33 Facts About Pisistratus

Pisistratus' championing of the lower class of Athens is an early example of populism.

Pisistratus funded many religious and artistic programs, in order to improve the economy and spread the wealth more equally among the Athenian people.

Pisistratus's attempt was unsuccessful and despite assurances to the contrary, Cylon and his supporters were allegedly killed by the Alcmaeonids, resulting in the Alcmaeonid curse.

Pisistratus' later rise to power would draw on support from many of the poor people composing this constituency.

Pisistratus was a native of the deme of Philaidae near Brauron in eastern Attica.

Originally, Pisistratus became known as an Athenian general who captured the port of Nisaea in the nearby city-state of Megara in approximately 565 BC.

The third group, referred to as men of the Highlands, had various motives to align with Pisistratus, including those men in poverty, recent immigrants who feared loss of citizenship, and lenders who were denied the ability to collect their debts.

Around the year 561 BC, Herodotus writes how Pisistratus intentionally wounded himself and his mules, asking the Athenian people to provide bodyguards for protection and reminding them of his prior accomplishments, including the port capture of Nisaea.

Pisistratus had driven his chariot into the agora or marketplace of Athens, claiming he had been wounded by his enemies outside of town, and thus, the people of Athens selected some of their men to function as a bodyguard, armed with clubs rather than spears, for him.

The Athenians were open to a tyranny similar to that under Solon, who previously had been offered the tyranny of Athens but declined, and in the early part of the Archaic Age, the rivalries among the aristocratic clans was fierce, making a single-ruler tyranny an attractive option, with the promise of possible stability and internal peace, and Pisistratus' ruse won him further prominence.

Aristotle comments that Pisistratus was forced out during the year of the archonship of Hegesias, five years after he originally assumed his first tyranny in Athens.

Pisistratus was exiled for three to six years during which the agreement between the Pedieis and the Paralioi fell apart.

Lavelle writes that this story provides a Homer-type mythological tie-in to the connection between the gods and Greek heroes where Pisistratus' prior resume as a warrior and general would be viewed as heroic and furthermore, Pisistratus would be viewed in a similar manner as the Greek hero Odysseus, who was viewed as cunning and having a special relationship with Athena.

Apparently, Pisistratus was unwilling to compromise the political futures of his sons, Hipparchus and Hippias.

Furious, Megacles broke off this short-lived alliance with Pisistratus and drove him into exile for a second time, with the help of Pisistratus' enemies.

In 546 BC, using Eretria as a base and supported by Eretrian cavalry, Pisistratus landed at Marathon on the northern side of Attica and advanced towards Athens, joined by some local sympathizers from Athens and the surrounding demes.

For instance, Lavelle hypothesises that Megacles and the Alcmaeonids still held the majority of the political offices in the Athens government as part of the price and negotiation process that Pisistratus had to pay in order to become tyrant, and consequently, Pisistratus perhaps only functioned as a figurehead during his first two times in power.

Pisistratus, likewise, had a two pronged approach: improve and modify agricultural production as well as expand commerce.

Pisistratus reintroduced a focus on olive production and in conjunction, he allocated funds to help the peasants outside the city of Athens, who were a key constituent bloc of his party, the Hyperakrioi, to obtain land as well as purchase tools and farm equipment.

Pisistratus initiated a travelling system of judges throughout the countryside to conduct trials on location and even the tyrant himself would occasionally accompany these groups for inspection purposes and conflict resolution.

Pisistratus continued to expand this vital pottery trade, with the black-figure pottery being found in Ionia, Cyprus, and as far east as Syria, while to the west, Spain was the most distant market.

Pisistratus's administration built roads and worked to improve the water supply of Athens.

Aristocrats had previously owned their private wells and Pisistratus elected to construct fountain houses with public access to water.

Public rather than private patronage became the hallmark of a Pisistratus-ruled society, providing a steady source of construction jobs to those citizens in need and more affordable housing in the city centre.

In conjunction with the burgeoning Athenian commerce, Pisistratus conducted a foreign policy, especially in the central Aegean Sea, with the intent of building alliances with friendly leaders.

Pisistratus re-assumed control of the port city Sigeion or Sigeum, on the coast of western Anatolia, placing one of his sons in charge of the government.

Pomeroy reaffirms Herodotus' commentary regarding Pisistratus' third turn in power, adding that Pisistratus installed relatives and friends in the offices of various archonships and detained the children of some Athenians as hostages to deter future uprisings and discourage opposition.

Some actions would contradict the perception that Pisistratus ruled justly and followed the law.

The anonymous man responded that he received physical soreness and aches while Pisistratus received one-tenth of this yield.

Aristotle comments that Pisistratus' government functioned more in a constitutional manner and less like a tyranny.

Pisistratus died in 527 or 528 BC, and his eldest son, Hippias, succeeded him as tyrant of Athens.

Per Aristotle, the tyranny during the time of Pisistratus was commonly thought of as "the age of gold".

The poet Dante in Canto XV of the Purgatorio, the second instalment of the Divine Comedy, references Pisistratus as responding in a gentle way when interacting with an admirer of his daughter.