Lygdamis
(Λύγδαμις.)
1. The leader of the Cimmerians in their invasion of Lydia. They took Sardis, and were marching towards Ephesus, to plunder the temple of Artemis, when they suffered a defeat, which was ascribed to the intervention of Artemis, and were obliged to retire to Cilicia, where Lygdamis and all his army perished. Herodotus no doubt alludes to the same invasion of the Cimmerians, when he relates that in the reign of Ardys (B. C. 680-631), king of Lydia, the Cimmerians, expelled from their own settlements by the Nomad Scythians, invaded Asia, and took Sardis, with the exception of the citadel. (Strab. i. p.61, xiii. p. 627; Plut. Mar. 11; Callimach. Hymn. in Dian. 252, &c.; Hesych. s. v. Λύγδαμις ; Hdt. 1.15.)
2. Of Naxos, was a distinguished leader of the popular party of the island in their struggle with the oligarchy. He conquered the latter, and obtained thereby the chief power in the state. With the means thus at his disposal, he assisted Peisistratus in his third return to Athens; but during his absence his enemies seem to have got the upper hand again; for Peisistratus afterwards subdued the island, and made Lygdamis tyrant of it, about B. C. 540. He also committed to the care of Lygdamis those Athenians whom he had taken as hostages. Lygdamis is mentioned again in B. C. 532 as assisting Polycrates in obtaining the tyranny of Samos. He was one of the tyrants whom the Lacedaemonians put down, perhaps in their expedition against Polycrates, B. C. 525. (Aristot. Pol. 5.5; Athen. 8.348; Hdt. 1.61, 64; Polyaen. 1.23.2; Plut. Apophth. Lac. 64.)
3. The father of Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, the contemporary of Xerxes. (Hdt. 7.99; Paus. 3.11.3.) [Artemisia, No. 1.]
4. Tyrant of Halicarnassus, the son of Pisindelis, and the grandson of Arternisia. The historian Herodotus is said to have taken an active part in delivering his native city from the tyranny of this Lygdamis. [Herodotus, p. 431b.]
5. A Syracusan who conquered in the Pancratium in the Olympic games in the 33rd Olympiad. A monument was erected to him near the Lautumiae in Syracuse. He is said to have been equal in size to the Theban Heracles, and to have measured with his feet the Olympic stadium, which, like Heracles, he found to be only 600 feet in length, whereas, measured by the foot of a man of the ordinary size, it was 625 feet. (Paus. 5.8.8; African. ap. Euseb. Ἐλλ. Ὀλ. p. 40; Scaliger, Ἱστορ. συναγ. p. 315; Krause, Olympia, p. 321.)
(Λύγδαμις). (1) A Naxian, who aided Pisistratus in recovering his authority at Athens, and received as a recompense the government of his native island (Herod.i. 61, 64).
(2) The father of Artemisia, the celebrated queen of Halicarnassus (Herod.vii. 99).
(3) A tyrant of Caria, son of Pisindelis, who reigned in the time of Herodotus at Halicarnassus. He put to death the poet Panyasis. Herodotus fled from his native city in order to avoid his tyranny, and afterwards aided in deposing him. See Herodotus.
- father of Artemisia: Hdt. 7.99; Paus. 3.11.3
- a friend and helper of Pisistratus: Hdt. 1.61, Hdt. 1.64
- Olympic victor: Paus. 5.8.8
- his tomb at Syracuse: Paus. 5.8.8