Menelaus (son of Lagus)
Menelaus (Egypt), served as priest of the eponymous state cult of Alexander, and was for a time king in Cyprus, under his brother.
His name does not occur among the officers or generals of
Nicocreon, king of Salamis.[3] By their combined efforts, they soon reduced all the cities of Cyprus to subjection, with the exception of Citium
; and that also, it would appear, must have ultimately submitted. Menelaus now remained in the island, which he governed with almost absolute authority, the petty princes of the several cities being deposed, imprisoned, or assassinated on the slightest symptom of disaffection.
He still held the chief command in 306 BC, when
great sea-fight that ensued, Menelaus sent a squadron of sixty ships to assist Ptolemy; but though these succeeded in forcing their way out of the harbour of Salamis, they came too late to retrieve the fortune of the day; and the total defeat of the Egyptian fleet having extinguished all his hopes of succour, he immediately afterwards surrendered the city of Salamis, with all his forces, both military and naval, into the hands of Demetrius. The Besieger, with characteristic magnanimity, sent him back to Egypt, accompanied by his friends, and carrying with him all his private property.[4]
In the 280s, he served as the first
eponymous priest of the cult of Alexander
.
Notes
References
- Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Menelaus (3)" Archived 2009-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, Boston, (1867)
- E. R. Bevan House of Ptolemy, Chapter II
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Menelaus(3)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
