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

(Λυκοῦργος).

1. An Athenian, son of Aristolaidas, was the leader of the high oligarchical party, or the party of the plain, while those of the coast and the highlands were headed respectively by Megacles, the Alcmaeonid, and Peisistratus. The government having been usurped by Peisistratus, in B. C. 560, Megacles and Lycurgus coalesced and drove him out in B. C. 554. But they then renewed their dissensions with one another, and the consequence was the restoration of Peisistratus, in B. C. 548, by marriage with the daughter of Megacles. He treated the lady, however, as only nominally his wife, and the Alcmaeonidae, indignant at the insult, again made common cause with Lycurgus, and expelled Peisistratus for the second time, in B. C. 547. (Her. 1.59, &c.)