Statesman and military leader
Born: Seventh century b. c.e.; Greece Died: c. 570 b. c.e.; Greece Also known as: Kleisthenes of Sikyon Category: Military; government and politics
Life Cleisthenes (KLIS-thuh-neez) was tyrant of Sicyon (SIHS-ee-ahn) from about 600 to 570 b. c.e. At war with Argos, Cleisthenes of Sicyon banned the Homeric epics because of their praise of the Argives, stripped honors from Adrastus, an Argive hero buried in Sicyon, and gave the Sicyonian tribes new names differing from the Dorian names used at Argos.
Cleisthenes took part in the First Sacred War (c. 595 b. c.e.) and won the chariot race at the Pythian Games (582 b. c.e.), after which he dedicated two buildings at Delphi. The metopes from one of these buildings are among the finest examples of Archaic Greek sculpture. After winning the chariot race at Olympia (c. 576 b. c.e.), he invited the best of the Greeks to compete for the hand of his daughter Agariste. After entertaining and testing the suitors for a full year, Cleisthenes chose Megacles of Athens as his son-in-law.
Influence Cleisthenes’ career shows how a tyrant could use religious and cultural propaganda and illustrates a tyrant’s concern for magnificence and display. He was the grandfather of Cleisthenes of Athens and an ancestor of Pericles and Alcibiades of Athens.
Further Reading
Griffin, Aubrey. Sikyon. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1982.
Ogden, Daniel. “Cleisthenes of Sicyon, Leuster.” Classical Quarterly 43 (1993): 353-363.
Sealey, Raphael. A History of the Greek City States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
George E. Pesely
See also: Agariste; Alcibiades of Athens; Cleisthenes of Athens; Pericles; Sacred Wars.
World History
