managed the finances of Athens for twelve successive years (338–326), at first directly as treasurer of the revenues (ὁ ἑπὶ τῇ διοικήσει) for four years, and in two succeeding terms, when the actual office was forbidden him by law, through his son and a nominal official chosen from his party. Part of one of the deeds in which he rendered account of his term of office is still preserved in an inscription. During this time he raised the public income from 600 to 1200 talents yearly. He increased the navy, repaired the dockyards, and completed an arsenal, the σκευοθήκη designed by the architect Philo. He was also appointed to various other offices connected with the preservation and improvement of the city. He was very strict in his superintendence of the public morals, and passed a sumptuary law to restrain extravagance. He did much to beautify the city; he reconstructed the great Dionysiac theatre and the gymnasium in the Lyceum, and erected the Panathenaic stadium on the Ilissus. He is mentioned as the proposer of five laws, of which the most famous was that statues of the three great tragedians should be erected in the theatre, and that their works should be carefully edited and preserved among the state archives. For his services he was honoured with crowns, statues and a seat in the town hall; and after his death his friend Stratocles drew up a decree (still extant in pseudo-Plutarch, Vit. dec. orat. p. 851; see also E. L. Hicks, Greek Historical Inscriptions, 1st ed., No. 145), ordering the erection of a statue of bronze to Lycurgus, and granting the honours of the Prytaneum to his eldest son. He was one of the orators whose surrender was demanded by Alexander the Great, but the people refused to give him up. He died while president of the theatre of Dionysus, and was buried on the road leading to the Academy at the expense of the state.
Lycurgus was a man of action; his orations, of which fifteen were published, are criticized by the ancients for their awkward arrangement, harshness of style, and the tendency to digressions about mythology and history, although their noble spirit and lofty morality are highly praised. The one extant example, Against Leocrates, fully bears out this criticism. After the battle of Chaeroneia (338), in spite of the decree which forbade emigration under pain of death, Leocrates had fled from Athens. On his return (probably about 332) he was impeached by Lycurgus, but acquitted, the votes of the judges being equally divided.
The speech has been frequently edited. Editio princeps (Aldine, 1513); F. G. Kiessling (1847) with M. H. E. Meier’s commentary on pseudo-Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus and the fragments of his speeches; C. Rehdantz (1876); T. Thalheim (1880); C. Scheibe (1885); F. Blass (ed. major, 1889), with bibliography of editions and articles (ed. minor, 1902); E. Sofer (Leipzig, 1905), with notes and introd. There is an index to Andocides, Lycurgus and Dinarchus by L. L. Forman (Oxford, 1897). The exhaustive treatise of F. Dürrbach, L’Orateur Lycurgue (1890), contains a list of the most important review articles on the financial and naval administration of Lycurgus and on his public works; see also C. Droege, De Lycurgo publicarum pecuniarum administratore (Minden, 1880). Several fragments of his various laws have been preserved in inscriptions (Corpus inscriptionum atticarum, ii. 162, 163, 173, 176, 180). On the history of the period see authorities under Demosthenes.
LYCURGUS, “the Logothete” (1772–1851), Greek leader in the War of Independence, was born in the island of Samos. He was educated at Constantinople, received the usual training, and followed the customary career of a Phanariot Greek. He accompanied Constantine Ypsilanti when he was appointed hospodar of Walachia, as secretary, and served Ypsilanti’s successor, Alexander Soutzos, as treasurer and chancellor (Logothete). In 1802 he returned to Samos, and having become suspected by the Turkish government was imprisoned. He fled to Smyrna, when he was pardoned and released by the Turks. When the War of Independence began he induced his countrymen to declare Samos independent, and was chosen ruler. His share in the War of Independence is chiefly memorable because he provoked the massacre of Chios in 1822. Lycurgus conducted an expedition of 2500 to that island, which was held by a Turkish garrison under Velna Pasha. His force was insufficient, the time was ill-chosen, for a strong Turkish fleet was at sea, and Lycurgus displayed utter incapacity as a military leader. After these events, he was deposed by the Samians, but recovered some influence and had a share in the defence of Samos against the Turks in 1824. When the island was left under the authority of Turkey by the protocol of the 3rd of February 1830, he helped to obtain autonomy for the Samians. He retired to Greece and died on the 22nd of May 1851.
See G. Finlay, History of the Greek Revolution (London, 1861).
LYDD, a market town and municipal borough in the southern
parliamentary division of Kent, England, 7112 m. S.E. by E.
of London by a branch of the South-Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. (1901) 2675. It lies in the open lowland of
Dunge Marsh. To the south-east are the bare shingle banks
of the promontory of Dungeness. Its church of All Saints has
a beautiful Perpendicular tower with rich vaulting within.
The neighbourhood affords pasture for large flocks of sheep.
On the land known as the Rypes, in the neighbourhood, there
is a military camp, with artillery and rifle ranges; hence the
name given to the explosive “lyddite.” The town is governed
by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 12,043
acres.
The first settlement at Lydd (Hlide, Lide, Lyde) was probably due to its convenience as a fishing-station. After the Conquest it became a seaport of some consequence and although now, owing to the alteration of the coast, it stands nearly 3 m. inland a number of its inhabitants are still fishermen. In 774 land in Lydd was granted by Offa to the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the archbishop of Canterbury evidently held the lordship of the town from an early date. At some time before the reign of Edward I. Lydd was made a member of the Cinque Port of Romney, and in 1290 was granted the same liberties and free customs as the Cinque Ports on condition of aiding the service of its head-port to the crown with one ship. This charter was confirmed by Edward III. in 1365. The corporation also possesses documents of 1154, 1399 and 1413, granting to the archbishop’s men of Lydd the privileges enjoyed by the Cinque Ports and confirming all former privileges. Lydd is called a borough in the Hundred Rolls. Its incorporation under a bailiff, of which there is evidence in the 15th century, may have been due to the archbishop or to the court of Shepway, but it was not incorporated by the crown until 1885, when, by a charter under the Municipal Acts, the last bailiff was elected the first mayor. In 1494 a grant was made to the bailiff, jurats and commonalty of a yearly fair on the 12th of July and two days following. A fair was held under this grant until 1874.
LYDENBURG, a town and district of the Transvaal, South
Africa. The town is 60 m. by rail N.N.E. of Belfast on the
Pretoria-Delagoa Bay railway. Pop. (1904) 1523. It is picturesquely
situated on the Spekboom tributary of the Olifants
river at an altitude of 4900 ft. Some 15 m. E. is the Mauchberg
(8725 ft.), the highest point in the Transvaal. The town is the
chief centre for the Lydenburg goldfields. Next to Lydenburg
the most important settlement in these goldfields is Pilgrim’s
Rest, pop. (1904) 1188, 23 m. N.E. of Lydenburg. Lydenburg
(the town of suffering) was founded in 1846 by Boers who two
years previously had established themselves farther north at
Ohrigstad, which they abandoned on account of the fever
endemic there. Lydenburg at once became the capital of a
district (of the same name) which then embraced all the eastern
part of the Transvaal. In 1856 the Boers of Lydenburg separated
from their brethren and proclaimed an independent republic,
which was, however, incorporated with the South African
Republic in 1860. The discovery of gold near the town was
made in 1869, and in 1873 the first successful goldfield in the
Transvaal was opened here. It was not until 1910, however,
that Lydenburg was placed in railway communication with the
rest of the country. The present district of Lydenburg consists
of the north-east and central parts of the original district. In
the Lulu Mountains, a spur of the Drakensberg, and some 40 m.
N.W. of Lydenburg, was the stronghold of the Kaffir chief
Sikukuni, whose conflict with the Boers in 1876 was one of the
causes which led to the annexation of the Transvaal by Great
Britain in 1877. (See Transvaal: History.)
