Same entry (but with the apparently more authentic single-l version of the name) in Harpocration and
Photius.
Derkylidas [OCD(4) 442] was not, as these lexica claim, a Spartan
king, but rather a Spartiate who won distinction in several military commands during the late fifth and early fourth centuries.
Xenophon reports that he won a reputation for cleverness and deception which earned him the nickname "Sisyphos" (
Xenophon,
Hellenica 3.1.8). Derkylidas first appears in 411, when he led an expedition that seized the strategic city of
Abydos↗ on the Hellespont from the Athenians (
Thucydides 8.61-62). He then apparently stayed at
Abydos↗ as harmost, or governor, but was disgraced in some argument with the Persian satrap Pharnabazos in 407/6 (Xen.
Hell. 3.1.9). From 399 to 397 he commanded the Spartan army (composed of freed helots, allied Peloponnesians, and the remnants of
Xenophon's ten thousand) which was engaged in hostilities against the Persian satraps Tissaphernes and Pharnabazos in
Ionia↗ and Hellespontine
Phrygia↗ (Xen.
Hell. 3.1.8-2.20). Replaced in command by the Spartan king Agesilaos II in 396, Derkylidas apparently returned to
Sparta↗ and fought in the battle of the
Nemea↗ in 394 (Xen.
Hell. 4.3.2). He brought the news of this Spartan victory to Agesilaos, who sent him back to the Hellespont. Derkylidas arrived at
Abydos↗ just before the Spartan naval disaster at
Knidos↗, after which he was responsible for maintaining Spartan control of the Hellespont (Xen.
Hell. 4.8.3-5). He was relieved of the governorship of
Abydos↗ in 389 (Xen.
Hell. 4.8.32).
Despite his considerable military reputation, he was apparently looked down on to some degree because of his status as a bachelor, in a Spartan state which encouraged marriage (
Plutarch Lycurgus 15.2).