Nicocles
- a tyrant of Sicyon, overthrown by Aratus, Cic. Off. 2, 23, 81.
(Νικοκλῆς), historical.
1. King of Salamis in Cyprus, was the son and successor of Evagoras I. Some authors have supposed that he had participated in the conspiracy to which his father Evagoras fell a victim; but there is no authority for this supposition, which has indeed been adopted only by way of explaining the strange error into which Diodorus has fallen, who represents Nicocles himself as the eunuch by whom Evagoras was assassinated (Diod. 15.47, intpp. ad loc.). It is certainly incredible that had this been the case, Isocrates should have addressed to him a long panegyric upon his father's virtues, in which he also dwells particularly upon the filial piety of Nicocles, and the honours paid by him to the memory of Evagoras (Isoc. Evag. init.).
Scarcely any particulars are known of the reign of Nicocles, but it appears to have been one of peace and prosperity. If we may trust the statement of his panegyrist Isocrates (who addressed to him two of his orations, and has made him the subject of another), he raised the cities under his rule to the most flourishing condition, replenished the treasury, which had beer. exhausted by his father's wars, without oppressing his subjects by exorbitant taxes, and exhibited in all respects the model of a mild and equitable ruler (Isocr. Nicocl. p. 32, &c.). The same author extols him also for his attachment to literature and philosophy (id. Evag. p. 207), of which he afforded an additional proof by rewarding Isocrates himself for his panegyric with the magnificent present of twenty talents (Vit. X. Orat. p. 838a.). The orator also praises him for the purity of his domestic relations; but we learn from Theopompus and Anaximenes (apud Athen. xii. p. 531), that he was a person of luxurious habits, and used to vie with Straton, king of Sidon, in the splendour and refinement of his feasts and other sensual indulgences. According to the same authorities he ultimately perished by a violent death, but neither the period nor circumstances of this event are recorded.
The annexed coin may be safely assigned to this Nicocles. See Borrell, Notice sur quelques medailles Grecques des Rois de Chypre, 4to., Paris, 1836.
2. Prince or ruler of Paphos, in Cyprus, during the period which followed the death of Alexander. He was at first one of those who took part with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, against Antigonus (Diod. 19.59; Droysen, Hellenismus, vol. i. p. 339), but at a subsequent period, B. C. 310, after Ptolemy had established his power over the whole island, Nicocles appears to have changed his views, and entered into secret negotiations with Antigonus. Hereupon, the Egyptian monarch, alarmed lest the spirit of disaffection should spread to the other cities, immediately despatched two of his friends, Argaeus and Callicrates, to Cyprus, who surrounded the palace of the unhappy prince with an armed force, and commanded him to put an end to his own life, an order with which, after a vain attempt at explanation, he was obliged to comply. His example was followed by his wife Axiothea, as well as by his brothers and their wives, so that the whole family of the princes of Paphos perished in this catastrophe (Diod. 20.21; Polyaen. 8.48). Wesseling (ad Diod. l.c.) has erroneously identified this Nicocles with Nicocreon, king of Salamis [Nicocreon], from whom he is certainly distinct. (See Droysen, vol. i. p. 404, not.) A coin of this prince, bearing the inscription ΝΙΚΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΠΑΦΙΟΝ, has been mentioned by Eckhel (vol. iii. p. 87).
3. Of Soli, son of Pasicrates, an officer in the army of Alexander, was appointed to the command of a trireme during the voyage down the Indus. (Arrian Ind. 18.)
4. An Athenian, who was put to death together with Phocion (B. C. 318), to whom he had always been attached by the warmest personal friendship: on which account he begged as a last favour to be allowed to drink the poison before his illustrious friend, a request which Phocion unwillingly conceded. (Plut. Ploc. 35, 36.)
5. Tyrant of Sicyon, to which position he raised himself by the murder of Paseas, who had succeeded his son Abantidas in the sovereign power [Abantidas]. He had reigned only four months, during which period he had already driven into exile eighty of the citizens, when the citadel of Sicyon (which had narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Aetolians shortly before) was surprised in the night by a party of Sicyonian exiles, headed by young Aratus. The palace of the tyrant was set on fire, but Nicocles himself made his escape by a subterranean passage, and fled from the city. Of his subsequent fortunes we know nothing. (Plut. Arat. 3_9; Paus. 2.8 § 3; Cic. de Off 2.23.)
6. A Syracusan, whose daughter was married to Hieron I., and became the mother of Deinomenes. (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 1.112.) [E.H.B]
(Νικοκλῆς), literary.
1. A comic writer mentioned by Athenaeus (viii. p. 327), where, however, the name is incorrect, and should be altered into Timocles. [T IMOCLES.]
2. A Lacedaemonian, was the teacher cf grammar to the emperor Julian (Socrat. 3.1). From the words of Socrates we may infer that he was a Christian. This Nicocles is perhaps the same as the one mentioned in the Etymologicum Magnum (s. v. σκάλοψ). Libanius (vol. i. p. 24) likewise mentions a rhetorician of Constantinople of this name. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 373; Westermann, Geschichte der Griechischen Beredtsamkeit, § 102, n. 1.) [L.S]
(Νικοκλῆς). (1) A king of Paphos, in the island of Cyprus. He owed his throne to the kindness of Ptolemy I., king of Egypt, who continued thereafter to bestow upon him many marks of favour. Having learned, however, at last, that Nicocles had formed an alliance with Antigonus, Ptolemy sent two emissaries to Cyprus, with orders to despatch Nicocles in case his treachery should be clearly proved. These persons, having taken with them a party of soldiers, surrounded the palace of the king of Paphos, and compelled him to destroy himself, although he protested his innocence (B.C. 310). His wife Axiothea, when she heard of her husband's death, killed her daughters with her own hand, and then slew herself. The other female relatives followed her example. The brothers of Nicocles also, having shut themselves up in the palace, set fire to it, and then fell by their own hands (Diod. Sic.xx. 21).
(2) King of Salamis, in Cyprus, succeeding his father Evagoras B.C. 374. He celebrated the funeral obsequies of his parent with great splendour, and engaged Isocrates to write his eulogy. (See Isocrates.)
(3) A tyrant of Sicyon, deposed by Aratus in B.C. 251.
- a minstrel, his tomb: Paus. 1.37.2
- his monument at Acriae: Paus. 3.22.5
- expelled by Aratus: Paus. 2.8.3