22 Facts About Polycrates

Polycrates had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant.

Polycrates's account was written in the third quarter of the 5th century BC, nearly a century after Polycrates' death, was based mostly on oral traditions and incorporates many folk-tale elements.

Some poetry from Polycrates' time comments on him in passing and there is a smattering of references to Polycrates in other literary sources ranging in date from the 4th century BC to the Roman Imperial period.

Barron proposed that Polycrates' ancestors formed a dynasty that ruled Samos from around 600 BC.

Polycrates had two brothers, Pantagnotus and Syloson, who were originally his co-rulers.

Herodotus reports that Polycrates took power with his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson and a force of only fifteen men.

Polycrates' rise to power took place in the period when the Achaemenid empire under Cyrus conquered western Anatolia.

Herodotus refers to an attack on Miletus, in which the Lesbians came to the aid of Miletos and Polycrates won a great naval victory, capturing and enslaving large numbers of Lesbian sailors.

Polycrates formed an alliance with King Amasis of Egypt and A Carty suggests that Polycrates assisted Amasis in the conquest of Cyprus.

Herodotus states that Polycrates later established a fleet of 40 triremes, probably becoming the first Greek state with a fleet of such ships, which he crewed with sailors he considered to be politically dangerous, and sent to the Persian king Cambyses with instructions to put the crews to death.

Herman Wallinga argues that the ships were built at Amasis' expense, crewed by Polycrates, and sent by him to fight against the Persians.

Polycrates was convinced and went to Magnesia, where he was assassinated.

Herodotus claims that Polycrates' daughter warned him not to go to Magnesia, reporting a prophetic dream that she had had of him hanging in the air, being washed by Zeus and anointed by the sun god Helios.

Polycrates sponsored construction of a large temple of Hera, the Heraion, to which Amasis dedicated many gifts, and which at 346 feet long was one of the three largest temples in the Greek world, and he upgraded the harbour of his capital city, ordering the construction of a deep-water mole nearly a quarter mile long, which is still used to shelter Greek fishing boats today.

One use to which Polycrates put his powerful navy was controlling the island of Delos, one of the most important religious centres in Greece, control of which would bolster Polycrates' claim to be the leader of the Ionian Greeks.

Thucydides reports that Polycrates chained Delos to the neighbouring island of Rhenaia.

In 522 BC Polycrates celebrated an unusual double festival in honour of the god Apollo of Delos and of Delphi; it has been suggested that the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, sometimes attributed to Cynaethus of Chios, was composed for this occasion.

Polycrates lived amid great luxury and spectacle and was a patron of the poets Anacreon and Ibycus.

Polycrates established a library on Samos, and showed a sophisticated approach to economic development, importing improved breeds of sheep, goats, and dogs from elsewhere in the Greek world.

Polycrates followed the advice and threw a jewel-encrusted ring into the sea; however, a few days later, a fisherman caught a large fish that he wished to share with the tyrant.

Polycrates told Amasis of his good fortune, and Amasis immediately broke off their alliance, believing that such a lucky man would eventually come to a disastrous end.

Polycrates is mentioned in Byron's famous stanzas "The Isles of Greece:".