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

600-575BC in Greece

Vase by the Pholoe Painter, active around 580BC

This post will look at Greece and the wider Greek world from the years 600BC to 575BC. 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.

Chalice from Chios

I will also be dealing with elements of Roman history as these arise. I will shortly give Rome its own posts, 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.

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 590 while another might say 580 and the truth is that no one knows for sure, although some opinions are more founded than others.

Modern statue of Cleobulus at Lindos

Also, a lot of writers and poets of the time are active for various periods of time. Thus I might mention Cleobulus as being active in the year 601-600 but he was doubtless also active and writing poetry in the years around this time as well.

I will now recap the events that happened in or around the years 601-600BC. The poets Arion and Cleobulus supposedly flourished in or around this time, although I am not entirely convinced that Arion even existed.

Cleobulus was a citizen of the city of Lindus in Rhodes and may well have been the tyrant of that city. But this is not certain by any means. He was a poet and a traveller, who may have travelled to Egypt and spent time among the wise men of the Egyptians (this is probably a later myth). He educated his daughter Cleobulina well and she would go on to become a renowned writer herself. Not much is known of Cleobulus save that he wrote epitaphs and riddles. But despite the fact that later sources do not speak much of him, we do know that he was accounted among the Seven Sages of Greece. He flourished around the latter end of the 7th century BC so it is sufficient to make mention of him here.

Periander of Corinth:
Later Roman era bust in
Vatican Museum

The father is one, the sons twelve, and each of these has twice thirty daughters of features twain; some are white and others are black, and though they be immortal they all perish.
A riddle of Cleobulus preserved in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Philosophers, written perhaps around 200AD? The answer is "a year"

The poet Arion also is supposed to have flourished around this time and was provided for by Periander the tyrant of Corinth. He may have been from the island of Lesbos and he was said to have been a great lyre-player and to have been instrumental in making dithyrambs, which were hymns to Dionysus the god of wine. None of his works survive to my knowledge but there is a striking legend that sees the poet being taken prisoner while at sea, playing his lyre before being thrown into the deep and then being saved from drowning by dolphins. The dolphins had gathered to hear his song and carried him to safety.

At first glance, this seems like an entirely frivolous legend but dolphins are notoriously friendly and have been known to save people in contemporary times. So, it is unlikely but it is at the very edge of possibility that the story is true. However, a second glance makes it even more unlikely, as there are legends of Dionysus being captured by pirates and turning the pirates into dolphins. So if a poet who glorified a god was saved by the creatures of that god? Well, it certainly sounds like an almost certain myth, but with the very faintest outer possibility that there might be a grain of truth to the story.

Amphora of Massalia

Periander was despot of Corinth. During his lifetime, according to the Corinthians – and indeed the Lesbians – a very marvellous thing took place, namely the rescue of Arion of Methymna from the sea at Taenarum by a dolphin. This Arion was the finest singer to the lyre then known, and is the first recorded composer of dithyrambs, which he named and trained Corinthian choirs to perform. It seems that he spent most of his life at the court of Periander; but one day conceiving a desire to visit Italy and Sicily, he did so, and some time afterwards, having made large sums of money there, determined to return to Corinth. Accordingly he set sail from Tarentum, chartering a vessel manned by Corinthians, a people whom he thought, of all men, he could trust. But when they reached the open sea the crew conspired to secure his money by throwing him overboard . . . Putting on all his harper’s dress and grasping his lyre, he took his stand in the stern-sheets, and went through the Orthian or High-pitched Nome from beginning to end. Then he threw himself just as he was, dress and all, into the sea. The crew continued their voyage to Corinth; but meanwhile a dolphin, it seems, took Arion upon his back and carried him ashore at Taenarum . . . There is a small bronze votive-offering of Arion on the promontory of Taenarum, consisting of a man upon a dolphin’s back.
Herodotus Histories 1. 23, written around 440’s BC

In 600, Smyrna fell to the Lydians. The King of Lydia, Alyattes II, had attacked it and Smyrna was left in ruins for many years after this. The poet Mimnermus may have died in this battle.

Also, although the exact year is uncertain, it seems that around this time an assassination attempt was launched against Myrsilus of Mytilene. Previous tyrants had been assassinated by the noble groups and Pittacus was again involved. But this time Pittacus may have betrayed the conspiracy and a number of the aristocrats, including Alcaeus and possibly Sappho, were banished. This may have occurred around 593 however. The dates here are quite inexact.

The Olympic Games were held this year and Anticrates of Epidaurus won the Stadion race. The other winners are not recorded by history.

Drawing of the ruins of Paestum, drawn in the 19th century

Elsewhere the process of colonisation went on apace. The city of Massalia was founded by Greeks from the Ionian city of Phocaea. This was the first Greek settlement in what is now France and would go on to become one of the most significant western colonies. Supposedly the founding was opposed by the Carthaginians but their fleet was defeated and the Greeks founded their city in alliance with the local Ligurian tribe. Massalia would later become the main trading emporium for the Greeks in their trade with the Celts.

The city of Poseidonia was also founded around this time on the west coast of southern Italy. This name was later changed to Paestum and later to Pesto. Sadly this is not the etymology of the food “pesto”. It was not an important city in antiquity but is known today for some of the best preserved Greek temples of the ancient world. These however would be built much later.

Not in hewn stones, nor in well-fashioned beams,
Not in the noblest of the builder's dreams,
But in courageous men of purpose great,
There is the fortress, there the living State.
The Bulwark of the State, Poem by Alcaeus

Sappho and Alcaeus: 1881 painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Alcaeus of Mytilene also flourished around this time. He was a contemporary of Pittacus and was quite antagonistic to him, because of Pittacus' betrayal of the conspiracy to murder Myrsilus. He was a lyric poet and famed in later antiquity. He was a soldier of fortune and his brother was a mercenary for the Babylonians (possibly taking part in the siege of Askelon. Strangely, if his brother Antimenides was fighting against the Philistines, Alcaeus boasts in a poem of his slaying a giant slightly over 15 feet tall (or over 4.5 metres). Allowing for no problems in the translation and allowing for a considerable amount of poetic exaggeration, it might suggest that the Philistines had a tradition of fielding large warriors in battle. Alcaeus actively participated in the political intrigue of Mytilene at the time and fell afoul of Pittacus, who apparently pardoned him. He would later be a poetic contemporary of Sappho, who was also from Mytilene.

From the end of the world thou hast just returned,
And an ivory-hilted sword hast thou earned,
A sword which is all overlaid with gold,
A magnificent prize for thy labours bold,
Which by Babylon's men was given to thee;
For thou from their troubles thine allies didst free.
Thou slew a royal warrior, a man,
To be five ells tall lacking only a span.
To Antimenides, Poem by Alcaeus

Later mural of the abduction of Persephone by Hades

Also around this approximate date the Eleusinian Mysteries began to be formally brought into Athenian life. These were an ancient set of rituals involving processions to nearby Eleusis. There those who were to be initiated into the secrets would fast and be shown secrets that would supposedly change their lives. In exchange they would be sworn to secrecy about what exactly the rituals involved. To this day we are not sure exactly what was done, said or shown at these mysteries. But we have a fair idea, mostly because later Christian writers had no such scruples about revealing the secrets. The rites were connected to Demeter and Persephone, goddesses who were associated with both the harvest and the underworld. There were dances and libations to the dead and possibly hallucinogenic drugs involved. These rites predated this period, but only seem to have been formalised in this era. They would continue until 392AD when the Arian Christian Goths destroyed the sanctuary. But the secrecy that was enjoined on the initiates means that the full details of the Mysteries will always remain a mystery.

It is possibly around this time that the Terrace of Lions on the sacred island of Delos was made. These were marble lions that may have been set up in imitation of Egyptian terraces. The island of Delos was said to be the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

Not much can be said about the next three years 599, 598 and 597 for either the Greeks or Romans. In the year 596 the Olympic Games were held. Chrysamaxos of Sparta won the main race, the stadion. Polymestor of Miletus won the boys’ stadion race while Hetoimokles of Sparta won the wrestling competition again, making this his second Olympic crown.

Castalian Spring, sacred spring in Delphi,
where pilgrims would wash before
consulting the oracle

Around this time the First Sacred War broke out between the port city of Cirrha (sometimes spelled Kirrha) near the shrine of Delphi and an alliance of Greeks sometimes referred to as the Amphictyonic League. This league was a loose religious association of Greek city-states. It seems that Cirrha, and possibly its sister-city Crissa, had been levying a tax on pilgrims seeking guidance from the oracle. The war was led by the tyrant Cleisthenes (or Kleisthenes) of Sicyon. Sicyon was a city on the north of the Peloponnese and had a long lasting tyranny. Cleisthenes was a particularly energetic tyrant and waged war on the city of Argos as well at some point during his tyranny. The navy of Sicyon blockaded the port and the city was placed under siege. However the amateur nature of Greek warfare was not suited to sieges so the city was able to hold out against the League for years.

It should be noted that the Greek city-states were involved in almost continuous low-level warfare with each other and that at any given point there might be about twenty small wars/disputes being fought among the many cities. Around this time Athens and Megara were fighting over the small island of Salamis. Considering that Salamis is visible from the Acropolis of Athens it shows just how small the hinterlands of these states were. The Athenians seem to have had success in the war, led by a general famed for his wisdom known as Solon. However the dispute was eventually sent to arbitration to Sparta, who ruled that Salamis should be Athenian. Athens was also involved in the First Sacred War with their troops probably being led by Alcmaeon ,with Solon possibly acting as an aide. Plutarch in fact reports that Solon had persuaded the League to attack Cirrha but this is not certain.

Roman era bust of Solon

Notwithstanding all this, the Megarians persisted in their opposition, and both sides inflicted and suffered many injuries in the war, so that finally they made the Lacedaemonians arbiters and judges of the strife. Accordingly, most writers say that the fame of Homer favoured the contention of Solon; for after himself inserting a verse into the Catalogue of Ships, he read the passage at the trial thus:— 
Ajax from Salamis brought twelve ships,
And bringing, stationed them near the Athenian hosts.
Plutarch, Life of Solon 10, written circa 110AD

Around the year 594 Solon was the Archon for Athens. He had had success in the war against Megara and Athens was in danger of falling into severe turmoil. The farmland of Attica was not rich and was best for the growing of olives rather than grain. Because olives take a long time to mature many poor farmers were forced to switch to olive cultivation and to take out large loans from aristocrats in the hope of a favourable harvest in the future. If they were unlucky they would find themselves reduced to slavery. The common people were terrified of the possibility of being reduced to a status similar to that of the helots in Laconia. The aristocrats feared the unbridled wrath of the poor. The laws laid down by Draco in 621 do not seem to have helped the problem. This was made worse by the fact that some clans wanted to keep power in their own families and there was regional distrust between the different parts of Attica.

Solon was asked to write new laws for the city. He was a noble, but one who had the trust of the people. The law code was quite a large one for the time, but the main point was that the debts were all cancelled and any Athenian who had been enslaved by the nobles would be set free. This was seen as a liberation of the people and Solon was careful to ensure that he also cancelled the substantial amounts of money he was owed by his friends, so that none could accuse him of profiting (although his friends certainly did profit).

Modern statue of Solon showing him as lawmaker

To compensate the nobles, new laws were made forbidding the export of any foodstuff except olives and olive oil. In practice this would have favoured the nobles who had large estates and could export olives. Solon also split the people up into four classes based on how much they could produce. The wealthiest class could run for offices and be generals. The next class were expected to be the cavalry force for the city, as they could afford horses. The next class were expected to be the hoplite infantry, as they could afford armour. Finally the mass of the people, who owned only a little property were expected to serve as light infantry or in any naval combat.

Soon, however, they perceived the advantages of his measure, ceased from their private fault-finding, and offered a public sacrifice, which they called Seisactheia, or Disburdenment. They also appointed Solon to reform the constitution and make new laws, laying no restrictions whatever upon him, but putting everything into his hands, magistracies, assemblies, courts-of-law, and councils. He was to fix the property qualification for each of these, their numbers, and their times of meeting, abrogating and maintaining existing institutions at his pleasure
Plutarch, Life of Solon 16, written circa 100AD

Relief of Solon in the Capitol Building in
Washington DC, commemorating him
as a lawmaker

The reforms of Solon seem to have eased the tension in the city and the Athenians swore to keep his laws untouched for ten years. While Solon did not create a democracy, the rise of the fourth class, as the navy became more important, paved the way for later Athenian democracy. Having become a byword for wisdom, Solon supposedly left Athens for ten years to travel the Mediterranean seeking wisdom. He is said to have visited Egypt and Lydia, however the dates do not quite match. He is supposed to have spoken with Croesus of Lydia, but Croesus did not come to the throne of Lydia until around 560. The dates are unclear for the Lydian kings, but if Solon did in fact meet Croesus it probably happened at a much later date. Even Plutarch notes that some in antiquity thought this meeting never occurred.

In the year 594 Solon supposedly began his travels, voluntarily leaving behind the city of Athens that he had just reformed, to prevent the Athenians from pressuring him into the changing the laws he had written. Plato later writes that it was on these journeys that Solon came to the temple of Neith in Egypt where he heard the tale of the lost city of Atlantis. This is probably not true, but it is a beautiful tale.

“In the Delta of Egypt,” said Critias, “where, at its head, the stream of the Nile parts in two, there is a certain district called the Saitic. The chief city in this district is Sais—the home of King Amasis,—the founder of which, they say, is a goddess whose Egyptian name is Neith, and in Greek, as they assert, Athena. These people profess to be great lovers of Athens and in a measure akin to our people here. And Solon said that when he travelled there he was held in great esteem amongst them; moreover, when he was questioning such of their priests as were most versed in ancient lore about their early history, he discovered that neither he himself nor any other Greek knew anything at all, one might say, about such matters.
Plato, Timaeus 21-22, written circa 360BC

Later red-figure vase showing the contemporary poets
Alcaeus and Sappho

On the island of Lesbos, in the city of Mitylene, the tyrant Myrsilus reigned. There seems to have been an attempt by the nobles to murder the tyrant. To do this they enlisted the help of the wise man Pittacus, who had helped overthrow the previous tyrant Melanchron, probably around 609. However Pittacus betrayed the plot and a large number of the aristocrats were exiled, including the poet Alcaeus and possibly also the poet Sappho and her family. This made Alcaeus a fervent enemy of Pittacus who he condemned in his poetry, as he bided his time and waited for his revenge. This event may have happened in the year 600 and I have mentioned it there as well.

At every drinking-bout does he carouse,
And silly triflers feasting fill his house.
Well, let him boast in his exultant pride,
That he from Atreus' lineage won his bride.
As he devoured the state with Myrsilus,
So let him now, until success to us
By Ares be restored, and we again
Relax our wrath and soul-consuming pain,
And our intestine strife, stirred up amongst us
By some Olympian god: to Pittacus
He gave the glory he to see did lust,
But on our people mournful ruin thrust.
Alcaeus, Pittacus in power

In the year 592 the Olympic Games were held. Eurycles from Sparta won the stadion race. Alcmaeon of Athens, one of their most powerful generals and leader of the Alcmaeonid clan, entered a chariot team in the chariot race and won the prize. Hetoimokles of Sparta won the wrestling again, for the third time in a row. While weightlifting was not an Olympic sport, the athletes of Greece would attend the Olympic Games and it may have been at this Games that Bybon, a weightlifter, is said to have lifted a block of sandstone weighing 143.5kg above his head with one hand. The stone was inscribed with the achievement and was rediscovered in modern times in Olympia where it is now on display.

Roman era bust of Pittacus

In 591 the metalworker Glaucus of Chios flourished, who was supposed by the ancient Greeks to have made contributions to the craft of welding. Around the year 591 or 590 the tyrant Myrsilus of Mytilene probably died. Pittacus of Mytilene, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, was made tyrant in his stead and Pittacus allowed the exiled nobility to return to the island of Lesbos, which was generous, considering that Alcaeus of Mytilene, one of the exiles, had been slandering him in his poetry.

Around the year 590 King Eurycratides of Sparta died and was succeeded by Leon. Sparta had two kings from two different lines, the Eurypontid and the Agiad. Eurycratides and Leon were of the Agiad line.

Supposedly around this time, Alcmaeon of Athens, an Olympic victor and general, was banished from the city. This was because his father Megacles had instigated the summary execution of the rebels after the Cylonian conspiracy. In 632 the starving rebels had been lured from their sanctuary under promises of peace and then executed. This was a breach of religious piety and the family of Megacles were said to be under a curse. Alcmaeon left the city and went to Lydia where supposedly he was given a great deal of wealth by Croesus. Again the timelines do not add up here, as Croesus was probably not king for another thirty years, but the dates at this time are rather imprecise.

After Alcmaeon was banished the Athenians supposedly called in the Cretan seer Epimenides to help them to purify the city with rites and sacrifices. Epimenides was a strange character who is closer to myth than reality. Supposedly he had lived for nearly three hundred years when he finally died and he had slept for fifty-seven of these in a cave in Crete, sacred to Zeus, before waking up as a prophet. Again there are chronological issues with Epimenedes' visit to Athens, as this is said to have been while Solon was in Athens, however, Solon was probably abroad at the time. Epimenides is closer to Arion, more of a creature of myth than history, and any story about him should be taken very cautiously. What is likely is that he had some connection with the pre-Greek religions of Crete and the half-remembered tales of this religion became associated with him.

Later bust of Bias of Priene

Some fragments of his writing have come down to us and he is actually quoted twice in the New Testament. One of the quotes is also a logical paradox. He writes of the “Cretans, always liars”. However Epimenides was himself from Crete, so was he lying when he wrote this? The poet himself was speaking of something quite different, referring to the Cretan belief that Zeus was a mortal man and believing that this was a lie. However the logicians of later ages turned this fragment of poetry into a logical puzzle. And thus, through these quotes, the faint memory of this semi-legendary sage lives on.

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.
Epimenides Cretica, quoted by Isho’dad of Merv in the commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, written circa 850AD

Around the year 590 Bias of Priene was a statesman and advocate in the law courts of Ionia. He was supposedly the greatest orator of his age and apparently used this power to foster justice. He became known for his wisdom and was accounted one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

Ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia

Also around the year 590 the Temple of Hera in Olympia was built, making it one of the oldest temples in Greece. It was later reconstructed however, as much of the original building had been made of wood. It is not the oldest temple in Greece, with that honour probably going to the now lost Temple of Isthmia in Corinth, but it is certainly an important instance of early Greek architecture.

In the year 589 nothing much happens that I can tell, save that the siege of Cirrha, in the First Sacred War, was probably still ongoing. In the year 588 the Olympics were held, with Glaukias of Croton winning the stadion race. Pythagoras of Samos won the boxing event. Supposedly he was ridiculed for looking too effeminate and was not allowed to enter the boy’s boxing event, but appealed to the judges to let him compete in the men’s event, which he then won. Considering that there were no weight categories in ancient boxing, Pythagoras of Samos must have been brave indeed if the story is true. Hetoimokles of Sparta won the wrestling competition for the fourth time. It would be his last victory in the Olympics.

In the year 587 I do not know of any events that happened. In the year 586 I cannot say if anything happened with the exception being that the Pythian Games may have started then, but I will speak of these later.

Hellebore. Or what I think
is hellebore. I am not a botanist

In 585 the First Sacred War probably ended. We cannot be sure of the dates, but we can be sure that the city of Cirrha was depopulated and that the plain of Cirrha became an empty plain, sacred to the god Apollo where no cultivation was permitted. The siege may have ended through starvation but some ancient sources suggest that the water supply of Cirrha was poisoned. This may well be a later legend. The plant hellebore, which can be both a purgative and a poison, grows freely nearby. Some suggest that it was Solon who suggested this ruse, others that it was an Asclepiad, a type of priest of the god of healing, called Nebros who gave the idea to poison the water pipe that supplied the city. I’m sceptical, as the amount of poison needed would have made it very obvious that the water was tampered with. But if the story is true, then this is the oldest known instance of biological warfare in history.

In Corinth the tyrant Periander died. As a tyrant in an age of tyrants he had garnered a reputation for wisdom and had left his city great. He was succeeded by his nephew Psammetichus (an Egyptian name) who ruled for a few years before the city reverted to an oligarchy. Periander had built the Diolkos, a pathway for ships, allowing ships to be transferred from one side of the Isthmus to the other. Small sections of it still remain to this day and it was a very clever solution to a major problem for a trading and naval power. Periander also had a reputation for wisdom and was accounted as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, but some lists of the Seven Sages exclude him, as later ages viewed tyrants poorly.

Map from NASA showing the path of the eclipse
seen by Thales. Source

The year 585 is particularly noteworthy though, not just for the end of wars or the death of tyrants, but as the birth of science in the Western world. In the year 585 a total eclipse of the sun was observed in Lydia. This eclipse caused the Lydian and Median empires to make peace with each other, but had in fact been predicted by Thales. Thales was a Greek thinker from Miletus and is the first known Greek philosopher.

Philosopher at this point meant merely lover of knowledge and Thales studied the stars and the earth. It is impossible for one person to accumulate enough data in a lifetime to predict an eclipse, so Thales must have been familiar with the works of previous civilisations, probably the Babylonians or Egyptians. This is the first mention that we have of Greek astronomy, but Greek astronomy at this point was quite crude compared to that of the ancient civilisations around them. Even the Babylonians were not entirely able to predict eclipses. They knew when they might occur but because not all eclipses are visible all over the world, they often saw no confirmation. So Thales probably used the same data that they did, guessed that this time it would be visible, and got lucky.

And this change of the day Thales the Milesian had foretold to the Ionians laying down as a limit this very year in which the change took place.
Herodotus, Histories, 1:74, written circa 440BC

Thales had a great reputation for wisdom and was another of the Seven Sages of Greece. He was a citizen of Miletus, but he had seen the weakness of the Ionian cities compared to the might of the Lydians and urged the Ionians to unite into a single country. History might have been different if they had, but the cities were too independent.

Drawing of a later bust of Thales

Thales also is possibly the first named mathematician. There were mathematicians before him, in Egypt, Babylonia, China and possibly India, but none to my knowledge whose names are preserved. Thales made some observations about the height of pyramids and formulated axioms about right angles. It was not particularly advanced mathematics, but it was definitely mathematics.

Hence, as the certain knowledge of numbers received its origin among the Phoenicians, on account of merchandise and commerce, so geometry was found out among the Egyptians from the distribution of land. When Thales, therefore, first went into Egypt, he transferred this knowledge from thence into Greece: and he invented many things himself, and communicated to his successors the principles of many. Some of which were, indeed, more universal, but others extended to sensibles.
Proclus, Commentary on Euclid Chapter IV, written circa 450AD

But what made Thales truly special was that he was the first person we know of to try and explain the world using purely natural means, without relying on divine intervention to explain away difficulties. He also probed the ultimate nature of reality, believing that at the root of being, all things are water. This was of course incorrect but his reasoning shows the beginning of the speculations that lead to science. He seems to have thought that water can take different forms, such as ice and steam, and that water was necessary for life, therefore if one substance must lie at the root of reality, it must be water.

Thales, the founder of this school of philosophy, says the permanent entity is water (which is why he also propounded that the earth floats on water). Presumably he derived this assumption from seeing that the nutriment of everything is moist, and that heat itself is generated from moisture and depends upon it for its existence (and that from which a thing is generated is always its first principle). He derived his assumption, then, from this; and also from the fact that the seeds of everything have a moist nature, whereas water is the first principle of the nature of moist things.
Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.983b, written circa 340BC

He wasn’t entirely free of metaphysical speculation. He seems to have thought that magnets were connected to gods somehow. But, in the west at least, Thales has good claim to be the first philosopher, the first mathematician and the first scientist, as well as an engineer and diplomat. He was a lover of knowledge indeed.

A cup showing the people of Cyrene loading silphium onto
a ship. The seated figure to the left is Arcesilaus,
although this may be Arcesilaus II 

In 584 the Olympic Games were held. Lykinos of Croton won the stadion race that year. In 583 King Arcesilaus I of Cyrene, in North Africa, died. He was succeeded by his son Battus II, because the kings of Cyrene were always unoriginally called either Battus or Arcesilaus in alternating order. Around this time a plant was discovered that had medicinal, possibly aphrodisiacal and possibly prophylactic properties. It was hailed as a wonder and exported by the people of Cyrene, whose economy came to depend on it. However, it could not be grown elsewhere and all attempts to cultivate it failed. So it had to be harvested with care. Eventually the ancient world would over-harvest the plant and silphium was extinct by the time of Nero, but for now, the wealth of the Greek North African colony depended on the wonder plant silphium.

Stadium at Delphi where the Pythian Games were held.
The stone seats are later additions from the Roman era

In the year 582, in celebration of the victory over Cirrha in the First Sacred War, the Pythian Games were organised. It is possible that these were held in 586 but it depends on when the Siege of Cirrha ended. These games were supposedly the restoration of a more ancient set of games but this is probably a myth. The games were held in Delphi, near the sanctuary of the god Apollo to whom they were dedicated. They were held every four years, in the middle period between the more prestigious Olympic Games and included many of the same sporting events as the Olympics. These games did attract visitors from all over Greece however, and the Pythian Games gave visitors an opportunity to conduct business and to consult the Oracle. It must have brought great prosperity and soon after, other games would be organised around Greece. The Pythian Games never became as prestigious as the Olympic Games however and not as many victors are recorded. Sakadas of Argos was a winner in the first Pythian Games, winning a competition for music.

In the year 581 the Isthmian Games were organised. These were similar to the Pythian Games, but held every two years (in the first and third years of the Olympiad). The winners would be crowned with celery. Like the Pythian Games, these were given suitably heroic origins, supposedly dating back to the time of Theseus, but were most likely organised when the Corinthians saw the success of the Pythian Games.

Vase painted by the Cavalcade Painter

In 580, the city of Agrigentum was founded on the southern coast of Sicily by Greek settlers from Gela. The city was originally named Akragas, but it was later known as Agrigentum. It would rapidly expand to become one of the largest and most powerful cities in Sicily. Around this time two other cities in Sicily, Segesta and Selinus, were at war with each other. These two cities were at the eastern end of the island and the rise of the Greek cities on the south and eastern parts of Sicily must have been a concern to the Carthaginians, whose city lay across the sea in Africa.The Carthaginians are said to have interfered in the war, siding with Segesta against Selinus. Some of the defeated Dorians who had been fighting on the side of Selinus occupied Lipera, which became a hub of piracy in the region.

In this year of 580 the Olympic Games were held and Epitelidas of Sparta won the stadion race. This event almost certainly happened in 580, however many of the other things that will be mentioned happened in or around this time, rather than directly in this year.

In the arts, a number of vase painters were active at this time. In many cases their names have not come down to us but we know them by their work and refer to them this way. The Cavalcade Painter flourished around this time, and probably was based in Corinth, producing black-figure vases. Also active at this time was the Gorgon Painter, another painter of black-figure vases whose work included a number of representations of Gorgons, including the vase showing the myth of Perseus and the Gorgon. The Pholoe Painter also flourished at this time, again as part of the Corinthian school of black-figure vase painting. In some ways these vase paintings are still somewhat crude compared to later Greek art but they are still impressive. The kouroi statues known as Cleobis and Biton at Delphi were made around this time. These are named after two brothers in Argos who had died pious deaths and were honoured by the Greeks, however this is a modern appellation and it is more likely that these represented the Dioscuri, the Hero-Twins of the Greeks.

Pediment of the Temple of Artemis in Corcyra

Supposedly around this time Susarion brought Megarian Comedy to Attica. This Comedy was slapstick and buffoonery that would be performed for the festivals of Dionysus in Icaria (a region of Attica) and would later inform the development of the comedy performed at the festivals of Dionysus in Athens itself. However almost nothing survives of Susarion’s work and none of his comedies may have been written down. They may instead have been nearly extempore jests performed by a chorus, and almost certainly did not involve actors.

Also around this time, the earliest aqueducts bringing water into Athens were probably constructed. We know that other cities at this time had pipes bringing in water into the city, as it was supposedly by poisoning these that city of Cirrha was taken by siege some years earlier. We should not imagine Roman aqueducts here however, but rather a series of pipes that brought water in from local sources.

Gorgon from the pediment of the
Temple of Artemis in Corcyra

In Corcyra, the present-day island of Corfu, what was probably the first Doric temple made entirely of stone was constructed. It was dedicated to Artemis and had pediments decorated with elaborate sculptures of a gorgon and other scenes from mythology. Little remains of it but the pediments have been largely reconstructed and can be viewed in museums.

In a strange twist of history the excavations were partially overseen by none other than Kaiser Wilhelm II who had become somewhat obsessed with the site and the artworks found. Compared to later Greek temples this seems very strange but the pediments do have a compelling beauty of their own.

Around the year 580 we see some of the first real exploration efforts from the Greeks. In 640 a Greek called Colaeus of Samos had been swept by accident through the Straits of Gibraltar and had reached the land of Tartessos in what is now southern Spain or Portugal, Thus Colaeus may be counted as the first explorer. But his mission was more of a trading one and seems to have been mainly accidental.

Around 580 Euthymenes, of the newly founded city Massalia, set out on a voyage through the Pillars of Heracles, as the Straits of Gibraltar were then known, and sailed southwards along the western coast of Africa until he reached a large river that he thought looked like the Nile. He reported that the seawater was pushed out by the great flows of freshwater from the river. His report that the Nile was to be seen in West Africa was confusing, and speaks to the lack of geographical knowledge of the time, but he may have been describing the Senegal River instead. His voyage is rather tame compared to the supposed exploits of the Phoenicians, but is worth remembering nonetheless.

Modern bust of Euthymenes in Marseilles

"Euthymenes of Massilia says by way of testimony, 'I have navigated' says he, 'the Atlantic sea. Now, the Nile flows, greatly, as long as the Etesian Winds endure; for the sea is constantly thrown back by the constant winds; as soon as they have abated and the sea becomes calm, the Nile descends with less force. For the rest, the seawater is fresh to the taste and has wildlife similar to that of the Nile”
Seneca the Younger quoting Euthymenes in Naturales quaestiones IV.2.22, written circa 40AD

In poetry, the poet Cleobulina flourished around this time. She was a daughter of Cleobulus, who was a famed poet and sage in his own right. She came from Lindos in Rhodes and was active in Ionia. Some traditions associate her with Thales, with Diogenes Laertius asserting that she was his mother, but these traditions are much later. She primarily wrote riddles, as did her father, and three of these survive. It is interesting to see that in some ways the Archaic Period of Greece saw a higher percentage of women writers than the Classical Period, though this may be due to the fragmentary nature of the sources.

I saw one man welding bronze to another man with fire, so tightly as to make them common blood.
Athenaeus, Doctors at Dinner, written circa 180AD, quoting Cleobulina’s riddle. The answer is “applying a cupping glass”

Later Roman bust of Sappho

Cleobulina was remembered in the ancient world but her contemporary Sappho was famous. Sappho lived in the city of Mitylene on the island of Lesbos in the north-eastern Aegean. She was possibly the greatest of the Lyric poets but also wrote elegiac and iambic poetry. She was a contemporary with Alcaeus and some have said that they were lovers. But this is probably false and an example of later biographers pairing up anyone or connecting anyone who was vaguely contemporary. Alcaeus and Sappho would certainly have known each other though, as they were both from noble families on Lesbos and may have both been banished after the assassination attempt on Myrsilus.

Sappho seems to have been part of a community or association of women, probably related to poetry and music. Some refer to this as a school, but this is an anachronism. The nobility of Lesbos formed communal fraternal groups aimed at fostering brotherhood and loyalty among the wealthy and Sappho’s group was probably the female equivalent of such a group.

Some say that the most beautiful sight upon earth’s dark soil is a company of soldiers on horse. Others think that this honour belongs to a line of soldiers on foot. And still others to a fleet of ships. Ah, but for me this honour belongs to whoever one loves. 
It’s easy to see why. Look! The most gorgeous woman on earth, Helen, abandoned her man, most excellent of all men! And made sails for Troy! 
Not a thought for her daughter nor her dear parents. 
That was Cypris’ fault! Aphrodite! It was this goddess who had led her so far astray. So suddenly. So easily. So gently. 
Ah! This reminds me of Anactoria who is very far away. How I’d much rather look upon her charming step, and upon the dazzling beauty of her face than upon all the glittering chariots of Lydia and all of her foot soldiers, clad in their weighty armour! 
Sappho, A company of Soldiers

1887 painting of Sappho
by Charles Mengin

As part of this Sappho formed strong bonds with the ladies in her group and wrote numerous poems alluding to the love she felt for these women. It should be noted that these are not explicitly sexual in nature, but almost certainly are sexual in intent. Thus Sappho was not only admired for the quality of her poetry but also eventually lent her name to female homosexuality. In English, the epithet Sapphic bears this meaning, but the most common word used stems from her island of origin; Lesbian.

And again when the moon casts her brilliance all over the earth, the stars soften the blaze of their beauty
Sappho, The stars around the moon

While there is no evidence of explicit disapproval of this, there are indications that the ancient world found female heterosexuality disturbing. So there were efforts made by later biographers to prove that she also loved men. There are the suppositions that because she and Alcaeus were contemporary that they were lovers. There are also cruder stories where Sappho falls passionately in love with an ugly boatman named Phaon and when he dies or rejects her, she hurls herself over the Leucadian cliffs to her death, in the hope that the leap would either cure her love or kill her. There is an even cruder tradition that holds that she was married to a man called Kerkylas of Andros (which translates in modern idiom as “Dick from the Isle of Man”). The name Kerkylas is extremely unusual and seems to have been invented as a slang for penis, so this is probably a joke story. There is a possibility that Sappho had a daughter Cleis, but this is disputed. Regardless of the fact that her probable homosexuality made the Greeks uncomfortable, we must remember that the Greeks did not think of sexuality as a matter of fixed orientation, as we do today, and thought of sexuality more in terms of individual acts. But this is a longer discussion for another time.

Cliffs near Leucadia
present-day island of Lefkada

Because if you forget, I’ll remind you of the good things we lived through together. 
Remember the many garlands of violets and roses I placed next to you and the many flower necklaces I weaved around your soft skin 
Sappho, Abandoned

In the year 579 Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the quasi-usurper king of Rome, was slain by the sons of Ancus Marcius, a previous king. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus had begun work on making wooden stands in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine Hills in Rome, in what would later become the Circus Maximus. He had also begun work on the Cloaca Maxima, the main drain for Rome that still stands to this day. In this time it was probably an open sewer rather than the closed work that it is today. The temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill was probably begun around under his reign as well. It should be noted that many scholars feel that the dates of the early kings are inaccurate and that all of this work might in fact have been done sixty years later, but I will mention the traditional dates for now.

Model of an Etruscan period temple, built around 500BC
It would have closely resembled the Temple of Jupiter
on the Capitoline Hill in Rome

They appeared in the vestibule of the palace, each with his usual implement, and by pretending to have a violent and outrageous quarrel, they attracted the attention of all the royal guards. Then, as they both began to appeal to the king, and their clamour had penetrated within the palace, they were summoned before the king. At first they tried, by shouting each against the other, to see who could make the most noise, until, after being repressed by the lictor and ordered to speak in turn, they became quiet, and one of the two began to state his case. Whilst the king's attention was absorbed in listening to him, the other swung aloft his axe and drove it into the king's head, and leaving the weapon in the wound both dashed out of the palace.
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 1.40, written circa 15BC

Not much can be said for the years 578 and 577. In 576 Alcetas I of Macedonia probably began his rule. Macedonia was a kingdom to the north of Greece. It saw itself as Greek but the Greeks further south sometimes treated them as barbarians. Macedonia was certainly linked to Greek culture and would later become extremely important in Greek history, but it always stood slightly apart, with its own identity. Needless to say the early dates for the kingdom, like nearly all the dates mentioned in this blog, should be treated with caution.

Vase by the Anagyrus Painter

We can be rather more certain about the Olympic Games of this year, with Eratosthenes of Croton, a city in Sicily, winning the stadion race. I always find it strange that there is in some ways more knowledge about ancient sport than about ancient kings in this period.

Treating the Spartan dates with similar caution, Agasicles, the Eurypontid king of Sparta probably began his rule around the year 585. 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.

The Sounion Kouros in the National
 Archaeological Museum in Athens.
The legs have been almost entirely reconstructed

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 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.

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.

Wall of the Temple of Capitolin Jupiter
preserved in the Capitoline Museum

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

Thus the period that we are looking at draws to a close. The dates are problematic for this time of course. Apart from the eclipse of 585 nearly every other date that is mentioned is up for interpretation. But even if we cannot say with certainty exactly what year we can have growing confidence that these events did in fact happen, with the exception of the doings of semi-legendary characters such as Epimenides.

This period has the flourishing of vase painting, continued Olympic valour and the founding of games in emulation of the Olympics. We see wars between the Greek states, including possibly the first use of biological weapons in history, the rising importance of the Oracle of Delphi, the semi-legendary Seven Sages of Greece, continued expansion of colonies and the beginning of purposeful exploration. Poetry and song are represented by poets such as Sappho and Alcaeus. Statuary, engineering and architecture are becoming ever more impressive. And lastly and perhaps most importantly, we see the rise of Greek science, mathematics and philosophy in the person of Thales of Miletus.

Remains of the Diolkos on the Corinthian Isthmus
A causeway that allowed ships to be dragged across the Isthmus
instead of having to sail around the Peloponnese

Primary Sources:
Poems of Cleobulus
Herodotus’ Histories
Poems of Alcaeus
Plutarch’s Life of Solon
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita
Poems of Sappho

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