A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

5. A general of Ptolemy Soter, who sent him in B. C. 310 to dislodge from the maritime towns of Cilicia the garrisons of Antigonus, which, it was alleged, the treaty of the preceding year required him to withdraw. Leonidas was successful at first, but Demetrius Poliorcetes, arriving soon after, defeated him and regained the towns (Diod. 20.19). Suidas tells us (s. v. Δημήτριος ʽο Ἀντιγόνου) that Ptolemy, after having restored freedom to the Greek cities, left Leonidas in Greece as governor. He may perhaps be referring to Ptolemy's expedition to Greece in B. C. 308, with the professed object of vindicating the liberty of the several states there (see Diod. 20.37; Plut. Dem. 15), and the name Leonidas may be intended for Cleonidas. But the whole statement in Suidas is singularly confused.

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