Editing Lysander (section)

==Early life==
Little is known of Lysander's early life. His year of birth is estimated at 454 BC.<ref name="Detlef Lotze 1964">Detlef Lotze, ''Lysander und der Peloponnesische Krieg'', Berlin: Akademie (1964), 13</ref> Some ancient authors record that his mother was a [[Helots|helot]] or slave.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology|last=Smith|first=William|publisher=Little, Brown and co.|year=1867|location=Boston|pages=861}}</ref> Lysander's father was Aristocritus,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Lynette G. |title=Greeks Bearing Gifts: The Public Use of Private Relationships in the Greek World, 435–323 BC |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89330-5 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tI4-aoBHgysC&dq=Lysander+aristocritus&pg=PA87 |language=en}}. Some manuscript sources have "Aristocleitus", but "Aristocritus" appears in contemporary inscriptions, e.g. [[Inscriptiones Graecae]] II<sup>2</sup> 1388, l. 32.</ref> who was a member of the Spartan [[Heracleidae]]; that is, he claimed descent from [[Heracles]] but was not a member of a royal family. According to [[Plutarch]], Lysander grew up in poverty and showed himself obedient, conformed to norms, and had a "manly spirit".<ref name="lys-lives">[[Plutarch]], [[Parallel Lives|Lives]]. Life of Lysander. ([http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/lysander.html University of Massachusetts]/[[s:Lives/Cimon|Wikisource]])</ref>

It was custom in the Spartan upbringing for a young adult to be assigned as the "inspirer" (''eispnelas'') or "lover" (''erastes'') of an adolescent, and Lysander was matched in this role with the future king [[Agesilaus II|Agesilaus]], the younger son of [[Archidamus II]].<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta'', London: Duckworth, 1987, 29</ref> Nothing is known of Lysander's actual career before he was elected, in 408 BC, to Sparta's annual office of admiral, to conduct the long-running [[Peloponnesian War]] against Athens.<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta'', London: Duckworth, 1987, 79</ref>