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
https://www.coursera.org/course/ancientgreeks
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
600 BC Tyrants and Sages: Cypselus and Periander
Notes taken on August 30, 2013 by Edward Tanguay
meaning of "tyrant"
the modern meaning of the tyrant is extremely negative, suggesting brutality, greed, and lawlessness
the original Greek meaning of tyrant was "someone who seized power in a non-constitutional way and held it personally"
one of the ironies in ancient Greece is that tyranny was a necessary prelude to democracy
Corinth
strategically very important
controls both the north-south route in Greece, but also controls the east-west route
for many traders it was easier to sail up the Saronic Gulf, travel across the six kilometers of the isthmus and then continue in the Gulf of Corinth
late 19th century a canal was made
Ancient Corinth
had an aristocracy in control, the Bacchiadae or Bacchiads
800BC-600BC Corinth was a cultural power
practiced endogamy, the practice of marrying only within a specific clan, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships, eventually led to their downfall
may have been responsible for a causeway across the isthmus
under the Bacchiads, became very prosperous
art flourished
characteristic half-smile of statues from this time
Corinthian pottery
enormous amounts of production
middle Eastern motifs
widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean
end of the Bacchiads in Corinth
they were endogamous and hence did not marry outside their clan
one woman, Labda, was lame and no one wanted to marry her
so outsider named Aetion wanted to marry her, they married
a prophecy from Delphi said that this marriage would bring ruin to Bacchiads
son was born, Cypselus whom the Bacchiads tried to kill him but the legend is that he was too cute of a baby
the boy eventually became a tyrant and overthrew the Bacchiad clan
rule passed to Periander
Periander (627BC-585BC)
ruled 627BC-585BC
son of Cypselus, becomes new tyrant
very harsh, sent slave to another tyrant to find out what to do, he cuts off heads of wheat stalks, which meant to eliminate the leaders of the opposition
pattern is a not-too-bad father and a much more ruthless son
Periander as an effective ruler, ruled seemingly without incident with no rebellion
he had himself assassinated: commissioned two men to do this, then secretly commissioned four others to kill the original two
seven sages
seven early 6th century BC philosophers, statesmen and law-givers who were renowned in the following centuries for their wisdom.
-Traditionally, each of the seven sages represents an aspect of worldly wisdom which is summarized by an aphorism.
(1) Cleobulus of Lindos and (2) Solon of Athens: "All things in moderation", (3) Chilon of Sparta, "You should not desire the impossible", (4) Bias of Prine, "Most men are bad", (5) Thales of Miletus, "Know thyself", (6) Pittacus of Mytilene, "You should know which opportunities to choose", and Periander of Corinth, "Be farsighted in everything".
some scholars say this group as a group was created by Plato
had a wide geographical distribution
that they ever knew each other is clearly a fiction
yet they had in common that they all:
wrote poetry
were politically active
engaged in performance
these men can be seen as "culture heroes" embodying the combination of practical experience, theoretical wisdom, wit, and the ability to impress a large group of people, together they represented Pan-Hellenism, a growing sense of what it meant to be Greek over and above what it meant to be from a particular city-state