# Lachares > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lachares > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lachares.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachares > Source revision: 1299165359 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Ancient Athenian politician}} '''Lachares''' ({{langx|grc|Λαχάρης}}) was a [demagogue](/source/demagogue) and [tyrant](/source/tyrant) of [Athens](/source/Athens) at the turn from the 4th to the 3rd century BC. ==Rule in Athens== Lachares was one of the most influential leaders in his native city, after [Athenian democracy](/source/Athenian_democracy) had been re-established by [Demetrius Poliorcetes](/source/Demetrius_Poliorcetes). In 301/300 BC he besieged Charias, who had occupied the Acropolis with his followers; after Charias surrendered, he and three others were sentenced to death by the popular assembly. Allegedly, Lachares was afterwards secretly gained over by the [King of Macedonia](/source/King_of_Macedonia) [Cassander](/source/Cassander), who incited him to aim at the acquisition of the [tyranny](/source/tyranny), hoping to be able through his means to rule Athens.[Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)), I 25,7. He does not seem, however, to have been able to effect this purpose until Athens was besieged by Demetrius (296 BC), when he took advantage of the excitement of the popular mind to expel [Demochares](/source/Demochares), the leader of the opposite party, and establish himself as undisputed master of the city. We know but little either of the intrigues by which he raised himself to power or of his proceedings afterwards, but he is described in general terms by Pausanias, as "of all tyrants the most inhuman towards men, and the most sacrilegious towards the gods". He plundered the temples, and especially the [Parthenon](/source/Parthenon), of all their most valuable treasures, stripping even the [chryselephantine](/source/chryselephantine) statue of [Athena Parthenos](/source/Athena_Parthenos) of her sacred ornaments. At the beginning of his rule he had procured a decree to be passed, forbidding, under pain of death, even the mention of treating with Demetrius and he succeeded in inducing, or compelling, the Athenians to hold out until they were reduced to the last extremities of famine. At length, however, he despaired of doing so any longer, and made his escape to [Boeotia](/source/Boeotia).Pausanias I 25,7, 29,10; [Plutarch](/source/Plutarch), ''Demetrius'' 33, 34, De Ts. et Osir. 71, p. 379, Adv. Epicur. p. 1090; [Polyaenus](/source/Polyaenus) ''Stratagemata'' IV 7,5; [Athenaeus](/source/Athenaeus) IX p. 405f. ==Escape from Athens== The historian [Polyaenus](/source/Polyaenus) tells a number of stories about the tyrant's lucky escapes which appear almost as a [literary topos](/source/literary_topos). According to Polyaenus, Lachares fled from Athens stealing the city's [put](/source/Store_of_value) and hiding the gold in a basket covered with dung. Dressed up as a slave, with his face blackened, he slipped out through a minor gate. Chased by a squadron of fast cavalry, he scattered some gold coins on the road to slow his pursuers, which allowed him to reach [Thebes](/source/Thebes%2C_Greece). When Demetrius Poliorcetes took that city, too, Lachares hid himself in the sewers, only to come out at night after a few days and make his escape to [Delphi](/source/Delphi). From there he went to king [Lysimachus](/source/Lysimachus) in [Thrace](/source/Thrace), and there he was once again in danger of falling into the hands of his enemy, when Demetrius besieged the town of [Sestos](/source/Sestos) on the [Hellespont](/source/Hellespont), in which Lachares happened to be. Again, Lachares stayed for several days in a pit, with just enough provisions to support himself, and this time he escaped during a funeral procession disguised as a mourning woman wearing a gown and a black veil over his head. From Sestos he fled to [Lysimachia](/source/Lysimachia_(Thrace)).Polyaenus III 7 Finally we hear of him at [Cassandrea](/source/Cassandrea) as late as 279 BC, when he was expelled from that city by [Apollodorus](/source/Apollodorus_of_Cassandreia), on a charge of having conspired to betray it into the hands of [Antiochus](/source/Antiochus_I_Soter).Polyaenus VI 7,2 ==Death== [Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)) states that Lachares was murdered by the people of [Coroneia](/source/Koroneia%2C_Boeotia) for the sake of the wealth he was supposed to have accumulated. The geographer gives no date for his death, which leaves several possibilities: either he died much earlier than Polyaenus believes, or Pausanias is mistaken, or Lachares later returned south, to meet his fate in Boeotia many years after his tyranny.Pausanias I 25,7 ==References== {{reflist}} * {{Source-attribution|[Smith, William](/source/William_Smith_(lexicographer)) (editor); "Lachares", in ''[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology](/source/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology)'', volume II. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. (1867). {{nobreak|p. {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20150315181718/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1807.html 699]}} – {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051231194311/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1808.html 700]}}.}}}} == Further reading == * [Henning Börm](/source/Henning_B%C3%B6rm): ''[https://www.academia.edu/36901427/Ein_Bollwerk_f%C3%BCr_Tyrannen_Lachares_Charias_und_die_Athener_Akropolis_im_fr%C3%BChen_Hellenismus_in_E_Sioumpara_U_Gotter_eds_Identit%C3%A4t_aus_Stein_Die_Athener_Akropolis_und_ihre_Stadt_Munich_UVK_2022_pp_81ff_uncorrected_proofs_ Ein Bollwerk für Tyrannen? Lachares, Charias und die Athener Akropolis im frühen Hellenismus.]'' In: Elisavet Sioumpara, Ulrich Gotter (eds.): ''Identität aus Stein: Die Athener Akropolis und ihre Stadt.'' UVK, Munich 2022, pp. 81–90. * Peter Thonemann: "Charias on the Acropolis." ''[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik](/source/Zeitschrift_f%C3%BCr_Papyrologie_und_Epigraphik)'' 144, 2003, pp. 123-124 * William S. Ferguson: "Lachares and Demetrios Poliorcetes." In: ''Classical Philology'' 24, 1929, pp. 1–31. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hippias}} Category:4th-century BC births Category:4th-century BC Athenians Category:3rd-century BC Athenians Category:3rd-century BC deaths Category:Athenian tyrants Category:4th-century BC Greek politicians Category:3rd-century BC Greek politicians --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lachares](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachares) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachares?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.