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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamachus</span></span>

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<b>Lamachus</b> (<a href="Ancient_Greek_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Ancient Greek language">Ancient Greek</a>: <span lang="grc">Λάμαχος</span>) was an <a href="Athens" title="Athens">Athenian</a> <a href="Strategos" title="Strategos">strategos</a> or general in the <a href="Peloponnesian_War" title="Peloponnesian War">Peloponnesian War</a>. He commanded as early as 435 BCE, and was prominent by the mid 420s.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="Aristophanes" title="Aristophanes">Aristophanes</a> caricatured him in <i><a href="The_Acharnians" title="The Acharnians">The Acharnians</a></i><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and subsequently honoured his memory in <i><a href="The_Frogs" title="The Frogs">The Frogs</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He was one of the three generals (alongside <a href="Nicias" title="Nicias">Nicias</a> and <a href="Alcibiades" title="Alcibiades">Alcibiades</a>) placed in command of the <a href="Sicilian_Expedition" title="Sicilian Expedition">Sicilian Expedition</a>.

</p><p>Lamachus, though older, was known for his fiery disposition and was fond of taking risks in battle. He was also so poor that during the campaigns in which he served as a general, he would charge the Athenian people money for his own clothes and boots. Although Lamachus was known for his courage and military skill, he was sometimes thought less qualified than other generals because he lacked the necessary wealth and social position.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a> first mentions Lamachus in <i>The Life of Pericles</i>. Lamachus was given command of a fleet of thirteen ships so that he might aid the citizens of <a href="Sinop%2C_Turkey" title="Sinop, Turkey">Sinope</a> against Timesileos. The probable date of this expedition is 438–432 BCE between the <a href="Samian_War" title="Samian War">Samian War</a> and the beginning of the <a href="Peloponnesian_War" title="Peloponnesian War">Peloponnesian War</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="Thucydides" title="Thucydides">Thucydides</a> states that Lamachus was sent to the <a href="Euxine" class="mw-redirect" title="Euxine">Euxine</a> again in 424 BCE for the purpose of collecting tributes. Lamachus had sailed into the Pontus and anchored his ships in the river Calex. There he lost ten of his ships during a sudden flood, but was able to deliver his men safely to <a href="Chalcedon" title="Chalcedon">Chalcedon</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In 415 BCE, Lamachus was elected general of the Sicilian Expedition with <a href="Nicias" title="Nicias">Nicias</a> and <a href="Alcibiades" title="Alcibiades">Alcibiades</a>. Lamachus proposed an aggressive strategy against <a href="Syracuse%2C_Italy" class="mw-redirect" title="Syracuse, Italy">Syracuse</a> thinking that the Athenians should attack as soon as possible while the inhabitants were still unprepared for battle. His proposal was rejected in favor of the strategy of Alcibiades, which consisted of gathering allies around <a href="Sicily" title="Sicily">Sicily</a> prior to engagement. <a href="Donald_Kagan" title="Donald Kagan">Donald Kagan</a> has suggested that Lamachus's strategy might well have brought <a href="Athens" title="Athens">Athens</a> a quick victory instead of the disaster that ensued.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Lamachus died fighting in Sicily after he and a handful of his men were trapped on the wrong side of a ditch and overwhelmed.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

<ul><li><a href="Aristophanes" title="Aristophanes">Aristophanes</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aristoph.+Ach.+1">The Acharnians</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Diodorus_Siculus" title="Diodorus Siculus">Diodorus Siculus</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0084">Library</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0181:text=Alc.">Alcibiades</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0181:text=Nic.">Nicias</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0181:text=Per.">Pericles</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Thucydides" title="Thucydides">Thucydides</a>, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0106&default.scheme=book:chapter*&default.type=book">History of the Peloponnesian War</a></i>. From the <a href="Perseus_Project" class="mw-redirect" title="Perseus Project">Perseus Project</a></li>

<li><a href="Donald_Kagan" title="Donald Kagan">Kagan, Donald</a>. <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> (Penguin Books, 2003). <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">

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</style><a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-670-03211-5</bdi></li>

<li>Fine, John V.A. <i>The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History</i> (Harvard University Press, 1983) <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-674-03314-0</bdi></li>

<li>Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth ed., <i>The Oxford Classical Dictionary</i> (Oxford University Press, 2003) <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-19-866172-X</bdi></li>

<li>Stadter, Philip A. <i>A Commentary On Plutarch's Pericles</i> (The University of North Carolina Press, 1989). <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8078-1861-5</bdi></li>

<li>West, Allen B. <i>Notes on Certain Athenian Generals of the Year 424-3 B.C.</i> The American Journal of Philology 45.2 (1924):141–160</li>

<li>Hanson, Victor D. <i>A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War</i> (random House, 2006)</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Footnotes">Footnotes</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Henry Dickinson Westlake and Simon Hornblower, "Lamachus," from <i>The Oxford Classical Dictionary</i>, Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth ed.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aristophanes, <i>The Acharnians</i>.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i><a href="The_Frogs" title="The Frogs">The Frogs</a> 1039</i>.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">West, <i>Notes on Certain Athenian Generals of the Year 424-3 B.C.</i></span>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Stadter, <i>A Commentary On Plutarch's Pericles</i></span>

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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Thucydides, <i>History of the Peloponnesian War iv</i></span>

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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Kagan, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i></span>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.livius.org/la-ld/lamachus/lamachus.html">Livius.org: Lamachus</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305015150/http://www.livius.org/la-ld/lamachus/lamachus.html">Archived</a> 5 March 2013 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-02-15" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Lamachus&oldid=1275834018">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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