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72-599: In the 7th through 5th centuries BC, the Alcmaeonidae played a significant role in the developments and events that occurred in Athens. Such developments included overthrowing an Athenian tyrant , helping to lay the foundations of Athenian democracy , and having generals for Athens during the Peloponnesian War . The Alcmaeonidae were mentioned frequently throughout Herodotus ' The Histories , and many played

144-399: A deme or demos ( Ancient Greek : δῆμος , plural: demoi , δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of a deme became

216-542: A deme . The word tyrannos , possibly pre-Greek, Pelasgian or eastern in origin, then carried no ethical censure; it simply referred to anyone, good or bad, who obtained executive power in a polis by unconventional means. Support for the tyrants could come from fellow oligarchs, from the growing middle class or from the peasants who had no land or were in debt to the wealthy landowners. The Greek tyrants stayed in power by using mercenary soldiers from outside of their respective city-state. To mock tyranny, Thales wrote that

288-474: A "prince") with "tyranny", regardless of the legitimacy of that rule, in his Discourses on Livy . He also identifies liberty with republican regimes. Sometimes he calls leaders of republics "princes". He never uses the word in The Prince . He also does not share in the traditional view of tyranny, and in his Discourses he sometimes explicitly acts as an advisor to tyrants. Ancient Greeks , as well as

360-496: A bodyguard which he used to seize power. He later appeared with a woman dressed as a goddess to suggest divine sanction of his rule. The third time he used mercenaries to seize and retain power. Lengthy recommendations of methods were made to tyrants by Aristotle (in Politics for example) and Niccolò Machiavelli (in The Prince ). These are, in general, force and fraud. They include hiring bodyguards, stirring up wars to keep

432-567: A decent resistance, the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the senate; and consented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies..." Emperors "humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed." The Roman Empire "may be defined as an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth." Roman emperors were deified. Gibbons called emperors tyrants and their rule tyranny. His definitions in

504-522: A democracy, call it anarchy..." The first part of Dante Alighieri 's The Divine Comedy describes tyrants ("who laid hold on blood and plunder") in the seventh level of Hell, where they are submerged in boiling blood. These include Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun , and share the level with highway robbers. Niccolò Machiavelli conflates all rule by a single person (whom he generally refers to as

576-450: A key role in shaping Athens. The first prominent Alcmaeonid was Megacles , who was exiled from the city and given a curse on him and his family. Furthermore, there was Cleisthenes , who became known as "the father of Athenian democracy" by numerous scholars and historians. Another famous Alcmaeonid was Pericles , whom Thucydides would later call "the first citizen of Athens," as well as Alcibiades , who switched sides numerous times during

648-429: A new environment. Conditions were right for Cypselus to overthrow the aristocratic power of the dominant but unpopular clan of Bacchiadae . Clan members were killed, executed, driven out or exiled in 657 BC. Corinth prospered economically under his rule, and Cypselus managed to rule without a bodyguard . When he then bequeathed his position to his son, Periander , the tyranny proved less secure, and Periander required

720-550: A retinue of mercenary soldiers personally loyal to him. Nevertheless, under Cypselus and Periander, Corinth extended and tightened her control over her colonial enterprises, and exports of Corinthian pottery flourished. However, tyrants seldom succeeded in establishing an untroubled line of succession. Periander threw his pregnant wife downstairs (killing her), burnt his concubines alive, exiled his son, warred with his father-in-law and attempted to castrate 300 sons of his perceived enemies. He retained his position. Periander's successor

792-434: A ruler, an illegitimate ruler (a usurper), an absolute ruler (despot), or an oppressive, unjust, or cruel ruler. The term is usually applied to vicious autocrats who rule their subjects by brutal methods. Oppression, injustice, and cruelty do not have standardized measurements or thresholds. Ancient Greek and Sicilian tyrants were influential opportunists that came to power by securing the support of different factions of

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864-536: A single general reapportionment of quotas within each of the first three periods, while there are evident small quota-variations between the first and the second periods. More precisely in: As regards the last two periods, the material illustrates the complete collapse of the quota-system from 201/200 BC. Some deme lists suggest extensions to the list of 139+3 Demes by adding 43 additional names, some of which have been considered by scholars as Attic demes. The criticism performed by John S. Traill shows that 24 are

936-442: A violent abuse of human beings who are subject to it." While this may represent a consensus position among the classics, it is not unanimous – Thomas Hobbes dissented, claiming no objective distinction, such as being vicious or virtuous, existed among monarchs. "They that are discontented under monarchy, call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy, call it oligarchy: so also, they which find themselves grieved under

1008-444: Is enslaved, and likewise, the tyrannical state is enslaved, because it too lacks reason and order. The philosophers Plato and Aristotle defined a tyrant as a person who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. The Encyclopédie defined the term as a usurper of sovereign power who makes "his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust desires, which he substitutes for laws". In

1080-465: Is sometimes referred to as the " Age of Pericles ." He is credited in part for the transformation of Athens into an empire through the Delian League . Pericles promoted the arts and literature, and it is principally through his efforts that Athens acquired the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that generated most of

1152-446: Is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage." Locke's concept of tyranny influenced the writers of subsequent generations who developed the concept of tyranny as counterpoint to ideas of human rights and democracy . American statesman Thomas Jefferson described

1224-531: Is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector". Tyrants either inherit the position from a previous ruler, rise up the ranks in the military/party or seize power as new men. Early texts called only the usurpers tyrants, distinguishing them from "bad kings". Such tyrants may act as renters, rather than owners, of the state. The political methods of obtaining power were occasionally supplemented by theater or force. Peisistratus of Athens blamed self-inflicted wounds on enemies to justify

1296-457: The Archaic and early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw tyrannos as a negative form of government, and on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, deemed tyranny the "fourth and worst disorder of a state." Tyrants lack "the very faculty that is the instrument of judgment"—reason. The tyrannical man is enslaved because the best part of him (reason)

1368-469: The Dionysia (ultimately leading to the development of Athenian drama), Peisistratus managed to maintain his personal popularity. He was followed by his sons, and with the subsequent growth of Athenian democracy , the title "tyrant" took on its familiar negative connotations. The murder of Peisistratus' son, the tyrant Hipparchus by Aristogeiton and Harmodios in Athens in 514 BC marked the beginning of

1440-584: The Greek τύραννος tyrannos "monarch, ruler of a polis "; tyrannos in its turn has a Pre-Greek origin, perhaps from Lydian . The final -t arises in Old French by association with the present participles in -ant . "The word 'tyranny' is used with many meanings, not only by the Greeks but throughout the tradition of the great books." The Oxford English Dictionary offers alternative definitions:

1512-501: The Maccabees and Herod the Great . He also identified some later tyrants. The Greeks defined both usurpers and those inheriting rule from usurpers as tyrants. Polybius (c. 150 BC) indicated that eventually, any one-man rule (monarchy/executive) governing form would become corrupted into a tyranny. The Greek philosophers stressed the quality of rule rather than legitimacy or absolutism. "Both Plato and Aristotle speak of

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1584-555: The Peloponnesus and Polycrates ruled Samos . During this time, revolts overthrew many governments in the Aegean world. Chilon , the ambitious and capable ephor of Sparta , built a strong alliance amongst neighboring states by making common cause with these groups seeking to oppose unpopular tyrannical rule. By intervening against the tyrants of Sicyon, Corinth and Athens, Sparta thus came to assume Hellenic leadership prior to

1656-537: The Roman Republicans , became generally quite wary of many people seeking to implement a popular coup. Shakespeare portrays the struggle of one such anti-tyrannical Roman, Marcus Junius Brutus , in his play Julius Caesar . In Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I, Chapter III, Augustus was shown to assume the power of a tyrant while sharing power with the reformed senate. "After

1728-557: The Roman Senate . Those who were advocates of "liberty" tended to be pro-Republic and pro-Senate. For instance, regarding Julius Caesar and his assassins, Suetonius wrote: Therefore the plots which had previously been formed separately, often by groups of two or three, were united in a general conspiracy, since even the populace no longer were pleased with present conditions, but both secretly and openly rebelled at his tyranny and cried out for defenders of their liberty. Citizens of

1800-725: The Sword of Damocles . Under the Macedonian hegemony in the 4th and 3rd century BC a new generation of tyrants rose in Greece, especially under the rule of king Antigonus II Gonatas , who installed his puppets in many cities of the Peloponnese. Examples were Cleon of Sicyon , Aristodemus of Megalopolis , Aristomachus I of Argos , Abantidas of Sicyon , Aristippus of Argos , Lydiadas of Megalopolis , Aristomachus II of Argos , and Xenon of Hermione . Against these rulers, in 280 BC

1872-399: The "Great Ideas" of Western thought. The classics contain many references to tyranny and its causes, effects, methods, practitioners, alternatives. They consider tyranny from historical, religious, ethical, political and fictional perspectives. "If any point in political theory is indisputable, it would seem to be that tyranny is the worst corruption of government – a vicious misuse of power and

1944-630: The Alcmaeonidae could be traitors to Athens. In addition, many scholars have debated over the veracity of the story of the shield signal, some believing that it was a ploy to slander the Alcmaeonidae, others that it was just a tale that had gained traction and had no truth. Pericles and Alcibiades also belonged to the Alcmaeonidae, and during the Peloponnesian War the Spartans referred to the family's curse in an attempt to discredit Pericles. Pericles led Athens from roughly 461 to 429 BC, in what

2016-485: The Alcmaeonidae specifically hated tyranny, and that they were more esteemed and highly honored than any other clan for ridding Athens from it. Cleisthenes had bribed the oracle at Delphi (which the Alcmaeonidae had helped to build while they were in exile) to convince the Spartans to help him, which they reluctantly did. He was, at first, opposed by some who felt the famous curse made the Alcmaeonidae ineligible to rule;

2088-516: The Greek mainland, Nabis of Sparta , was assassinated in 192 BC and after his death the Peloponnese was united as a confederation of stable democracies in the Achaean League. Roman historians like Suetonius , Tacitus , Plutarch , and Josephus often spoke of "tyranny" in opposition to "liberty". Tyranny was associated with imperial rule and those rulers who usurped too much authority from

2160-524: The Greeks on behalf of the Persians and provided military advice to the Persians against the Greeks. The Thirty Tyrants whom the Spartans imposed on a defeated Attica in 404 BC would not be classified as tyrants in the usual sense and were in effect an oligarchy . The best known Sicilian tyrants appeared long after the Archaic period. The tyrannies of Sicily came about due to similar causes, but here

2232-487: The Magna Carta), Henry VIII of England and Oliver Cromwell . The path of a tyrant can appear easy and pleasant (for all but the aristocracy). In 1939, Will Durant wrote: Hence the road to power in Greece commercial cities was simple: to attack the aristocracy, defend the poor, and come to an understanding with the middle classes. Arrived at power, the dictator abolished debts, or confiscated large estates, taxed

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2304-507: The Peloponnesian War, and would end up being the last of the notable Alcmaeonidae. The main aristocratic rival of the Alcmaeonidae in the 6th and 5th centuries BC were the Peisistratids . Unlike many aristocratic families at the time, the Alcmaeonidae were not named after a mythological founder, but rather from a historical figure. In this case, the founder was Alcmaeon, father of Megacles. Similar to other aristocratic families however,

2376-618: The Persian invasions. Simultaneously Persia first started making inroads into Greece, and many tyrants sought Persian help against popular forces seeking to remove them. Corinth hosted one of the earliest of Greek tyrants. In Corinth , growing wealth from colonial enterprises, and the wider horizons brought about by the export of wine and oil, together with the new experiences of the Eastern Mediterranean brought back by returning mercenary hoplites employed overseas created

2448-487: The Spartan king Cleomenes I even turned against Cleisthenes and the latter was briefly exiled once more. However, the citizens called for Cleisthenes to return, as Cleisthenes achieved support from the masses due to his calls for a more democratic system against his rival Isagoras , thus giving more power to the people, and the restored Alcmaeonids were responsible for laying the foundations of Athenian democracy. A few of

2520-587: The actions of King George III as "tyrannical" in the United States Declaration of Independence . Enlightenment philosophers seemed to define tyranny by its associated characteristics. Edward Sexby's 1657 pamphlet, "Killing, No Murder" ( PDF file ) outlined 14 key traits of a tyrant, as the pamphlet was written to inspire the assassination of Oliver Cromwell, and show in what circumstances an assassination might be considered honorable. The full document mulls over and references points on

2592-584: The aristocracy the people destroyed the dictatorship; and only a few changes were needed to make democracy of freemen a reality as well as a form. Ancient Greek philosophers (who were aristocrats) were far more critical in reporting the methods of tyrants. The justification for ousting a tyrant was absent from the historian's description but was central to the philosophers. In the Republic , Plato stated: "The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. [...] This and no other

2664-568: The army in Sicily, the Athenians would have avoided disaster and, had his countrymen followed his advice at Aegospotami, Lysander would have lost and Athens would have ruled Greece. Alcibiades also tried to ally with the Persians after he was accused of impiety , but Thucydides claims this was due to him wanting to be restored in Athens by the Persians. Ultimately failing to achieve this goal. The family would eventually disappear from prominence after

2736-441: The attempted coup in 632 BC, as Cylon had taken refuge as a suppliant at the temple of Athena , even though Megacles had promised their safety. In essence, he went against his word. As a result of their actions, Megacles and his Alcmaeonid followers were the subject of an ongoing curse and were exiled from the city. Even the bodies of buried Alcmaeonidae were dug up and removed from the city limits. Alcmaeonids were allowed back into

2808-574: The bouletic oath, "To advise according to the laws what was best for the people". The Alcmaeonidae were said to have negotiated for an alliance with the Persians during the Persian Wars , despite the fact that Athens was leading the resistance to the Persian invasion. In Herodotus' The Histories , the Alcmaeonidae were accused of sending a shield as a warning signal for the Persians, something that Herodotus, in his opinion, refused to believe that

2880-540: The chapter were related to the absolutism of power alone – not oppression, injustice or cruelty. He ignored the appearance of shared rule. During the Age of Enlightenment , Western thinkers applied the word tyranny to the system of governance that had developed around aristocracy and monarchy . Specifically, English philosopher John Locke , as part of his argument against the " Divine Right of Kings " in his 1689 book Two Treatises of Government , defined it as such: "Tyranny

2952-663: The city in 594 BC, during the archonship of Solon , and were able to recover significant influence. During the tyranny of Pisistratus , a member of the influential Peisistratids family and rival clan to the Alcmaeonidae, the aforementioned Megacles married his daughter to the tyrant, but when the tyrant refused to have children with her, Megacles and his allies banished him. Later the Alcmaeonids would claim to have been exiled following Pisistratus' return in 546 BC, so as to distance themselves from possible accusations of complicity, but epigraphic evidence in fact proves that Cleisthenes

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3024-527: The contributions that the Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes helped develop in Athens included the shifting of political organization from the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations and which formed the basis of the upper class Athenian political power network, into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their deme ), which would form the basis of a new democratic power structure. Additionally, through Cleisthenes' reforms,

3096-483: The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. As a result of a family tradition for naming descendants after their forebears, members of the family can easily be confused. Hence, what follows is a partial family tree of the historical Alcmaeonid family. Males are in blue, females in red, and those related by marriage in white. Tyrant List of forms of government A tyrant (from Ancient Greek τύραννος ( túrannos )  'absolute ruler'), in

3168-541: The democratic cities started to join forces in the Achaean League which was able to expand its influence even into Corinthia , Megaris , Argolis and Arcadia . From 251 BC under the leadership of Aratus of Sicyon , the Achaeans liberated many cities, in several cases by convincing the tyrants to step down, and when Aratus died in 213 BC, Hellas had been free of tyrants for more than 15 years. The last tyrant on

3240-656: The empire were circumspect in identifying tyrants. " Cicero 's head and hands [were] cut off and nailed to the rostrum of the Senate to remind everyone of the perils of speaking out against tyranny." There has since been a tendency to discuss tyranny in the abstract while limiting examples of tyrants to ancient Greek rulers. Josephus identified tyrants in Biblical history (in Antiquities of the Jews) including Nimrod , Moses ,

3312-521: The fundamental units of the state weakened the gene , or aristocratic family groups, that had dominated the phratries. A deme functioned to some degree as a polis in miniature, and indeed some demes, such as Eleusis and Acharnae , were in fact significant towns. Each deme had a demarchos who supervised its affairs; various other civil, religious, and military functionaries existed in various demes. Demes held their own religious festivals and collected and spent revenue. Demes were combined within

3384-403: The king as a good monarch and the tyrant as a bad one. Both say that monarchy, or rule by a single man, is royal when it is for the welfare of the ruled and tyrannical when it serves only the interest of the ruler. Both make lawlessness – either a violation of existing laws or government by personal fiat without settled laws – a mark of tyranny." Tyranny is considered an important subject, one of

3456-520: The late fifth and fourth centuries BC, a new kind of tyrant, one who had the support of the military , arose – specifically in Sicily . One can apply accusations of tyranny to a variety of types of government: The English noun tyrant appears in Middle English use, via Old French , from the 1290s. The word derives from Latin tyrannus , meaning "illegitimate ruler", and this in turn from

3528-806: The matter from early pre-Christian history, up into the 17th century when the pamphlet was writ. Of the most prevailing traits of tyranny outlined, " Killing, No Murder " emphasizes: [Original 1657 text: https://archive.org/details/killingnomurderb00sexbuoft/page/n3/mode/2up ] In Scotland, Samuel Rutherford's Lex Rex and Alexander Shields' A Hind Let Loose were influential works of theology written in opposition to tyranny. A modern tyrant might be defined by proven violation of international criminal law such as crimes against humanity . Various lists of tyrants include: There are also numerous book titles which identify tyrants by name or circumstances. Among English rulers, several have been identified as tyrants by book title: John, King of England (who signed

3600-399: The modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law , or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power without constitutional right , yet the word had a neutral connotation during

3672-432: The most part kept out of war, supported religion, maintained order, promoted morality, favored the higher status of women, encouraged the arts, and lavished revenues upon the beautification of their cities. And they did all these things, in many cases, while preserving the forms of popular government, so that even under despotism the people learned the ways of liberty. When the dictatorship [of the tyrant] had served to destroy

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3744-454: The people busy and dependent, purges , assassinations , and unwarranted searches and seizures. Aristotle suggested an alternative means of retaining power – ruling justly. The methods of tyrants to retain power include placating world opinion by staging rigged elections , using or threatening to use violence, seeking popular support by appeals to patriotism , and claiming that conditions have improved. Deme In Ancient Greece ,

3816-519: The people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only men were citizens)—and established ostracism as a punishment. He also established sortition —the random selection of citizens to fill government positions rather than kinship or heredity, a true test of real democracy. He reorganized the Boule , created with 400 members under Solon , so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. He also introduced

3888-505: The prosperity of the peasantry and landowning interests of the plain, which was prospering from the rise of olive oil exports, as well as his clients from Marathon , he managed to achieve authoritarian power. Through an ambitious program of public works, which included fostering the state cult of Athena ; encouraging the creation of festivals; supporting the Panathenaic Games in which prizes were jars of olive oil; and supporting

3960-479: The requirement for citizenship; prior to that time, citizenship had been based on membership in a phratry , or family group. At this same time, demes were established in the main city of Athens itself, where they had not previously existed; in all, at the end of Cleisthenes' reforms, Athens was divided into 139 demes. Three other demes were created subsequently: Berenikidai (224/223 BC), Apollonieis (201/200 BC), and Antinoeis (AD 126/127). The establishment of demes as

4032-415: The result of error, ancient or modern, or of misinterpretation and 19 are well known chiefly from inscriptions of the second and third centuries AD, i.e. in the fifth period, and thus for political purposes they were originally dependent on legitimate Cleisthenic demes. There were six pairs of homonymous demes: There were six divided demes, one composed of three parts: When the city was settled under

4104-406: The rich to finance public works, or otherwise redistributed the over-concentrated wealth; and while attaching the masses to himself through such measures, he secured the support of the business community by promoting trade with state coinage and commercial treaties, and by raising the social prestige of the bourgeoisie. Forced to depend upon popularity instead of hereditary power, the dictatorships for

4176-456: The same area to make trittyes , larger population groups, which in turn were combined to form the ten tribes, or phylai of Athens. Each tribe contained one trittys from each of three regions: the city, the coast, and the inland area. Cleisthenes divided the landscape in three zones—urban ( asty ), coastal ( paralia ) and inland ( mesogeia )—and the 139 demes were organized into 30 groups called trittyes ("thirds"), ten for each of

4248-542: The so-called "cult of the tyrannicides " (i.e., of killers of tyrants). Contempt for tyranny characterised this cult movement . Despite financial help from Persia, in 510 the Peisistratids were expelled by a combination of intrigue, exile and Spartan arms. The anti-tyrannical attitude became especially prevalent in Athens after 508 BC, when Cleisthenes reformed the political system so that it resembled demokratia . Hippias (Peisistratus' other son) offered to rule

4320-474: The strangest thing to see is "an aged tyrant", meaning that tyrants do not have the public support to survive for long. One of the earliest known uses of the word 'tyrant' (in Greek) was by the poet Archilochus in reference to king Gyges of Lydia . The king's assumption of power was unconventional. The heyday of the Archaic period tyrants came in the early 6th century BC, when Cleisthenes ruled Sicyon in

4392-543: The support of Pericles and the command of Lampon and Xenocritus the population was organized in ten tribes, following the Athenian organization: there were tribes for the population of 1. Arcadia , 2. Achaea , 3. Elis , 4. Boeotia , 5. Delphi , 6. Dorians , 7. Ionians , 8. population of Euboea , 9. the islands and 10. Athenians. The term "deme" ( dēmos ) survived into the Hellenistic and Roman eras. By

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4464-572: The surviving structures on the Acropolis , including the Parthenon . This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to its people. Pericles' Funeral Oration is nowadays synonymous with the struggle for participatory democracy and civic pride. He eventually would succumb to the Plague of Athens that ran rampant during this time, killing numerous people. Alcibiades

4536-551: The system was reorganized with the creation of two Macedonian Phylai (XI. Antigonis and XII. Demetrias ), named after Demetrius I of Macedon and Antigonus I Monophthalmus , and an increase in the membership of the Boule to 600. Each of the ten tribes, except Aiantis, provided three demes (not necessarily one for trittyes); the missing contribution of Aiantis was covered by two demes of Leontis and one from Aigeis. The Egyptian Phyle XIII. Ptolemais , named after Ptolemy III Euergetes

4608-567: The threat of Carthaginian attack prolonged tyranny, facilitating the rise of military leaders with the people united behind them. Such Sicilian tyrants as Gelo , Hiero I , Dionysius the Elder , Dionysius the Younger , and Agathocles of Syracuse maintained lavish courts and became patrons of culture. The dangers threatening the lives of the Sicilian tyrants are highlighted in the moral tale of

4680-426: The zones and into ten tribes, or phylai , each composed of three trittyes , one from the coast, one from the city, and one from the inland area. Cleisthenes also reorganized the Boule , created with 400 members under Solon , so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe, each deme having a fixed quota. The ten tribes were named after legendary heroes and came to have an official order: In 307/306 – 224/223 BC

4752-487: Was a prominent orator, general, and statesman of Athens as well; however, he would end up switching sides from Athens to Sparta several times during the Peloponnesian War. He was an aggressive advocate for the Sicilian Expedition , and eventually fled to Sparta after accusations of sacrilege . According to some scholars, Alcibiades was an invincible general and wherever he went, victory would follow; had he led

4824-464: Was archon for the year 525–24 BC. Megacles was able to marry (for a second or third time) Agarista , the daughter of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon . They had two sons, Hippocrates and another Cleisthenes , this one the reformer of Athenian democracy. Hippocrates' daughter was Agariste, the mother of Pericles . The Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes overthrew Hippias , the son and successor of Pisistratus, in 508 BC. Herodotus claimed in his The Histories that

4896-480: Was created following the same scheme used for the creation of the Egyptian Phyle: each tribe contributed a deme and a new deme, Apollonieis, was created in honour of Apollonis, wife of Attalus I of Pergamum. As a consequence there were again 12 tribes and 600 members of the Boule. From this period onward, quotas were no longer assigned to the demes for the 50 Boule members from each tribe The last modification

4968-488: Was created in 224/223 BC and the Boule was again increased to 650 members, the twelve tribes giving each a demos. A new village was created and named Berenikidai after Ptolemy's wife Berenice II of Egypt . In 201/200 BC the Macedonian Phylae were dissolved and the villages (except the two given to Ptolemais) went back to their original tribes. In the spring of 200 BC Tribe XIV. Attalis , named after Attalus I ,

5040-442: Was less fortunate and was expelled. Afterward, Corinth was ruled by a lackluster oligarchy, and was eventually eclipsed by the rising fortunes of Athens and Sparta. Athens hosted its tyrants late in the Archaic period. In Athens , the inhabitants first gave the title of tyrant to Peisistratos (a relative of Solon , the Athenian lawgiver) who succeeded in 546 BC, after two failed attempts, to install himself as tyrant. Supported by

5112-483: Was that the Alcmaeonidae did employ the tradition of reusing the name of the maternal or paternal grandfather in the family. As a result, there are numerous Megacles, Alcmaeon, and Cleisthenes names in this family. The first noteworthy Alcmaeonid was Megacles , son of Alcmaeon, who was the Archon Eponymous of Athens in the 7th century BC. He was responsible for killing the followers of Cylon of Athens during

5184-479: Was the creation in 126/127 of XV. Hadrianis , named after the Emperor Hadrian , following the same scheme: each tribe contributed a deme and a new deme, Antinoeis , was created in honour of Hadrian's favourite, Antinous . Each tribe contributed 40 members to the Boule. In the first three periods there it a more detailed system of fixed quotas which essentially remained unchanged. There is no evidence for

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