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PEISISTRATUS, (605?–527 B.c.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 60 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PEISISTRATUS, (605?–527 B.c.) , Athenian statesman, was the son of See also:Hippocrates. He was named after Peisistratus, the youngest son of See also:Nestor, the alleged ancestor of his See also:family; he was second See also:cousin on his See also:mother's See also:side to See also:Solon, and numbered among his ancestors See also:Codrus the last See also:great See also:king of See also:Athens. Thus among those who became " tyrants " in the See also:Greek See also:world he gained his position as one of the old See also:nobility, like See also:Phalaris of See also:Agrigentum, and Lygdamis of See also:Naxos; but unlike Orthagoras of See also:Sicyon, who had previously been a See also:cook. Peisistratus, though Solon's junior by See also:thirty years, was his lifelong friend (though this is denied), nor did their friendship suffer owing to their See also:political antagonism. From this widely accepted belief arose the almost certainly false statement that Peisistratus took See also:part in Solon's successful See also:war against See also:Megara, which necessarily took See also:place before Solon's archonship (probably in 600 B.C.). See also:Aristotle's Constitution of Athens (ch. 17) carefully distinguishes Solon's Megarian War from a second in which Peisistratus was no doubt in command, undertaken between S70 and 565 to recapture Nisaea (the See also:port of Megara) which had apparently been recovered by the Megarians since Solon's victory (see See also:Sandys on The Constitution of Athens, ch. 14, 1, See also:note, and E. See also:Abbott, See also:History of See also:Greece, vol. i. app. p. 544). Whatever be the true explanation of this problem, it is certain (I) that Peisistratus was regarded as a leading soldier, and (2) that his position was strengthened by the See also:prestige of his family. Furthermore (3) he was a See also:man of great ambition, persuasive eloquence and wide generosity; qualities which especially appealed at that See also:time to the classes from whom he was to draw his support—hence the warning of Solon (Frag.

II. B) : " See also:

Fools, you are treading in the footsteps of the See also:fox; can you not read the hidden meaning of these charming words ?" Lastly, (4) and most important, the times were ripe for revolution. In the See also:article on SOLON (ad fin.) it is shown that the Solonian reforms, though they made a great advance in some directions, failed on the whole. They were too moderate to please the See also:people, too democratic for the nobles. It was found that the See also:government by See also:Boule and See also:Ecclesia did not mean popular See also:control in the full sense; it meant government by the leisured classes, inasmuch as the industrious See also:farmer or herdsman could not leave his See also:work to give his See also:vote at the Ecclesia, or do his See also:duty as a councillor. Partly owing to this, and partly toancient feuds whose origin we cannot trace, the Athenian people was split up into three great factions known as the See also:Plain (Pedieis) led by See also:Lycurgus and See also:Miltiades, both of See also:noble families; the See also:Shore (Parali) led by the See also:Alcmaeonidae, represented at this time by Megacles, who was strong in his See also:wealth and by his See also:recent See also:marriage with Agariste, daughter of See also:Cleisthenes of Sicyon; the See also:Hill or Upland (Diacreis, Diacrii) led by Peisistratus, who no doubt owed his See also:influence among these hillmen partly to the See also:possession of large estates at See also:Marathon. In the two former divisions the influence of wealth and See also:birth predominated; the hillmen were poorly housed, poorly clad and unable to make use of the privileges which Solon had given them.' Hence their See also:attachment to Peisistratus, the " man of the people," who called upon them to sweep away the last barriers which separated See also:rich and poor, nobles and commoners, See also:city and countryside. Lastly, there was a class of men who were discontented with the Solonian constitution: some had lost by his Seisachtheia, others had vainly hoped for a See also:general redistribution. These men saw their only See also:hope in a revolution. Such were the factors which enabled him to found his tyranny. To enter here into an exhaustive See also:account of the various theories which even before, though especially after, the See also:appearance of the Constitution of Athens have been propounded as to the See also:chronology of the Peisistratean tyranny, is impossible. For a See also:summary of these hypotheses see J.

E. Sandys's edition of the Constitution of Athens (p. 56, c. 14 note). The following is in brief the sequence of events: In 56o B.C. Peisistratus drove into the See also:

market-place, showed to an indignant See also:assembly marks of violence on himself and his mules, and claimed to be the victim of See also:assault at the hands of political enemies. The people unhesitatingly awarded their " See also:champion " a bodyguard of fifty men (afterwards four See also:hundred) armed with clubs. With this force he proceeded to make himself See also:master of the See also:Acropolis and See also:tyrant of Athens. The Alcmaeonids fled and Peisistratus remained in See also:power for about five years, during which Solon's See also:death occurred. In 555 or 554 B.C. a See also:coalition of the Plain and the See also:Coast succeeded in expelling him. His See also:property was confiscated and sold by See also:auction, but in his See also:absence the strife between the Plain and the Coast was renewed, and Megacles, unable to hold his own, invited him to return. The See also:condition was that their families should be allied by the marriage of Peisistratus to Megacles' daughter Coesyra.

A second coup d'etat was then effected. A beautiful woman, it is said, by name Phya, was disguised as See also:

Athena and drove into the See also:Agora with Peisistratus at her side, while proclamations were made that the goddess herself was restoring Peisistratus to Athens. The ruse was successful, but Peisistratus soon quarrelled with Megacles over Coesyra. By a former marriage he already had two sons, Hippias and See also:Hipparchus, now growing up, and in his first tyranny or his first See also:exile he married an Argive, Timonassa, by whom he had two other sons Iophon and Hegesistratus, the latter of whom is said to be identical with Thessalus (See also:Ath. Pol. c. 17), though from See also:Thucydides and See also:Herodotus we gather that they were distinct—e.g. Herodotus describes Hegesistratus as a See also:bastard, and Thucydides says that Thessalus was legitimate. Further it is suggested that Peisistratus was unwilling to have See also:children by one on whom See also:lay the curse of the Cylonian See also:outrage. The result was that in the seventh See also:year (or See also:month, see Atli. Pol. c. 15. r, Sandys's note) Megacles accused him of neglecting his daughter, combined once more with the third See also:faction, and drove the tyrant into an exile lasting apparently for ten or eleven years. During this See also:period he lived first at Rhaecelus and later near Mt Pangaeus and on the Strymon See also:collecting resources of men and See also:money.

He came finally to See also:

Eretria, and, with the help of the Thebans and Lygdamis of Naxos, whom he afterwards made ruler of that See also:island, he passed over to See also:Attica and defeated the Athenian forces at the See also:battle of Pallenis or Pellene. From this time till his death he remained undisputed master of Athens. The Alcmaeonids were compelled to leave Athens, and from ' It is suggested with See also:probability that the Diacrii were rather the miners of the See also:Laurium See also:district (P. M. Ure, Journ. See also:Hell. See also:Stud., 1906, pp. 131–142). the other noble families which remained he exacted 400 hostages whom he put in the care of hi.s ally Lygdamis. In the heyday of the Athenian See also:democracy, citizens both conservative and progressive, politicians, philosophers and historians were unanimous in their denunciation of " tyranny." Yet there is no doubt that the See also:rule of Peisistratus was most beneficial to Athens both in her See also:foreign and in her See also:internal relations. (I) During his enforced absence from Athens he had evidently acquired a far more extended See also:idea of the future of Athens than had hitherto dawned on the somewhat parochial minds of her leaders. He was friendly with See also:Thebes and See also:Argos; his son Hegesistratus he set in power at Sigeum (see E.

Abbott, Hist. of Gr. vol. i. xv. 9) and his friend Lygdamis at Naxos. From the mines of See also:

Thrace, and perhaps from the See also:harbour dues and from the mines of Laurium, he derived a large See also:revenue; under his encouragement, Miltiades had planted an Athenian See also:colony on the shores of the Thracian See also:Chersonese; he had even made See also:friends with See also:Thessaly and See also:Macedonia, as is evidenced by the hospitality extended by them to Hippias on his final See also:expulsion. Finally, he did not allow his friendliness with Argos to involve him in war with See also:Sparta, towards whom he pursued a policy of moderation. (2) At See also:home it is admitted by all authorities that his rule was moderate and beneficent, and that he was careful to preserve at least the See also:form of the established constitution. It is even said that, being accused of See also:murder, he was ready to be tried by the See also:Areopagus. Everything which he did during his third period of rule was in the interests of discipline and See also:order. Thus he hired a See also:mercenary bodyguard, and utilized for his own purposes the public revenues; he kept the See also:chief magistracies (through which he ruled) in the hands of his family; he imposed a general taxi of to % (perhaps reduced by Hippias to 5%) on the produce of the See also:land, and thus obtained control over the See also:fleet and spread the See also:burden of it over all the citizens (see the See also:spurious See also:letter of Peisistratus to Solon, Diog. Leert. i. 53; Thuc. Vi. 54 and See also:Arnold's note ad loc.; Boeckh iii.

6; See also:

Thirlwall c. xi., pp. 72–74; and See also:Grote). But the great See also:wisdom of Peisistratus is shown most clearly in the skill with which he blinded the people to his See also:absolutism. Pretending to maintain the Solonian constitution (as he could well afford), he realized that people would never recognize the deception if a sufficient degree of prosperity were ensured. Secondly, he knew that the greater the proportion of the Athenians who were prosperously at work in the See also:country and therefore did'not trouble to interfere in the work of government the less would be the danger of See also:sedition, whose seeds are in a crowded city. Hence he appears to have encouraged See also:agriculture by abating the tax on small farms, and even by assisting 'them with money and stock. Secondly, he established deme See also:law-courts to prevent people from having recourse to the city tribunals; it is said that he himself occasionally " went on See also:circuit," and on one of these occasions was so struck by the plaints of an old farmer on See also:Hymettus, that he remitted all See also:taxation on his land. Thus Athens enjoyed See also:immunity from war and internecine struggle, and for the first time for years was in enjoyment of settled See also:financial prosperity (see Constitution of Athens, c. 16. 7 Si Err Kpovov /31os). The money which he accumulated he put to See also:good use in the construction of roads and public buildings. Like Cleisthenes of Sicyon and See also:Periander of See also:Corinth, he realized that one great source of strength to the nobles had been their See also:presidency over the See also:local cults.

This he diminished by increasing the splendour of the Panathenaic festival every See also:

fourth year and the Dionysiac2 See also:rites, and so created a See also:national rather than a local See also:religion. With the same idea he built the See also:temple of the Pythian See also:Apollo and began, though he did not finish, the temple of See also:Zeus (the magnificent columns now See also:standing belong to the See also:age of See also:Hadrian). 1 It should be noted as against this, the general account, that Thucydides, speaking apparently with accuracy, describes the tax as EiKOrrr1 (5 %) ; the Constitution of Athens speaks of (the See also:familiar) SEKdTi (10%). 2 See also:Dionysus, as the See also:god of the rustics, was especially worshipped at Icaria, near Marathon, and so was the god of the Diacrii. It seems likely that Peisistratus, to please his supporters, originated the City-See also:Dionysia. To him are ascribed also the See also:original See also:Parthenon on the Acropolis, afterwards burned by the Persians, and replaced by the Parthenon of See also:Pericles. It is said that he gave a great impetus to the dramatic representations which belonged to the Dionysiac cult, and that it was under his encouragement that See also:Thespis of Icaria, by impersonating See also:character, laid the See also:foundation of the great Greek See also:drama of the 5th and 4th centuries. Lastly, Peisistratus carried out the , See also:purification of See also:Delos, the sacred island of Apollo of the See also:Ionians; all the tombs were removed from the neighbourhood of the See also:shrine, the See also:abode of the god of See also:light and joy. We have spoken of his services to- the See also:state, to the poor, to religion. It remains to mention his alleged services to literature. All we can reasonably believe is that he gave encouragement to See also:poetry as he had done to See also:architecture and the drama; See also:Onomacritus, the chief of the Orphic See also:succession, and See also:collector of the oracles of See also:Musaeus, was a member of his See also:household. Honestly, or to impress the people, Peisistratus made considerable use of oracles (e.g. at the battle of Pellene), and his descendants, by the oracles of Onomacritus, persuaded See also:Darius to undertake their restoration.

As to the library of Peisistratus, we have no good See also:

evidence; it may perhaps be a fiction of an Alexandrian writer. There is strong See also:reason for believing the See also:story that he first collected the Homeric poems and that his was the See also:text which ultimately prevailed (see See also:HOMER). It appears that Peisistratus was benevolent to the last, and, like See also:Julius See also:Caesar, showed no resentment against enemies and calumniators. What Solon said of him in his youth was true throughout, " there is no better-disposed man in Athens, See also:save for his ambition." He was succeeded by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus, by whom the tyranny was in various ways brought into disrepute. It should be observed that the tyranny of Peisistratus is one of the many epochs of Greek history on which See also:opinion has almost entirely changed since the age of Grote. Shortly, his services to Greece and to the world may be summed up under three heads: In foreign policy, he sketched out the See also:plan on which Athens was to See also:act in her See also:external relations. He advocated (a) alliances with Argos, Thessaly and Macedon, (b) ascendancy in the See also:Aegean (Naxos and Delos), (c) control of the Hellespontine route (Sigeum and the Chersonese), (d) control of the Strymon valley (Mt Pangaeus and the Strymon). Further, his rule exemplifies what is characteristic of all the Greek tyrannies—the See also:advantage which the See also:ancient See also:monarchy had over the republican form of government. By means of his sons and his deputies (or viceroys) and by his See also:system of matrimonial alliances he gave Athens a widespread influence in the centres of See also:commerce, and brought her into connexion with the growing See also:sources of See also:trade and See also:production in the eastern parts of the Greek world. (2) His importance in the See also:sphere of domestic policy has been frequently underrated. It may fairly be held that the reforms of Solon would have been futile had they not been fulfilled and amplified by the See also:genius of Peisistratus. (3) It was under his auspices that Athens began to take the See also:lead iv literature.

From this period we must date the beginning of Athenian See also:

literary ascendancy. But see ATHENS. AurxoRITIEs.: Ancient: See also:Herod. i. 59; Plut. Solon 3o; Arist. Politics, v. 12, 5-1315 b.; Constitution of Athens (Ath. Pol.) cc. 14–19. On the See also:chronological problems see also P. See also:Meyer. Arist.

Pol. and the Atli. Pol. pp. 48—9; See also:

Gomperz, See also:Die Scheift v. Staatswesen, &c. (1891); See also:Bauer, Lit. and hest. Forsch. z. Arist. Ath. Pol. (5o sqq.). On the characteristics of the Peisistratid tyranny see Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, pp. 26 sqq.

; and the histories of Greece. On the question of the family of Peisistratus see Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Aristoteles and Athen (See also:

Berlin, 1893) and a See also:criticism by E. M. See also:Walker in the Classical See also:Review, vol. viii. p. 206, See also:col. 2. (J. M.

End of Article: PEISISTRATUS, (605?–527 B.c.)

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