575-550BC in Greece

Pentelic Marble Sphinx from Attica, circa 570BC

This post will look at Greece and the wider Greek world from the years 575BC to 550BC. Firstly a word as to our sources. By and large, the closer we move to the present, the better the sources become. Archaeology will shed some light on the period, but not much. Archaeology can give information on settlement patterns and occasional destruction levels, but it cannot tell the stories of the people who lived at this time. For this we are reliant on later writings from the classical world. Unlike the Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources, at least some of which are near contemporary with the events they describe, we have almost no manuscripts from this era, so most of what we hear will be mediated through the words of later writers. This is not necessarily an issue, but it should be remembered.

I will also be dealing with elements of Roman history as these arise. I will shortly give Rome its own posts, probably from the year 500BC onwards, but for now there is too little that can be said with certainty about it, so I will mention it along with the events of the Greek world. Roman history will probably also be mentioned in the context of European history in later blogs as well.

Lion of Miletus, circa 550BC

I must reiterate that I am not a professional historian, or any other type of historian for that matter. There are certainly mistakes and errors in the sources and I may make mistakes in my interpretations of these sources. Mistakes are particularly likely to occur when dealing with years, as the years in the ancient world do not necessarily correspond exactly to our own.

Even professional historians have differing opinions on the exact ordering of events at this time, so exact precision is not likely here. Also, a lot of events have only approximate dating anyway, so some historians will place an event in 570 while another might say 560 and the truth is that no one knows for sure, although some opinions are more founded than others. Also, a lot of writers and poets of the time are active for various periods of time. Thus I might mention Anaximander as being active in the year 560 but he was doubtless also active and engaging in philosophy in the years around this time as well.

Berlin Goddess statue
(probably not of a goddess)
circa 570BC,
Altes Museum Berlin

I will recap the year 575, as recounted in the previous blog. In this year, Agasicles, the Eurypontid king of Sparta probably began his rule. The Greek city of Massalia in southern Gaul, which is now Marseilles in contemporary France, founded a colony named Emporion, meaning “Trading Place”, on the north-western coast of what is now Catalonia in Spain around this time. The Greek cities were still sending colonies to settle new lands, but the great age of colonisation seems to have nearly ended. There was now too much competition between the Greeks and the Phoenicians for new lands and trade and as cities became better at feeding their populations there was less need to send excess people to settle new lands.

The Anagyrus Painter flourished around this time. The Anagyrus Painter was probably based in Attica and painted in the black-figure style, similar to the Corinthian vase painters of the same time.

In art, over the previous decades, a new type of statue was being made in Greece. Previous Greek statuary was rather crude but increased contacts with the other cultures in the Mediterranean seem to have inspired the Greeks to create statues that were the equal of the Egyptian statues. These statues were known as kouroi (singular is kouros) and were almost universally of nude men, clean-shaven with long hair. They all had the same pose, standing straight upright with one foot slightly forward so that the weight of the statue would have to be distributed. Each statue would have long hair and an enigmatic smile, similar to the Egyptian statues, that is known as the Archaic Smile, as all the statuary of the time seems to have this expression. There were female statues that were also made of a similar type but almost always clothed rather than nude. These physical remains show that Greece had reached a high level of cultural expression and even if their civilisation had disappeared at this point, we would know and appreciate some of what they had achieved.

Plate by the Anagyrus Painter

In Rome, according to the traditional dates, the king Servius Tullius came to power around this time. The dates are of course unclear here. Servius’ name designates that he came from humble origins, originally being a slave in the household of the previous king, before marrying the daughter of Tarquinius and Tanaquil, and showing great competency in everything he was entrusted with. Supposedly, when Tarquinius was assassinated, Servius and other members of the royal family hid the death from the people before eventually taking over power themselves and forcing the assassins to flee. It should of course be remembered that all of this information is taken from much later sources. At the time, Rome was a minor and insignificant city, which barely controlled more than the seven hills upon which it stood.

She bade them hope for the best; the king had been stunned by a sudden blow, but the weapon had not penetrated to any depth, he had already recovered consciousness, the blood had been washed off and the wound examined, all the symptoms were favourable, she was sure they would soon see him again, meantime it was his order that the people should recognise the authority of Servius Tullius, who would administer justice and discharge the other functions of royalty.
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 1.41, written circa 15BC

Stadium at Nemea

In the year 574 there is not much that can be said for the year. In the year 573 the Nemean Games were begun. These were the fourth of Panhellenic Games in Greece and were held in Nemea. These were also organised by the Corinthians, although the site was actually not that far from Argos either. Like the Olympic, Pythian and Isthmian games, the primary event was the stadion foot race, but there were other races and events, such as wrestling, chariot racing, racing in hoplite armour, boxing, pankration, discuss throwing and other such sporting events. Sometimes, musical or poetic contests would also be included. With the four Games, athletes could now compete in a major international contest every year, rather than waiting every four years for their chance of glory.

In 572 the Olympics were held. Agis of Elis won the stadion race. Tisandros of Sicilian Naxos won the boxing, while Arrhichion of Phigaleia won the pankration. Cleisthenes (or Kleisthenes), the tyrant of Sicyon, won the tethrippon or chariot race.

This is as good a time to mention Cleisthenes of Sicyon. He had been mentioned to some extent in the previous blog in connection to the First Sacred War. He was one of the leaders of the Greek cities allied against Cirrha and his navy supposedly helped to blockade the port. He was a grandson of Orthagoras, one of the first tyrants to seize power in the Greek world, whose dynasty was one of the longest-lasting. The Greek world was divided into various tribes, such as Dorian, Ionian, Aeolian, etc. Quite often these were not significant, but because Sicyon had been under the previous domination of the people of Argos, who were Dorian, Cleisthenes had a hatred of Argos, and went out of his way to sponsor Ionian interests. Supposedly Sicyon went to war with and defeated Argos. Cleisthenes then apparently banned the works of Homer, because they glorified his enemies the Argives.

Birth of Athena Vase
from Cervetari Italy

But Cleisthenes is most remembered for an incident that he had little to do with. He was one of the foremost men in Greece and when his daughter Agariste was of a marriageable age, he held a gathering of all the wealthiest and noblest youths in Sicyon to see who would be a suitable match for his daughter. In the end only two youths remained in the competition, Megacles and Hippocleides, with Hippocleides the clear favourite. Hippocleides became carried away and probably drunk and began dancing. He continued to dance, at one point standing on his head and kicking his legs in the air in time with the music. In exasperation Cleisthenes exclaimed, “Oh son of Teisander, you have danced away your marriage!” To which Hippocleides blithely responded, “Hippocleides doesn’t care”. The saying “Hippocleides doesn’t care” became a joke and a saying in the Greek world and afterwards with T.E. Lawrence later inscribing the words “Don’t care” in Greek above the door of his house in memory of the incident. I remember hearing the story in college and thinking that at some time or another, we have all been Hippocleides.

As they sat late drinking, Hippocleides, now far outdoing the rest, ordered the flute-player to play him a dance-tune; the flute-player obeyed and he began to dance. I suppose he pleased himself with his dancing, but Cleisthenes saw the whole business with much disfavor. Hippocleides then stopped for a while and ordered a table to be brought in; when the table arrived, he danced Laconian figures on it first, and then Attic; last of all he rested his head on the table and made gestures with his legs in the air. Now Cleisthenes at the first and the second bout of dancing could no more bear to think of Hippocleides as his son-in-law, because of his dancing and his shamelessness, but he had held himself in check, not wanting to explode at Hippocleides; but when he saw him making gestures with his legs, he could no longer keep silence and said, “son of Teisander, you have danced away your marriage.” Hippocleides said in answer, “Hippocleides doesn’t care” Since then this is proverbial.
Herodotus, Histories 6:160, written around 440BC

Vase from Cervetari in Italy

In the year 571 there is not much that can be said. However in 570 we know that Egyptian armies attacked the kingdom of Cyrene and were repulsed. After this defeat the Egyptians revolted against their king Apries and placed their general Amasis on the throne. Apries fought back with his Greek and Carian mercenaries, but they were overpowered by the native Egyptian troops.

Apries sent a great expedition against Cyrene which suffered a great defeat. The Egyptians blamed him for this and rebelled against him; for they thought that Apries had knowingly sent his men to their doom, so that after their death his rule over the rest of the Egyptians would be strengthened. Bitterly angered by this, those who returned home and the friends of the slain rose against him. Apries sent Amasis to dissuade them, when he heard of this. Amasis met the Egyptians and he exhorted them to desist; but as he spoke an Egyptian put a helmet on his head from behind, saying it was the token of royalty. 
Herodotus Histories 2,161 ff, written around 440BC

Modern bust of Stesichorus

Around this time Phalaris became tyrant of Acragas (or Agrigentum as it was then known). This was a city on the southern coast of Sicily and though recently founded was soon to be one of the most important cities on the island at that time. Phalaris would become known for his cruelty.

The lyric poet Stesichorus was said by Aristotle to have warned the people of Acragas about the dangers of the tyrant Phalaris. Apparently this was delivered in the form of a fable about the dangers of treating the enemy of one’s enemy as one’s friend.

For Stesichorus, when the people of Himera had chosen Phalaris dictator and were on the point of giving him a body-guard, after many arguments related a fable to them: “A horse was in sole occupation of a meadow. A stag having come and done much damage to the pasture, the horse, wishing to avenge himself on the stag, asked a man whether he could help him to punish the stag. The man consented, on condition that the horse submitted to the bit and allowed him to mount him javelins in hand. The horse agreed to the terms and the man mounted him, but instead of obtaining vengeance on the stag, the horse from that time became the man's slave. So then,” said he, “do you take care lest, in your desire to avenge yourselves on the enemy, you be treated like the horse. You already have the bit, since you have chosen a dictator; if you give him a body-guard and allow him to mount you, you will at once be the slaves of Phalaris.”
Aristotle Rhetoric, 2.20.5, written around 340BC

Manuscript fragment of Sappho's poetry

Around the year 570 the great poet Sappho from the isle of Lesbos probably died. There are later tales that she hurled herself in a lover’s leap from the Leucadian Cliffs, but these are probably later inventions. All we can say for sure was that around the year 570 Sappho passed and that she was one of the greatest poets of the ancient world, despite few fragments of her work remaining.

In the year 569 not much happens to my knowledge. In the year 568 the Olympic Games were held, with Hagnon of Peparethos winning the stadion race, Tisandros of Sicilian Naxos winning a second title in boxing and Arrhichion of Phigaleia winning the pankration.

Around this time Pittacus of Mytilene, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, died. He had been a general and had led his state for some years. He had been a tyrant and friend of tyrants, but he had also quelled social strife in his city and gained a reputation as one of the wisest men in Greece.

Hero-shrine of the poet Musaeus on Philopappou Hill
in Athens

Around the year 567, although this is an extremely approximate date, the poet Eugammon of Cyrene is said to have written an epic poem called Telegony. This was an epic about the Telegon, the son of Odysseus and Circe. This was the last book in the Epic Cycle and recapped all of the myths about the Trojan War and the wandering of heroes that had not been covered in either the works of Homer or of those who had come after. The epic is lost to us, but it may have only been transcribed by Eugammon. The original work may have been composed by Musaeus, a semi-legendary poet from the previous century.

In 566 according to traditional dating, the Panathenaic Games were founded. The Panathenaic Festival was a major festival dedicated to Athena, with a procession to the Parthenon, with women carrying a robe to be given to the statue of Athena on the hilltop. A large sacrifice would be made to Athena. From 566 onwards games became part of the celebrations and victory in these brought large prizes, unlike the Panhellenic Games, which only had a wreath as a trophy. The races were run in a gap between two hills to the east of Athens. Later, in the Roman era, this stadium was given marble seating, but fell into disrepair. It was eventually reconstructed in the late 1800’s and held the first modern Olympic Games.

Modern Panathenaic Stadium in Athens

Around the year 565 the Painter of Acropolis 606 (named after a particular vase discovered on the Acropolis in Athens) flourished. The vases created by this painter were black-figure vases, but were becoming ever more detailed than previous vases, with care being taken to show the horses and warriors as perfectly as the artist was able.

During this year 565 Peisistratos of Athens, an extremely ambitious Athenian, helped to defeat the neighbouring city of Megara and seized the port of Nisaea. The people of Athens were at this point divided between the regions of the plain and the sea coast. Peisistratos of Athens organised a third party, the people of the hills, who were poorer than either of the other two and rather more numerous.

Later red-figure vase showing a foul in a
pankration match

In the year 564 Hippostratos of Croton won the stadion race in the Olympics. Kallias of Athens entered the winning team for the tethrippon, or chariot-race. In an extraordinary display of sporting prowess, Tisandros of Sicilian Naxos won the boxing for the third time in a row, yet even this was not the main story from the Olympic Games of this year.

Eight years earlier Arrhichion of Phigaleia had won his first pankration title and successfully defended it again four years later. Now he faced a skilful opponent in the ring and was pinned, with his opponent catching him in a death grip and suffocating him. Arrhichion refused to submit and while he was losing his life, kicked out and dislocated his opponents toe. The opponent was unable to maintain his grip because of the pain and submitted but Arrhichion was already dead. He was given posthumous honours as the winner, never defeated at Olympia. Statues were erected to his memory at Olympia and his fighting spirit has been remembered ever since.

Apart from Olympic glory 564 probably saw the death of the great teller of fables, Aesop. Like Epimenides, Aesop is a somewhat legendary character. He was probably a slave who became known as a story-teller and whose simple stories became universally famous. Very little is known of him. He may have been from Africa or Lydia, but was probably not Greek. Supposedly he met the Seven Sages of Greece and was honoured by them. He is also supposed to have been an ambassador to the sacred island of Delos in the Aegean for the Lydian king Croesus, because Croesus later became such a legendary figure that every prominent Greek of this century was later connected to him by the biographers of later times. Supposedly the Delians accused him of stealing from a temple and hurled him over a cliff. His death sounds a little too similar to the death of Sappho and both stories are probably fictional.

Later illustration of Aesop's Fables

Aesop’s Fables are still known today and, apart from Homer, are possibly the best known stories from the Greek world. There are lots of traditions about Aesop being hunchbacked or ugly, but I prefer the story that recounts how the most beautiful woman of the age fell in love with him.

Rhodopis, whose real name may have been Doricha, was a Thracian slave in Samos, where she had the same owner as Aesop. Rhodopis became famed as the wealthiest hetaira (meaning “companion”, “prostitute” or “courtesan” depending on the context) of her day. Supposedly Sappho’s brother fell in love with her and paid to free her from slavery. Rhodopis lived in Naucratis in Egypt and sent dedication items to Delphi, which further cemented her fame. There were even stories among the Greeks that she had so much money as to build the third pyramid at Giza, which is of course nonsense. But I find the tale that the most beautiful woman of the age fell in love with an ugly storyteller during their shared captivity to be a rather interesting one. It is almost certainly not true but it is interesting.

…For very many years later than these kings who left the pyramids came Rhodopis, who was Thracian by birth, and a slave of Iadmon son of Hephaestopolis the Samian, and a fellow-slave of Aesop the story-writer. For he was owned by Iadmon, too
Herodotus Histories 2.134, written around 440BC

Vase of the Naucratis Painter

I do not know of any events that occurred in either 563 or 562. In 561 however an Athenian nobleman named Peisistratos seized control of Athens and attempted to set up a tyranny. He did so by wounding himself and then appearing before the people and crying out that he had been attacked and that he needed a bodyguard. Solon apparently was back in the city and denounced Peisistratos, who was in fact a relative of Solon. But Peisistratus was given his bodyguard and seems to have taken over the Acropolis, but was forced out and fled that same year. However the factional strife in Athens remained and Peisistratos’ new party remained also.

Peisistratus, being thought to be an extreme advocate of the people, and having won great fame in the war against Megara, inflicted a wound on himself with his own hand and then gave out that it had been done by the members of the opposite factions, and so persuaded the people to give him a bodyguard, the resolution being proposed by Aristophon. He was given the retainers called Club-bearers, and with their aid he rose against the people and seized the Acropolis, in the thirty-second year after the enactment of his laws, in the archonship of Comeas. It is said that when Peisistratus asked for the guard Solon opposed the request, and said that he was wiser than some men and braver than others—he was wiser than those who did not know that Peisistratus was aiming at tyranny, and braver than those who knew it but held their tongues.
Aristotle, Athenian Constitution 14, written around 340BC

Oil jar depicting marching warriors

In the year 560 there are a lot of approximate dates for the accession of kings. This is really because we’re not sure of the exact dates here so historians tend to round to multiples of 10, e.g. 560 rather than 561. These dates shouldn’t be taken too seriously. In Sparta, King Leon died and was succeeded by Anaxandridas II who became king of the Agiad line. In Cyrene, in North Africa, Battus II died and his son Arcesilaus II succeeded. In the city of Sicyon in the Peloponnese, the tyrant Cleisthenes died and was succeeded by Aeschines. In Lydia, Alyattes II died and his son Croesus succeeded him as king. The Lydian state was the wealthiest and powerful kingdom near to Greece and around this time Croesus began to make war against the Ionian states on the coastlands, starting with Ephesus.

In the Olympics that year Hippostratos of Croton won the stadion. Miltiades of Athens, an Athenian nobleman who may have been associated with Peisistratos, owned the chariot that won the tethrippon. Tisandros of Sicilian Naxos won the boxing for the fourth time; a set of victories spanning twelve years.

Moschophoros Statue

On the island of Samos there had been a temple to Hera dedicated at some point during the previous century. This temple was torn down and a colossal new temple, perhaps the largest in Greece to that point, was built. The building was overseen by the architects and sculptors, Rhoikos and Theodorus, who were father and son. Both of these were supposedly great inventors who improved bronze casting and possibly iron-casting. They were polymaths, Renaissance men two thousand years before the Renaissance, but little survives of their work. Their temple did not last long and probably was destroyed by earthquakes within about a decade of its completion.

A large temple was placed on the Acropolis in Athens, roughly in the area that now contains the Parthenon. This was known as the Hekatompedon. Little of it survives but we have some elements from the pediment decorations. The Moschophoros, or "Calf-Bearer" statue found on the Acropolis from this time may have been associated with the new temple. It shows a wealthy man bearing a calf on his shoulders to sacrifice to the goddess. Like many of the archaic items on the Acropolis, this was destroyed around 480BC. The Sphinx of Naxos, dedicated by the island of Naxos to the shrine at Delphi was also created around this time. This sat atop a tall Ionic column in Delphi.

Sphinx of Naxos

In the last blog we had mentioned Thales and the birth of Greek science. Anaximander was another lover of wisdom from the city of Miletus who lived and flourished around this time. He was certainly a contemporary of Thales and may have been part of something like a school with him. School is a bit of an anachronism here however. Thales of course is the first thinker that we know of, but Anaximander was much more radical in his thought.

Anaximander of Miletus, a pupil of Thales, was the first to try to draw the inhabited world on a tablet; after him, Hecataeus of Miletus, a great traveller, made it more accurate so that the thing was greatly admired. 
Agathemerus, Geography 1.i, written circa 250AD

He is said to have been the first Greek to draw a map of the world, which is unusual but not unprecedented, as the Babylonians had already drawn up maps, such as the map found at Sippar. But he also seems to have realised that the earth did not need to float upon anything, that the earth could sit at the centre of the universe without floating upon anything, or needing support. Around this world rotated the stars, the moon and the sun.

Reconstruction of Anaximander's map of the world,
later improved by Hecataeus

But, moreover, he asserted that there is an eternal motion, by the agency of which it happens that the heavens are generated; but that the earth is poised aloft, upheld by nothing, continuing (so) on account of its equal distance from all (the heavenly bodies); and that the figure of it is curved, circular, similar to a column of stone. And one of the surfaces we tread upon, but the other is opposite. And that the stars are a circle of fire, separated from the fire which is in the vicinity of the world, and encompassed by air. And that certain atmospheric exhalations arise in places where the stars shine; wherefore, also, when these exhalations are obstructed, that eclipses take place. And that the moon sometimes appears full and sometimes waning, according to the obstruction or opening of its (orbital) paths. But that the circle of the sun is twenty-seven times larger than the moon, and that the sun is situated in the highest (quarter of the firmament); whereas the orbs of the fixed stars in the lowest.
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.5, written around 220AD

Rather than believing that all things came originally of water, as his predecessor Thales did, Anaximander postulated a infinite universal, original substance from which the four primeval elements of the Greeks, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, came. It is hard to know exactly what he meant by this, but it was a reasoned attempt to understand and think about the beginning of the universe. Anaximander also believed that the earth was once very different than it is now and that humans had to gestate inside fish, because the conditions were too watery for life to survive as it does now. This is sometimes referred to as a precursor to the theory of evolution. It probably isn’t really one, as it is unclear if the creatures themselves are changing or the conditions have changed. But it is the type of speculation that was hitherto unknown in the world before the Milesian thinkers.

Schema showing Anaximander's view of the cosmos

This man said that the originating principle of existing things is a certain constitution of the Infinite, out of which the heavens are generated, and the worlds therein; and that this principle is eternal and undecaying, and comprising all the worlds. And he speaks of time as something of limited generation, and subsistence, and destruction. This person declared the Infinite to be an originating principle and element of existing things, being the first to employ such a denomination of the originating principle.
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.5, written around 220AD

Anaximander also apparently put forward naturalistic explanations for thunder and lightning. As Thales is said to have predicted an eclipse, Anaximander is said to have predicted an earthquake. This almost certainly did not happen and is probably an embellishment of later biographers. Nevertheless, Anaximander is the second known Greek philosopher and thinker. Like Thales, his ideas were almost entirely wrong, but they set the world onto a new path, one that we are still travelling today.

Later Roman mosaic of Anaximander

And that animals are produced (in moisture) by evaporation from the sun. And that man was, originally, similar to a different animal, that is, a fish. And that winds are caused by the separation of rarified exhalations of the atmosphere, and by their motion after they have been condensed. And that rain arises from earth's giving back (the vapours which it receives) from the (clouds) under the sun. And that there are flashes of lightning when the wind coming down severs the clouds. 
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.5, written around 220AD

In the year 559 I do not know of any events that were happening, save that there was probably war in Ionia between the Ionians and the kingdom of Lydia. In 558 Solon, the lawmaker of Athens died. He is supposed to have visited Croesus in Lydia. Croesus supposedly showed the famed Athenian his treasures and asked Solon who was the happiest man on earth? Solon replied mentioning those who had died peacefully after honourable lives. The lesson that the king was meant to learn was that no one knows what tomorrow will bring and those who are fortunate now may suffer greatly in the future. The story is probably just a legend but if there is any truth to it, it might apply to Solon, who died seeing his city Athens riven with civil strife despite his laws and foreseeing the upcoming tyranny of his relative Peisistratos.

Croesus showing Solon his riches,
painting by Casper Casteleyn 1655AD

When he got there, Croesus entertained him in the palace, and on the third or fourth day Croesus told his attendants to show Solon around his treasures, and they pointed out all those things that were great and blest. After Solon had seen everything and had thought about it, Croesus found the opportunity to say, “My Athenian guest, we have heard a lot about you because of your wisdom and of your wanderings, how as one who loves learning you have travelled much of the world for the sake of seeing it, so now I desire to ask you who is the most fortunate man you have seen.” Croesus asked this question believing that he was the most fortunate of men, but Solon, offering no flattery but keeping to the truth, said, “O King, it is Tellus the Athenian.” Croesus was amazed at what he had said and replied sharply, “In what way do you judge Tellus to be the most fortunate?” Solon said, “Tellus was from a prosperous city, and his children were good and noble. He saw children born to them all, and all of these survived. His life was prosperous by our standards, and his death was most glorious: when the Athenians were fighting their neighbours in Eleusis, he came to help, routed the enemy, and died very finely. The Athenians buried him at public expense on the spot where he fell and gave him much honour.”
Herodotus Histories 1.30, written circa 440BC

Electrum coinage of Miletus in imitation of Lydian
coinage, circa 575BC: Source

Around the year 557 the kingdom of Lydia, under their king Croesus, conquered the Ionian Greek states on the mainland of Asia Minor, on what would be today the west coast of Turkey. These included famous and wealthy cities such as Miletus, but did not include the islands in the Aegean, as the Lydians did not appear to have a large navy.

In 556, Phaidros of Pharsalos won the stadion race in the Olympics. Aeschines, the tyrant of Sicyon, on the north-east of the Peloponnese, was forced to flee his city by the Spartans. The Spartans may have feared a powerful tyranny being established so close to their state., particularly if it was a tyranny that hated the Dorians. To be sure, the enmity of Sicyon was usually against Argos, a traditional enemy of Sparta, but the Dorians believed that they were the better fighters, so to see Dorians losing consistently would be a dangerous precedent for Sparta.

Boeotian siren dish from Tanagra, circa 560BC

One of the driving forces behind the Spartan attack on the tyranny of Sicyon was Chilon of Sparta. He was now an aged man but now sat as an ephor who advised the two kings. Supposedly he laid the foundations for trying to form a lasting alliance of all the states of Peloponnese rather than trying to conquer the entire region and reduce it to slavery as the Spartans had done to the Messenians. Chilon would gain a reputation for wisdom and be accounted among the Seven Sages of Greece.

Chilon, son of Damagetas, was a Lacedaemonian. He wrote a poem in elegiac metre some 200 lines in length; and he declared that the excellence of a man is to divine the future so far as it can be grasped by reason. When his brother grumbled that he was not made ephor as Chilon was, the latter replied, "I know how to submit to injustice and you do not." He was made ephor in the 55th Olympiad; Pamphila, however, says the 56th. He first became ephor, according to Sosicrates, in the archonship of Euthydemus.
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 1:68, written around 250AD

However, while the long-lived Sicyonian tyranny was coming to an end, another tyranny was being instated in Athens. Aristotle reports that Peisistratos got a tall, beautiful woman, named Phye, to dress as Athena and be placed in a chariot and pretend to be the goddess. The goddess would then welcome Peisistratos back to her city and proclaim him ruler. Aristotle is probably recording a real story here but it is probably more to do with a religious procession. Peisistratos had been involved in creating the Great Panathenaic Festival, which involved a procession, so the story probably refers to something like this. He had also made an alliance with Megacles, the leader of the people of the coast, combining the parties of hills and coast against the party of the plains. A marriage alliance was established with Peisistratos marrying Megacles' daughter.

Dish by the C Painter

Having first spread a rumor that Athena was bringing Peisistratus back, he found a tall and beautiful woman, according to Herodotus a member of the Paeanian deme, but according to some accounts a Thracian flower-girl from Collytus named Phye, dressed her up to look like the goddess, and brought her to the city with him, and Peisistratus drove in a chariot with the woman standing at his side, while the people in the city marvelled and received them with acts of reverence.
Aristotle, Athenian Constitution 14, written around 340BC

In the year 555 an Athenian nobleman called Miltiades went at this point to the Chersonese, the northern peninsula on the Dardanelles, near present-day Gallipoli. He went at the request of the inhabitants who were fighting wars against other Greek states in the region and were losing. However, he may have also gone at the request of Peisistratos, who wanted to strengthen Athenian influence in the region. Whatever the reason, Miltiades, a previous Olympic victor of the tethrippon went and became a ruler of the region for some time.

Also in this year Peisistratos was forced out of Athens after he fell out with Megacles, the leader of the Coastal party. This was the second time Peisistratos had lost the tyranny of Athens and he determined to become stronger before attempting it once more.

In the year 555 Stesichorus, one of the Lyric poets, died. He had made some innovations in the poetic art and was remembered for his writings about the Trojan War and his opposition to the cruel tyrant Phalaris of Acragas. However, little of his work survives. Pericleitus also flourished around this time as a musician in Lesbos, but even less is known of his work than Stesichorus.

Later drawing of the Perillos being
executed in the Brazen Bull while
Phalaris watches from the throne

In the year 554, Phalaris of Acragas (or Agrigentum) was overthrown and executed by a political rival named Telemachus. Phalaris had become a byword for cruelty and was remembered as the very worst of tyrants. In fact Phalaris may have been partly responsible for the word tyrant gaining the very negative connotations it has today. Supposedly he had constructed a bronze bull that was hollow inside and with tubes connecting the hollow space in the abdomen to the mouth. A fire would then be kindled under the bull and the screams of the victim would sound like the bellowing of a bull. This is a heinous torture, worse than being burned alive, as the victim would not die from smoke inhalation.

Supposedly the creator of the brazen bull, an Athenian sculptor named Perillos, was executed using his own creation by Phalaris. When Phalaris was overthrown by Telemachus the conquered tyrant was placed in his own torture device and executed. It is a grim story, but one that might be true, as it is referred to by writers within a century.

For the years 553, 552 and 551 it is hard to say much. The only fact of note is that Ladromos of Sparta won the stadion race in the Olympics in 552.

Around the year 550 a great deal appears to happen, but this is probably just scholars generalising and rounding their approximations to a convenient number. Many of the dates here should be taken very sceptically.

Around the year 550 the Spartan Eurypontid King Agasicles dies and is succeeded by Ariston as the Eurypontid King of Sparta. Sparta had two lines of kings, the Agiad and the Eurypontid lines.

Cup showingArcesilaus II (or I) overseeing the export of
 silphium from Cyrene

In Cyrene, the Greek colony on the North African coast, in what is now Libya, there was civil strife between King Arcesilaus II and a close advisor (and possibly relative) named Learchus. Supposedly Learchus had been a trusted counsellor and had led to a more tyrannical state of government in Cyrene. But Learchus was ambitious and seemed to be aiming at the throne himself. He was exiled and Learchus and his followers fled to a nearby region called Barca, which they fortified and rallied the Libyans against the Greek colonists.

When Arcesilaus II tried to chase them down the fugitives under Learchus routed the Cyrenaicans and Arcesilaus himself died by poison soon after, possibly by suicide. Learchus then tried to seize the throne of Cyrene, but he was murdered himself and the lame son of the dead king was placed on the throne and reigned as King Battus III. After this the people appealed to the oracle of Delphi and on their advice received an arbitrator from Mantinea called Demonax, who reorganised their city for them.

This Battus had a son Arcesilaus; on his first coming to reign, he quarrelled with his brothers, until they left him and went away to another place in Libya, where they founded a city for themselves, which was then and is now called Barce; and while they were founding it, they persuaded the Libyans to revolt from the Cyrenaeans. Then Arcesilaus led an army into the country of the Libyans who had received his brothers and had also revolted; and they fled in fear of him to the eastern Libyans. Arcesilaus pursued them until he came in his pursuit to Leucon in Libya, where the Libyans resolved to attack him; they engaged, and so wholly overcame the Cyrenaeans that seven thousand Cyrenaean soldiers were killed there. After this disaster, Arcesilaus, being worn down and having taken a drug, was strangled by his brother Learchus; Learchus was deftly killed by Arcesilaus' wife, Eryxo.
Herodotus’ Histories, 4.160, written about 440BC

Electrum coinage of Miletus, circa 550BC: Source

Despite falling under Lydian control, or perhaps because of it, the city of Miletus sent some of its citizens to the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, in present-day Ukraine to found a new city called Olbia. This city would be outside of Lydian control and was yet another colony of Miletus in the Black Sea region.

Sparta was indisputably the strongest state in Greece and was so because it had managed to reduce another large-ish region (Messenia) to a state of serfdom and slavery. The Spartans seem to have considered doing the same to another of the neighbouring regions and to crush the Arcadians, starting with the city of Tegea. They consulted the Oracle at Delphi who gave them a response that they would receive the plain as a dancing ground to measure out, which sounded promising, as the Spartans wanted to measure out the land among themselves. They attacked Tegea, bringing with them chains to shackle their future slaves, but were badly defeated and made slaves themselves, bound with the very chains they had brought. The Spartans were then set to labour in the fields themselves as slaves, which was held to fulfil the prophecy of the Oracle and the chains were hung in a temple in Tegea as a trophy. This battle is known as the Battle of the Fetters, in memory of the chains of the over-confident Spartans.

Greek helmet of Corinthian
style circa 550BC

They were not content to live in peace, but, confident that they were stronger than the Arcadians, asked the oracle at Delphi about gaining all the Arcadian land. She replied in hexameter: 
“You ask me for Arcadia? You ask too much; I grant it not. There are many men in Arcadia, eaters of acorns, who will hinder you. But I grudge you not. I will give you Tegea to beat with your feet in dancing, and its fair plain to measure with a rope.” 
When the Lacedaemonians heard the oracle reported, they left the other Arcadians alone and marched on Tegea carrying chains, relying on the deceptive oracle. They were confident they would enslave the Tegeans, but they were defeated in battle. Those taken alive were bound in the very chains they had brought with them, and they measured the Tegean plain with a rope by working the fields. The chains in which they were bound were still preserved in my day, hanging up at the temple of Athena Alea.
Herodotus Histories 1.66, written circa 440BC

Around this time the epigrammatist Demodocus flourished. He was a poet who wrote brief allusive poetry, which could be seen as containing deeper meaning in its obscurity. Very little survives of his work save a few quotations in the works of other authors.

Thus says Demodocus: The Milesians are not stupid. They just behave as if they were. 
Demodocus quoted in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, written circa 330BC

In the realm of music Epigonus of Ambracia flourished around this time. He was a musician who introduced a type of harp or psaltery to Greece. It was named in his honour as the epigonion. He lived at Sicyon and was made a citizen of that city in recognition of his musical talent.

Cup by the Phrynos Painter

In art the development of statuary continued apace, with the Orchomenos-Thera and Tenea-Volomandra groups of kouroi being dated to roughly around this time period, among other archaic statuary, such as the statue known as the Berlin Goddess or the Lion of Miletus.

The Lydos Painter was an Athenian vase painter of Lydian origin who painted black-figure pottery. He had a workshop that produced a large quantity of pottery that ultimately became aimed at the poorer section of the market. Another painter active at this time was the Naucratis Painter, who lived and worked in Laconia and who, similarly to the Lydos Painter, was a foreigner in the region. Other black-figure painters were the C Painter and the Phrynos Painter in Attica.

Another character who may have lived around this time was Sostratos of Aegina. Aegina is a rocky island in the Aegean to the south of Athens. At this time Aegina was a major trading hub in the Aegean and they seem to have been some of the earliest adopters of coinage in the Greek world, apart from the Ionian cities on the coast of Lydia, such as Miletus. Sostratos was mentioned as the son of Laodamas and was said to be the richest trader known to Herodotus, who wrote perhaps in 440BC. There have been a few archaeological finds, such as anchors, that seem to suggest that Sostratos was a real person, but it is still open to interpretation.

Later classical copy of
cult statue of Artemis of the
Ephesians: Capitoline Museum

Greek architecture continued to grow as the architects embarked upon ever more ambitious projects. However the temple of Hera on the island of Samos seems to have collapsed in an earthquake around this time. The Samians determined to rebuild it even greater than before. This may have been because, with funding from Croesus of Lydia, the city of Ephesus decided to rebuild their temple to Artemis in a style grander than any before it. It was to be 115m long and 46m wide and may have been the first temple to be built of marble. This temple was not the one that would later become known as a wonder of the world, but it was still probably the largest temple that the Greeks had yet attempted to build. The architect’s name, Chersiphron, is preserved in writings, but we know little else about the building of the temple. The temple itself housed a statue of Artemis, but she was depicted here in an unusual fashion, with many breasts (or bull’s testicles according to some scholars). This may have been following the model of a pre-Greek cult statue. Later copies of the statue survive and can be seen in museums to this day.

Around the year 550, or more strictly, in the mid-6th Century BC, Myson of Chenae lived. He does not appear to have really done anything particularly unusual, except for the fact that despite coming from wealth, he mainly spent his time living on a farm and leading a quiet and inoffensive life. He eventually became a byword for his wisdom and simple way of life and was included by some later writers in the Seven Sages of Greece, normally by those writers who excluded Periander, the tyrant of Corinth from the list of sages.

Bronze leg of a tripod shaped like a
gorgon

Another sage-like character who lived around this time was Anacharsis, a Scythian who travelled in the Greek world and gained the friendship of the Athenians, particularly Solon. He is said to have been treated as an honorary Greek and to have been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries of the Athenians, which was a rare privilege for a non-Greek. Some have suspected that he was a philosopher or a travelling mystic but none of his writings survive and it is hard to know exactly what to make of this rather mysterious character. Like Myson of Chenae, he is sometimes accounted among the Seven Sages of Greece.

I have made a number of references, both in this blog and the preceding two blogs, to the Seven Sages. This was a concept that arose later, that the age just preceding the Classical period of the 5th century had seen seven great men, who combined wisdom, courage, statesmanship and skill. The lists changed depending on who reported it. The concept of Seven Sages is not even a Greek concept, as the Mesopotamians had a very similar concept when speaking about their ancient past.

Supposedly there was a tripod that had been discovered in the sea between two cities, both of whom claimed it. Someone had the idea that it should be given to the “wisest of men” and it was given to Thales. Thales however could not accept it and passed it on to another, who passed it on to another and so forth until the tripod returned to Thales, who dedicated it in Delphi. Supposedly the Seven are those to whom the tripod was given, but there are many versions of this story and it is almost certainly a later invention. There was no fixed agreement about who all composed the Seven. Thales of Miletus, Bias of Priene, Pittacus of Mitylene and Solon of Athens were universally recognised as being in the seven. But the remaining three places were contested by Epimenides of Crete, Anacharsis of Scythia, Chilon of Sparta, Myson of Chenae, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lindus, etc. The list may in fact be as high as 17, so when someone refers to a person as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, just remember that there were more than seven that people gave that name to.

Duenos Inscription (Altes Museum Berlin)

While I’m sure the reader is probably tired of the mid-6th century BC it should be noted that the Forum Inscriptions, such as the one on the Lapis Niger, some of the earliest Latin inscriptions, date from around this time. Also, around this time, but perhaps slightly later is the Duenos Inscription. These are not the earliest artefacts, as the Praeneste Fibula from the preceding century is definitely older and almost certainly not a forgery, but this is just to note that at this time Rome was beginning to become literate.

Finally, a story that I am not sure where to place, so I will put it here. The cities of Carthage and Cyrene both existed along the North African coast. Two trading cities, one Phoenician, one Greek. Neither side had great interest in the desert interior and were both more interested in trading with the rest of the Mediterranean. Thus they decided to draw a border between them. It was decided that two runners would set out from each city and run as fast as they could along the coast until they met the runners from the other city. Supposedly the Carthaginian runners made incredible speed and met the runners from Cyrene well over halfway away from Carthage. The runners from Cyrene understandably were annoyed and accused the Carthaginians, two brothers known as the Philaeni Brother, of cheating. Cheating may in fact have taken place. The Greeks wanted to rerun the race while the Carthaginians wanted the result to stand.

Black-figure crater by the Lydos Painter

Eventually the Greeks agreed to a compromise. They would accept the result, if the Philaeni Brothers were to be slain. If the Philaeni Brothers wanted to live they would rerun the race. The Philaeni chose to die so that their homeland could enjoy the advantage that they had won for it. Solemn sacrifices were made and until the time of late Antiquity the boundary between the two regions was fixed at the Altar of the Philaeni. Later the Roman Empire would be split into east and west at the point where the Philaeni Brothers died. I’m not sure when this story happened and I’m not at all sure if the story is true. It probably is not. But there are no records of Cyrene and Carthage going to war at least.

I will leave the blog here for now. We have seen more philosophers speculating on the nature of the world, ambitious temples, statues and vases being created, wise men of legendary repute, wars, coups, tyrants and torture devices, poetry, song and sporting courage that in the cases of Arrhichion and the Philaeni Brothers defied death itself.

Renaissance painting of
Anaximander from Raphael's
School of Athens, c1510AD

Primary Sources:
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, written circa 15BC
Herodotus, Historie, written around 440BC
Aristotle Rhetoric, written around 340BC
Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, written around 340BC
Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, written around 220AD
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, written around 250AD

Secondary Sources:
Coinage of Miletos in Ionia from Wildwinds website

Related Blog Posts:
600-575BC in Greece
575-550BC in the Near East
550-525BC in Greece