EVAGORAS

This article appears in Volume V09, Page 959 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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EVAGORAS , son of Nicocles, king of Salamis in Cyprus 410374 B.C. He claimed descent from Teucer, half-brother of Ajax, son of Telamon, and his family had long been rulers of Salamis until supplanted by a Phoenician

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

. When the usurper was in turn driven out by a Cyprian noble, Evagoras, fearing that his life was in danger, fled to Cilicia. Thence he returned secretly in 410, and with the aid of a small band of adherents regained possession of the throne. According to Isocrates, whose panegyric must however be read with caution, Evagoras was a model ruler, whose aim was to promote the welfare of his state and of his subjects by the cultivation of Greek refinement and civilization, which had been almost obliterated in Salamis by a long period of barbarian

rule

RULE

. He cultivated the friendship of the Athenians, and after the defeat of Conon at Aegospotami he afforded him

refuge

REFUGE

and hospitality. For a time he also maintained friendly relations with Persia, and secured the aid of Artaxerxes II. for Athens against Sparta. He took part in the battle of Cnidus (394), in which the Spartan

fleet

FLEET

was defeated, and for this service his statue was placed by the Athenians side by side with that of Conon in the Ceramicus. But the energy and enterprise of Evagoras soon roused the jealousy of the

Great

GREAT

King, and relations between them became strained. From 391 they were virtually at war. Aided by the Athenians and the Egyptian Hakor (Acoris), Evagoras extended his

rule

RULE

over the greater part of Cyprus, crossed over to

Asia

ASIA

Minor

, took several cities in Phoenicia, and persuaded the Cilicians to revolt. After the peace of Antalcidas (387), to which he refused to agree, the Athenians withdrew their support, since by its terms they recognized the lordship of Persia over Cyprus. For ten years Evagoras carried on hostilities single-handed, except for occasional aid from Egypt. At last he was totally defeated at Citium, and compelled to flee to Salamis. Here, although closely blockaded, he managed to hold his ground, and took advantage of a quarrel between the Persian generals to conclude peace (376). Evagoras was allowed to remain nominally king of Salamis, but in reality a vassal of Persia, to which he was to pay a yearly tribute. The chronology of the last part of his reign is uncertain. In 374 he was assassinated by a eunuch from motives of private revenge.
The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

authority for the life of Evagoras is the panegyric of Isocrates addressed to his son Nicocles; see also Diod. Sic. xiv. 115, xv. 2-9; Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 8; W. Judeich, Kleinasiatische Studien (Marburg, 1892), and art. HELLENISM.

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