Gryllus () was the elder son of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

. When the war, which broke out between

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...

and Arcadia in 365 BC, on the subject of the

Triphylia Triphylia (, ''Trifylia'', "the country of the three tribes") was an area of the ancient Peloponnese. Strabo and Pausanias both describe Triphylia as part of Elis, and it fell at times under the domination of the city of Elis, but Pausanias ...

n towns, had rendered a residence at

Scillus Scillus or Skillous () was a town of Triphylia, a district of ancient Elis, situated 20 stadia south of Olympia. In 572 BCE the Scilluntians assisted Pyrrhus, king of Pisa, in making war upon the Eleians; but they were completely conquere ...

no longer safe, Gryllus and his brother Diodorus were sent by Xenophon to

Lepreum Lepreum or Lepreon (), alternately named Lepreus or Lepreos (Λέπρεος) was an Ancient Greek city-state in Triphylia, a district of Elis (now part of the Elis regional unit). It was located 40 stadia away from the sea at the west end of M ...

for security. Here he himself soon after joined them, and went with them to

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

. Both young men served with the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

cavalry at the Battle of Mantinea, in 362 BC, where Gryllus was slain in the fighting. It was he, according to the account of the Athenians and Thebans, who gave

Epaminondas Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...

his mortal wound, and he was represented in the act of inflicting it in a picture of the battle by

Euphranor AGMA Apollon Patroos Euphranor. Euphranor of Corinth () (middle of the 4th century BC) was a Greek artist who excelled both as a sculptor and as a painter. Pliny the Elder provides a list of his works including a cavalry battle, a Theseus, and t ...

in the Cerameicus. The

Mantineia Mantinea (; ''Mantineia''; also Koine Greek ''Antigoneia'') was a city in ancient Arcadia, Greece, which was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. In modern times it is a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, ...

ns also, though they ascribed the death of Epaminondas to a "Machaerion", yet honored Gryllus with a public funeral and an equestrian statue, and reverenced his memory, as the bravest of all who fought on their side at Mantineia. According to

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

, he was celebrated after his death in numberless epigrams and panegyrics. Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 1.3, 8.9, 11, 9.15.

Notes

{{DGRBM, author=EE, title=Gryllus, volume=2, page=315, url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0002.001/325 360s BC deaths Ancient Greeks killed in battle 4th-century BC Athenians