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87-461: The Serpentine Column has one of the longest literary histories of any object surviving from Greek and Roman antiquity. Together with its original golden tripod and cauldron (both long missing), it constituted a trophy , or offering reminding of a military victory, dedicated to Apollo at Delphi . This offering was made in the spring of 478 BC, several months after the defeat of the Persian army in

174-529: A bronze serpent with three heads (or three serpents intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the Phocians during the Third Sacred War (356–346 BC); the stand was removed by the emperor Constantine to Constantinople in 324, where in modern Istanbul it still can be seen in the hippodrome ,

261-542: 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

348-425: A "National Unity Tripod" made of bronze was presented by the central Chinese government to the government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to mark its fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel symbolizing unity. Tyrant List of forms of government A tyrant (from Ancient Greek τύραννος ( túrannos )  'absolute ruler'), in

435-474: 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

522-496: 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

609-567: 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

696-522: 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

783-468: A general rate; for private individuals cannot be expected to bear the burden of such a handsome present." Odyssey , 13.10–15 [tr. S. Butler] They also were used as dedicatory offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic contests at the Dionysia the victorious choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He would either dedicate

870-609: A land force in Thrace , under the command of general Mardonius . He retook Athens in the spring of 479 BC and the war continued. On learning that a Spartan force was coming from the Peloponnese , Mardonius set fire to Athens again and removed his force to a strategic position in Boeotia , north of the river Asopus . The Greeks under the leadership of Pausanias , Regent of Sparta, drew up on high ground in defensive positions south of

957-429: 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

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1044-550: 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

1131-434: 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

1218-431: A simple support for a cooking vessel placed over a fire. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. Tripods had two types and several functions. Firstly, some oracles sat on large tripods to pronounce. Far more common were the tripods and bowls in which smaller sacrifices were burnt. These are particularly associated with Apollo and

1305-573: A tithe for the god of Delphi. From this was made and dedicated that tripod which rests upon the bronze three-headed serpent, nearest to the altar... 41°00′20.33″N 28°58′30.43″E  /  41.0056472°N 28.9751194°E  / 41.0056472; 28.9751194 Sacrificial tripod A sacrificial tripod , whose name comes from the Greek meaning "three-footed", is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used in offerings and other ritual procedures. This ritual role derives from its use as

1392-442: 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

1479-535: Is a simple oversight by a copyist. Although the cities inscribed on the column exclude other cities mentioned by Herodotus as participating in the war, it is clear that the memorial relates to the Great Persian War as a whole, not just the battle of Plataea. Coils 12 and 13 have been scarred and dented by sabre cuts, which made the inscriptions difficult to decipher. The dedication, said by Diodorus to have been composed by Simonides, has not been found. One of

1566-707: Is described by Edward Gibbon , citing the testimony of the Byzantine historians Zosimus , Eusebius , Socrates , and Sozomenus . When the Persians invaded Greece under Xerxes in 480 BC, they were initially victorious at the Battle of Thermopylae , and the Battle of Artemisium in August. The Greeks defeated the Persian navy at the Battle of Salamis in September. After Salamis, Xerxes withdrew from Greece, but left

1653-444: 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

1740-512: Is now placed on them. In the museum there is a distinctive specimen: on a fine, bronze tripod standing on cast legs, lay a large globular cauldron. On its lip there are developed heads of griffins and lions, as well as winged female figures, possibly sirens. These creatures originate from the Middle East, whereas the technique of casting followed by hammering also alludes to oriental workshops. In reference to Ancient Greek tripod cauldrons, after

1827-446: 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

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1914-531: 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

2001-457: 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)

2088-606: The Atmeydanı , although in damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as support in addition to the three legs. Tripods were frequently mentioned by Homer as prizes in athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served

2175-649: The Battle of Plataea (August 479 BC) by those Greek city-states in alliance against the Persian invasion of mainland Greece , during the Greco-Persian Wars . Among the writers who allude to the Column in the ancient literature are Herodotus , Thucydides , pseudo- Demosthenes , Diodorus Siculus , Pausanias the traveller, Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch . The removal of the column by the Emperor Constantine to his new capital, Constantinople ,

2262-575: The Delphic oracle in ancient Greece . These were also given to temples as votive offerings , awarded as prizes in contests associated with religious festivals, and just given as gifts between individuals. The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the Delphic Tripod on which the Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity. The seat was formed by a circular slab on

2349-467: 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

2436-584: 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:

2523-501: 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

2610-555: 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

2697-537: 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

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2784-557: 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

2871-725: 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

2958-610: The Third Sacred War , an act of extreme sacrilege, which resulted in the expulsion of Phocians from the Amphictyonic league, by Philip II of Macedon , and to the imposition on them of a fine of 400 talents. Even at the time of Pausanias’ visit, the Sacred Way, leading up to the temple of Apollo , was lined on both sides with monuments, statues and treasuries commemorating important events in Greek History. "Closest to

3045-455: The Turkish conquest of Constantinople, the jaw of one of the three serpent heads was documented missing. The accepted version states that Mehmed II shattered it upon entering the city in triumph as its conqueror. Edward Gibbon recounts a version of this event: The conqueror gazed in satisfaction and wonder on the strange though splendid appearance of the domes and palaces, so dissimilar from

3132-399: 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

3219-670: The 8th century most increased in both size and amount of detail, becoming more decorative, and were used almost exclusively as dedication to the gods in sanctuaries. Tripod pottery has been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since the earliest Neolithic cultures of Cishan and Peiligang in the 7th and 8th millennium BC. Sacrificial tripods were also a common type of ritual bronze , also sometimes appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as " dings " and usually have three legs, but some have four legs. The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when

3306-705: The Geometric period, the tripods were fastened to the cauldrons they supported. In the Museum of Delphi there are fragments of such tripods, most distinctive of which is the one with a ring-shaped handle. Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the Plataean Tripod ; it was made from a tenth part of the spoils taken from the Persian army after the Battle of Plataea . This consisted of a golden basin, supported by

3393-464: 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

3480-580: 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

3567-487: 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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3654-563: 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

3741-556: The Persians and set up the offering. Pseudo- Demosthenes gives a significantly different account of the train of events. In a speech, "Against Neaira", the orator recalls the conduct of Pausanias after the defeat of the Persians in the battle of Plataea over the Serpentine column: "Pausanias, King of the Lacedaemonians, caused a diptych to be inscribed on the tripod at Delphi, [which those Greeks, who had fought as allies in

3828-738: The Persians and the Helots of Sparta to stage a rebellion, and set himself up as Tyrant . Although his treachery was, at first, disbelieved in Sparta, it was eventually confirmed by the Ephors of Sparta through his personal slave, and he was killed. Thucydides describes the Spartan suspicion that Pausanias was at the point of committing treason and going over to the Persians, citing the Serpentine column affair as evidence. Pausanias provided other causes for suspicion in his disregard of laws, his admiration of

3915-421: The Persians, and his dissatisfaction with the status-quo. Upon examination of the rest of his behaviour, the Spartans recalled that when the tripod at Delphi was first erected, Pausanias had thought fit, of his own accord, to have a diptych engraved upon it with the inscription: The Lacedaemonians , at once, removed the diptych from the tripod and engraved the names of the cities, who had joined together against

4002-474: The Plataeans obtained leave to bring a suit, on behalf of the allies, against the Lacedaemonians for 1,000 talents at the Amphictyonic council; and they compelled the Lacedaemonians to erase the inscription and inscribe the names of those cities which had shared in the work". The orator goes on to argue that this action rankled the Lacedaemonians and was a strong motive, 50 years later, in their influencing

4089-516: The Pythia sat in order to pronounce her oracles. Apollo tried to prevent him and this resulted in a fight between the god and the hero. Finally, Zeus had to intervene in order to end this quarrel. The mytheme of Heracles contesting with Apollo for the tripod appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth. In

4176-606: The Theban night attack on Plataea in 431 BC, which was the first action in the Peloponnesian war described in Thucydides book 2. Diodorus Siculus , writing in the 1st century BC, says that a couplet composed by the poet Simonides , replaced Pausanias’ haughty personal dedication: The saviours of Greece at large dedicated this, having delivered the cities from wretched servitude. In the second century AD, Pausanias ,

4263-587: 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

4350-515: The altar", as Herodotus says, was the Serpentine column, the base of which has been found, as has the base of the altar, which was dedicated by the Chians. Above these loomed the great bronze statue of Apollo, and, on the architrave of the temple, shields commemorating a Greek victory over the Gauls . Pausanias also mentions the offering to Zeus at Olympia , [paragraph above] and listed the names of

4437-584: 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

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4524-558: The battle of Plataea and in the naval engagement at Salamis had together made from the spoils taken from the Barbarians and had set up in honour of Apollo as a memorial to their bravery], as follows: 'Pausanias, commander-in-chief of the Greeks, when he had destroyed the army of the Medes dedicated this memorial to Phoebus (Apollo)', as if the work and the offering were his alone, and not from the allies together. The Greeks were enraged and

4611-442: The battle, and then records the decision of the Greek cities to dedicate an offering to Apollo at Delphi: Having brought all the loot together, they set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi. From this was made and dedicated that tripod which rests upon the bronze three-headed serpent, nearest to the altar. The bronze column consisting of three intertwined snakes, was intended to commemorate the 31 Greek city-states that participated in

4698-467: The battle. A golden tripod topped the column, made by Persian weapons, and the whole monument was dedicated to the god Apollo and was placed next to the altar of Apollo at Delphi. In the same chapter, Herodotus records that dedications were also made to Zeus at Olympia and to Poseidon at the Isthmus . It is significant that precedence was given to Apollo at Delphi , despite the ambiguities in

4785-540: 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

4872-528: The cities engraved upon it. Constantine the Great moved the Serpent Column to Constantinople to decorate the spina (central line) of the Hippodrome of Constantinople , where it still stands today. According to W. W. How and J. Wells, it was converted into a triple-mouthed fountain by a later Emperor, and was seen and described by travellers from 1422 onwards. Many Ottoman miniatures show

4959-541: 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

5046-656: 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 ,

5133-541: The end of the 17th century, all three of the serpent heads were destroyed. Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Aga relates in Nusretname ("The Book of Victories") that the heads simply fell off on the night of October 20, 1700. The upper jaw of one of the heads is on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum . Marcus N. Tod says the level of the ground was raised in 1630, and the inscribed portion of

5220-543: The invasion of Greece to an end. The Persian Empire would never again launch an attack on mainland Greece. Following these victories, Athens established itself as the head of the Delian League , reaching its height under the leadership of Pericles . After describing the Greek victory at Plataea, in 479 BC, Herodotus recounts the collection of rich spoils, by the Helots , (the Spartan underclass), who had taken part in

5307-422: The jaw to show their strength. The column is quite extensively described along with a dissertation about its history by Petrus Gyllius , who visited Constantinople in 1550. No mention about any damage of the column. The column is then described by Pietro Della Valle , who visited Constantinople in 1614. Again no mention about damages, but he reports the folkloristic tale about the column as a talisman. Later, at

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5394-403: 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

5481-520: 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

5568-806: 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

5655-399: 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

5742-470: The monument was then hidden. The base of the column was excavated in 1855, under the supervision of Charles Thomas Newton . Fifteen of the serpents’ coils had been hidden and the inscription, beginning at the 13th coil and ending at the 3rd was revealed. It was deciphered by C. Frick in 1856, by Ernst Fabricius in 1886 and by others since. The 13th coil carries the Laconic inscription: "Those who fought

5829-432: 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

5916-487: The number of soldiers and/or money they had contributed to the force that had assembled at Plataea. Herodotus adds the Styreans, Mantineans, Crotoniats, Cephalonians, Lemnians, and Seriphians. συμφορήσαντες δὲ τὰ χρήματα καὶ δεκάτην ἐξελόντες τῷ ἐν Δελφοῖσι θεῷ, ἀπ᾽ ἧς ὁ τρίπους ὁ χρύσεος ἀνετέθη ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ τρικαρήνου ὄφιος τοῦ χαλκέου ἐπεστεὼς ἄγχιστα τοῦ βωμοῦ... Having brought all the loot together, they set apart

6003-505: 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

6090-475: The responses of the Delphic oracle about the outcome of the invasion, and a suspicion that Delphi was sympathetic to the Persians. Pausanias, full of arrogance over his victory at Plataea and the subsequent ease with which he punished the Theban leaders for their support of the Persians, ordered a dedication on the column ascribing victory to himself alone. Later, it was discovered he had been in negotiations with

6177-406: 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

6264-452: The river Asopus and above the plain of Plataea. After days of skirmishing and changes of position on the Greek side, Mardonius launched a full attack. The result of the complex battle was complete victory for the Spartans, under the leadership of Pausanias. Mardonius was killed and the Persians fled in confusion led by Artabazus , the Persian second in command. The Greek victories at Plataea and contemporaneous naval battle at Mycale brought

6351-465: The same purpose. They appear also to be precious gifts for the guests, as in the case of the Phaeakes, who offered a cauldron and tripod to Odysseus. "Our guest has already packed up the clothes, wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance; let us now, therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy of

6438-502: The serpent heads survives in the Museum of Antiquities, Istanbul . This head has its under-jaw missing, in line with the story of Mehmet II striking it off. In 2015 a bronze cast copy of the serpent column was made and set up in the Archaeological Site of Delphi . On the coils of the column, an inscription was written that mentioned the Greek city states that had fought the war. They are more or less arranged according to

6525-525: The serpent heads were intact in the early decades following the Turkish conquest of the city. Ahmed Bican , from Gallipoli , gave a short description of the Column in his Dürr-i Meknûn , written around the time of the Fall of Constantinople . He states that it is a hollow bronze of intertwined snakes, three-headed, a talisman for the citizens against snake bites. Between fifty and one hundred years after

6612-542: 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

6699-474: 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

6786-483: The style of Oriental architecture. In the hippodrome, his eye was attracted by the twisted column of the three serpents, and, as a trial of his strength, he shattered with his iron mace or battleaxe the under-jaw of one of these monsters, which in the eyes of the Turks were the idols or talismans of the city. Other Ottoman writers attributed the lost jaw to Selim II , Suleiman II or Murad IV , all said to have struck off

6873-567: 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

6960-538: The top of the Lysicrates monument, has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century. Martin L. West writes that the Pythia at Delphi shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible. According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144),

7047-417: The top of the tripod, on which a branch of laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by the priestess. In this sense, by classical times the tripod was sacred to Apollo . According to the myth, Heracles went to the oracle of Delphi in order to ask what to do in order to be expiated from the murder of Iphitos . The oracle did not want to give him an omen. The enraged hero then grabbed the tripod on which

7134-462: The travel writer, noticed the monument at Delphi: "The Greeks together, from the spoils taken at the battle of Plataea, dedicated a gold tripod set on a bronze serpent. The bronze part of the offering was preserved there, even at my time, but the Phocian leaders did not leave the gold in place in the same way." The Phocian General Philomelus took the treasures in 354 BC to pay for mercenaries during

7221-534: The tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in Athens , called the street of tripods, from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates , erected by him to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The form of the victory tripod, now missing from

7308-483: The tripods were frequently decorated with figural protomes , in the shape of griffins , sphinxes and other fantastic creatures. Early sacrificial vessels were mostly in pottery, some made as tripods but others with a continuous round base below the bowl, swelling as it goes down. At the end of the Geometric period an innovation is introduced: the tripods are detached from the large bronze cauldron ( lebes ), which

7395-480: The victory tripods were not to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications. Excavations at early sanctuaries, especially Olympia , yielded many hundreds of tripod-bowl vessels, mostly in bronze , deposited as votives . These had a shallow bowl with two handles raised high on three legs; in later versions the stand and bowl were different pieces. During the Orientalising period ,

7482-522: The war", followed on coils 12 to 3 by the names of 31 city states. This contains eight cities not named in Herodotus, book 9.28 as being present at the battle of Plataea, and excludes Pale , in Cephalonia , which Herodotus did include. In the aforementioned paragraph Pausanias lists the names on the offering to Zeus at Olympia, which exclude four cities inscribed on the Serpentine column. Perhaps this

7569-498: 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

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