor, Cohen University of California Press, 1995
- W. Heckel, Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006
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Category:4th-century BC births
Category:Ancient Thracian Greeks
Category:Year of birth unknown