EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The Ancient Greeks
Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Wesleyan University
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E The End of Athenian Tyranny and the Democratic Revolution Notes taken on April 7, 2015 by Edward Tanguay |
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Peisistratos was a tyrant but a good ruler
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Aristotle devised a special category for him
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tyranny is bad but he had to make an exception for Peisistratos
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as an accomplished ruler
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Hippias and Hipparchus
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527 BC: overtook Peisistratos' rule when he died
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tyranny was passed on to them
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tandem rule
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ruled well and peacefully for over a decade
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supported the arts
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brought poets and singers to Athens
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texts of Homer took on their canonical form
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after ten years, things go bad
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Harmodius and Aristogeiton
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killed Hipparchus in order to save Athens
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Thucydides is almost offended by this story
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says it was simply about a personal insult
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Hipparchus, the younger brother of the two, made an advance on Harmodius
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Harmodius was partnered with Aristogeiton
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Hipparchus then insulted the family
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forbad Harmodius' sister from carrying the ceremonial offering basket at the Panathenaea festival
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the young girls who participate were supposed to be virgins, so it was an insult
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514 BC: Panathenaea festival
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they kill Hipparchus
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this becomes known as the tyrannicide
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not the end of the tyranny
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Harmodius and Aristogeiton are killed
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Hippias' rule became much harsher
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not surprisingly became paranoid against plots to kill him
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began to travel around with a body guard
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511 BC Hippias was expelled
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Hippias took refuge on the Acropolis
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that's always where one goes when one is exiled
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Spartan king Kleomenes came up
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helped Isagoras
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Kleomenes managed to capture some members of Hippias' family
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arranged negotiation
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Hippias left Athens with his family
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that was the end of the Peisistratid tyranny
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what happens next has been the subject of enormous controversy
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Athenian revolution
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formulated by American scholar Josiah Ober, Stanford University (1953-)
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the next big man to come up is Cleisthenes
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member of the Alcmaeonid clan, they're back
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Kleomenes and Isagoras attempted to take over the state
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first step was to dissolve the council (boule)
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the boule resists
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Kleomenes and Isagoras occupy the Acropolis with Spartan garrison
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some say Cleisthenes rallied the people at this point, but he was actually in exile
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another source says that rest of the Athenians unite
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they beseige the Spartan occupiers
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on third day of seige
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Kleomens surrenders
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Spartans withdraw
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Cleisthenes is recalled to the city
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this theory posits a leaderless, popular revolution