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Pisistratus: Tyrant of Ancient Athens

Pisistratus (circa 600-527 BCE), or Peisistratus, was an ancient Greek tyrant who ruled the city-state of Athens. Initially a student of the lawgiver and political philosopher Solon, Pisistratus presented himself as the champion of the poor, disenfranchised masses of Athens, and used their support to seize power in 560 BCE. Though he was ousted from the city five years later, he was twice reinstated and came to power for the third and final time in 546 BCE. He ruled as a tyrant, which, in the ancient Greek context, did not necessarily carry the negative connotation it has today, but merely referred to a ruler with near absolute power. As tyrant, he appeased the poor by granting them new farmlands and spent the final years of his rule developing the city of Athens itself, facilitating the growth of trade, religion, and culture. When he died in 527 BCE, he was succeeded to the tyranny by his two sons, the Pisistratids.

Early Life

Not much is known about Pisistratus' early life, except that he was born in the deme of Philaidae in eastern Attica to a man named Hippocrates, sometime around the year 600 BCE. According to Herodotus (circa 484 to 425/413 BCE), Pisistratus' father went to the Olympic Games as a spectator a few years before his son's birth (probably in 608 or 604 BCE), where he made a sacrifice to the gods. During the sacrifice, the cauldrons that had been filled with the meat and water boiled and overflowed, even though the fire had not yet been lit. This was witnessed by Chilon of Sparta, who took Hippocrates aside and told him that this was a divine omen. He warned Hippocrates to avoid bringing a childbearing wife into his household and to send her away if he already had one. At the very least, Chilon told him that he must avoid having a son and must immediately disown any son that might be born to him. Hippocrates, of course, did not heed Chilon's advice.

Pisistratus grew into a handsome, intelligent young man. As a teenager, he became a close disciple of the Athenian lawgiver Solon (circa 630-560 BCE), a relative of his mother's, with whom he may have had a sexual relationship. It was common in those days for a mature man in his 20s or 30s to take a teenage youth under his wing in a relationship that was partly instructive and partly erotic; the older man was known as the erastes, the younger man as the eromenos. As historian Anthony Everitt notes, Solon certainly engaged in this kind of relationship and, indeed, may have been thinking of Pisistratus when he wrote some of his erotic poetry. In one such poem, the Athenian lawmaker writes about falling in love "with a boy in the lovely flower of youth / desiring his thighs and sweet mouth" (quoted in Everitt, 73). But whatever the exact nature of the relationship between the two men, Pisistratus was clearly devoted to Solon, particularly regarding his democratic reforms. Solon, of course, was known for restructuring the Athenian law code that had been initially set down by the tyrant Draco; his reforms included a reconstituted class hierarchy, new democratic political institutions like the Council of 400, and the elimination of debt slavery, among others. Pisistratus fervently supported these reforms to the point where, according to Plutarch, he was "an extreme democrat" (quoted in Bauer, 519).

In the 560s BCE, Athens entered a dispute with the city-state of Megara over control of Salamis, a rocky island two miles (3 km) off the coast of Attica. Solon and his supporters believed that control of the island was paramount for the protection of Athens' lucrative olive oil trade and began drumming up support to seize it from Megara. "Let us go to Salamis," wrote Solon, "to fight for a beautiful island / and clear away bitter disgrace" (quoted in Everitt, 72). Pisistratus, too, supported the annexation of Salamis and carried his mentor's message to the Athenian citizenry. Before long, the Athenians were persuaded to declare war on Megara. Solon himself led the military expedition to Salamis and, through either trickery or a battlefield victory, triumphed over the Megarian army in 565 BCE; Pisistratus, who served as an officer on Solon's staff, was wounded in the campaign. Despite its defeat, Megara refused to relinquish its claim on the island, and arbitration was handed over to Sparta. But thanks to Solon's eloquent arguments, the Spartans were convinced to judge in favor of Athens, and Salamis was handed over to Athenian control.

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