Classical Studies 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Cypselus, Polemarch, Periander

• School: Western University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: Classical Studies 1000
• Professor: Bernd Steinbock

Document Summary

Greek tyranny (650-500 bc: did not start off as a negative thing. Def- illegitimate rule of one aristocrat (who reduces power of other aristocrats, not like modern day tyranny: you could say every aristocrat dreams of being a tyrant. How does this come about: polemarch - office holder, hire mercenaries or hire a bodyguard (most difficult) How they kept power: eliminating rival aristocrats (killing, giving stuff if they support you, alliances (guest- friendship!, building programs and religious festivals. Bacchiads hear and send assassins to kill the baby. No one wanted to kill it, mom hid baby. Baby lives, grows up becomes a tyrant: his son, periander (627-585, more oppressive then his father. ?, will never marry, is a virgin: hermes: son of zeus, messenger god, dionysus: son of zeus, god of wine and revelry, hephaestus: son of zeus and hera, god of fire (blacksmith), lame/ugly, husband of aphrodite. Religion: "a set of practices based on belief in supernatural beings"