Autolycus of Athens

Autolycus (Greek: Αὐτόλυκος; fl. 5th century BC) was a young Athenian athlete of singular beauty and the object of the affection of Callias. It is in honour of a victory gained by him in the pentathlon at the Panathenaic Games that Callias gives the banquet described by Xenophon.[1]

After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars at the hands of Lysander, Autolycus defeated the Spartan-appointed governor Callibius by "tripping up his heels and throwing him to the ground". Callibius in turn hit Autolycus with his staff upon which Callibius was scolded by Lysander who told him that he "didn't know how to govern free men". Puppets of Lysander and the Spartans killed Autolycus soon after to appease Callibius.[2]

Notes

  1. Comp. Athen. v. p. 187. (cited in Smith)
  2. Plutarch's Lives. Lysander

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, October 29, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.