Glaucus
Γλαῦκος
(Γλαῦκος), the son of Epicydes, a Lacedaemonian, of whom an anecdote is related by Herodotus (6.86) that in consequence of his having the highest reputation for justice, a Milesian deposited with him a large sum of money; but when, many years afterwards, the sons of the owner came to demand back their property, Glaucus refused to give up the money, and disclaimed all knowledge of the transaction. Before, however, he ventured to confirm his falsehood by an oath, he consulted the oracle at Delphi, and, terrified at the answer he received, immediately restored the deposit. But the god did not suffer the meditated perjury to go unpunished, and the whole family of Glaucus was exterminated before the third generation. The same story is alluded to by Pausanias (2.18.2, 8.7.4), and by Juvenal (13.199).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.