A few years after Solon’s year in power an aristocrat called Peisistratus made himself tyrant. He had a regional support base along the coast in northern Attica; and his supporters bore the name Hyperakrioi, literally “the people on the other side of the hills” - that is to say, they received that name from people in the city of Athens itself, which lay on one side of the hills in question. Sometime in the mid-560s (for the date, see below) Peisistratus allegedly feigned an assassination attempt and persuaded the Athenian Assembly to provide him with a bodyguard of club-bearers. This put at his disposal a small troop with which he proceeded - like Cylon some decades earlier - to seize the Acropolis (Hdt. I 59).
Unlike Cylon, however, Peisistratus did succeed in making himself tyrant as the Athenians acquiesced in his rule. The difference in the Athenians’ reaction can probably be best explained with reference to the intervening “elective tyranny” of Solon who, despite his failure to address the actual causes of the economic crisis, had at least provided some relief. Solon’s year as “elective tyrant” had made the idea of submitting to a ruler with absolute power palatable to the Athenians, and Herodotus assures his readers that Peisistratus ruled “wisely and well” and that he altered no existing offices (Hdt. l. c.).
Although Peisistratus - as events would show - was genuinely popular with the majority of the Athenians, his aristocratic opponents, the Alcmaeonids, and another prominent clan, the Philaids, united against him and expelled him from Attica. The length of his exile is unknown, but he struck an alliance with Megacles, the leader of the Alcmaeonid clan, which allowed his return, an alliance which involved Peisistratus’ marrying Megacles’ daughter. A cheering populace welcomed Peisistratus back - an indication of his popularity, and in circa 560 (for the date, see below) he became tyrant for the second time. Unfortunately, Peisistratus’ and Megacles’ relations soon soured. Herodotus tells a scandalous story to account for Peisistratus’ and his wife’s failure to produce any offspring. The scandal should probably be discounted, but one chronological point may be gleaned: the marriage (and by extension the second tyranny) lasted long enough so that the absence of children began to attract notice (i. e., a few years). In any case, with his alliance with Megacles in tatters, in 557 Peisistratus lost the tyranny a second time (Hdt. I 60-61).
The second exile lasted ten years, and Peisistratus returned to Athens in 547 (Hdt. I 62). This time he came with an army - troops he had hired himself, troops provided by a Naxian freebooter by the name of Lygdamis, and troops provided by his allies in Argos (he now had an Argive wife, Timonassa) (Hdt. I 61; [Arist.] Ath. Pol. 17,4). The actual battle was a foregone conclusion, for the majority of the Athenians had no wish to fight against Peisistratus - whose popularity continued unabated. The Alcmaeonids and their supporters fought, but no one else. After the battle the Alcmaeonids went into exile, and Peisistra-tus ruled for the rest of his life unchallenged. After his death his son Hippias succeeded him and ruled until his deposition at which time the Peisistratids had governed Athens for 36 years (Hdt. V 65). The figure applies to the third tyranny only which according to Herodotus (I 64) was established just before the Persians took Sardis in 546 (Nabonidus-Chronicle, II 15-17, ANET, p. 306).
The government of the Peisistratids has already been discussed in chap. 7; here only a few loose ends need tying up. On the occasion of the Greater Pana-thenaea (Thuc. VI 56; cf. Hdt. V 56), two men, for private reasons, assassinated Hippias’ brother, Hipparchus. The tyranny lasted for three more years, and was deposed in the fourth (Thuc. V 59; cf. Hdt. V 55). In its final stage the tyranny became much more oppressive than before (Thuc. l. c.).
The Alcmaeonids, meanwhile, who had tried to expel the tyrants once before by military means (Hdt. V 62), were now seeking external help. Despite their exile, they retained much wealth, and used it to finance the construction of a new temple of Apollo at Delphi. In gratitude the priests at Delphi agreed to apply pressure on the Lacedaemonians to help the Alcmaeonids. The priests accordingly refused to answer any question which a Lacedaemonian, whether on state or private business, put to the oracle. Whatever the question, the reply was “first liberate the Athenians” (Hdt. V 62-63). Any state business in Sparta which, for form’s sake - much like the founding of a colony (see chap. 5) -, required divine approval was blocked. Eventually, the Lacedaemonians gave in to this arm-twisting.
A small force went to Athens, but Hippias was ready. Thessalian cavalry came to his aid, and for the first time Lacedaemonian troops faced horsemen (see chap. 1). Uncertain how to fight against such troops, the Lacedaemonians were defeated. Shortly thereafter, however, Sparta’s king, Cleomenes, invaded Attica with more troops. This time the Lacedaemonians were ready for cavalry and defeated their opponents easily enough (Hdt. V 63-64).
Hippias and his closest supporters retreated onto the Acropolis where, having laid in ample supplies, they prepared to wait Cleomenes out. However, they also attempted to smuggle their underage children from the Acropolis and out of Attica. Unfortunately for them, their children fell into the Lacedaemonians’ hands. Now they had little choice but to capitulate. Hippias fled to Sigeium, the Athenian outpost in Asia Minor, which he continued to rule (Hdt. V 65).
This took place in the year 511 (Thuc. VI 59; [Arist.] Ath. Pol. 32,2). The chronology of the rest of the tyranny is worked out from this date. First, the Greater Panathenaea at which Hipparchus was slain was that of 514. Next, the third, continuous tyranny lasted 36 years, that is, from 547 to 511; and the second exile lasted ten years, that is, from 557 to 547. At this point exact information peters out and guesswork begins. The length of the first exile is unknown; the length of the second tyranny was a few years at least, and there is no reason to suppose that the first tyranny was much shorter. The second tyranny’s beginning can fall into about the year 560, and the preceding exile and first tyranny into the 560s. Thus:
First tyranny: First exile: Second tyranny: Second exile: Third tyranny:
Circa mid-560s circa late 560s circa 560 - 557 557-547 547-511
The date of Peisistratus’ death and Hippias’ succession is impossible to determine.
World History
