LYSANIAS, tetrarch of Abilene (see ABILA) in the time of John the Baptist (Luke iii. I). The only Lysanias mentioned in profane history as exercising authority in this district was exe cuted in 36 B.C. by Mark Antony. He was the son of Ptolemy Mennaeus, the ruler of an independent state, of which Abilene formed only a small portion. According to Josephus (Ant. xix. 5, I) the emperor Claudius in A.D. 42 confirmed Agrippa I. in the possession of "Abila of Lysanias" already bestowed upon him by Caligula. It is argued that this cannot refer to the Lysanias executed by Mark Antony, since his paternal inheritance must have been of far greater extent. It is therefore assumed by some authorities that the Lysanias in Luke (A.D. 28-29) is a younger Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene only, one of the districts into which the original kingdom was split up after the death of Lysanias I. This younger Lysanias may have been a son of the latter, and identical with, or the father of, the Claudian Lysanias. On the other hand, Josephus knows nothing of a younger Lysanias, and it is suggested by others that he really does refer to Lysanias I.
At Thurii, a new foundation on the Tarentine gulf, Lysias began his studies in rhetoric under Tisias, according to tradi tion. The destruction of the Athenian expedition in 413 led to an anti-Athenian outburst, and the expulsion of Lysias and Pole marchus, who returned to Athens. There they settled as favoured aliens (taorEXEI.$), Polemarchus in Athens itself and Lysias in Peiraeus, near their shield factory, a large concern employing 120 slaves. The attack of the Thirty Tyrants on the resident
aliens in 404 was fatal to Polemarchus, and Lysias only just es caped from imprisonment by a large bribe. He took refuge in Megara; from there he gave assistance to the exiles, and in the restoration in 403 Thrasybulus moved to bestow the citizenship on him, a measure defeated on a technical objection. The recent disturbances had probably reduced Lysias to comparative poverty, and the rest of his life was spent in composing speeches for the law courts. Little is known of his personal life. He made his only personal appearance in 403, when he indicted Eratosthenes, one of the Tyrants. There is a tradition that he delivered his own Olym piacus at the festival of 388, to which Dionysius of Syracuse had sent a magnificent embassy. The speech is an appeal to Greece to deliver Sicily from Dionysius' tyranny. The latest speech we can date (For Pherenicus) belongs to 381 or 380. Lysias probably died in or soon after 38o B.c.
Lysias was a man of kindly and genial nature, warm in friend ship, loyal to country, with a keen perception of character, and a fine though strictly controlled sense of humour. The literary tact which is so remarkable in the extant speeches is that of a singularly flexible intelligence, always obedient to an instinct of gracefulness. He owes his distinctive place to the power of concealing his art. It was obviously desirable that a speech written for delivery by a client should be suitable to his age, station and circumstances. Lysias was the first to make this adaptation really artistic. His skill can be best appreciated if we turn from the easy flow of his graceful language to the majestic emphasis of Antiphon, or to the self-revealing art of Isaeus. Translated into terms of ancient criticism, he became the model of the "plain style" (icrxPas xapatcrip, genus tenue). Greek rhetoric began in the "grand" style ; then Lysias set an exquisite pattern of the "plain"; and Demosthenes might be considered as having effected an almost ideal compromise.