(), 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 (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.