Why Did Pisistratus Use Religion To Greek Government
AHIS100
Essay Topic: How did Pisistratus and his sons use religion to solidify support for their government at Athens?
In Ancient Greece religion was a tool used for many different reasons, whether it was to explain the creation of the universe or to explain the occurrences of nature. Religion was a very important aspect of Greek society and culture and through ritualistic practises it allows communities to unify in a common goal to please the Gods. Among the many emperors and tyrants of Athens, it was Pisistratus that allowed religion and religious rituals to flourish in Athens. His sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, had followed in his footsteps to continue ruling Athens but they had lacked to charisma and vision that Pisistratus had. In this …show more content…
essay we will be examining the rise and fall, death and accomplishments of Pisistratus his ruling as the last tyrant of Greece. Followed by his sons who had failed to capture the citizens of Athens as their father did, which lead to their eventual downfall and death.
Pisistratus was a close follower of the Lawgiver Solon, who had reformed the political and cultural policies of Greece and giving them the first set of laws that everyone should abide by. Solon’s laws had protected the poor and eased the suffering of the poor from the tyranny of the noble families but the Solonian reorganization of the constitution had not eliminated bitter aristocratic contentions for control of the archonship, the chief executive post (Plutarch, 30). At this point in time there consisted of three major factors and according to Herodotus the political landscape was about territorial divisions in Attica. There were the men of the Plains, led by Lycurgus, the men of the Coast, led by Megacles and the men of the hills. The hills were the least politically influential and the poorest of the three factions yet that is where Pisistratus’ main political support came from (Ath. Pol.).
In 560 BC Pisistratus became a very popular and successful politician yet he wanted more power and at one point he had devised a stunt that would grant him the power to seize the Acropolis. Pisistratus had slashed himself and the mules of his chariot with a knife then after he drove into the agora (marketplace) with a blood trail following behind him he stated that he had just been the victim of a terrorist attack devised by his enemies (Ath. Pol.). Afraid for his safety the Athenians had voted and agreed to allow him use of a bodyguard armed with clubs. With the aid of the bodyguard appointed by the people he was able to seize the Acropolis and held power briefly in 560/559 BC before he was exiled after one year. To regain his power he had a short-lived marriage with the daughter of Megacles and again acquired temporary power in Athens but Pisistratus knew that he had to win the hearts of the people therefore as Herodotus stated he created a simple-minded way to make his return (Herodotus, Histories 1:60). In 550 BC he had hired a stately women named Phya and had her dressed as the goddess ed and rode beside him in their golden chariot claiming to the people that he had the blessing of Athene but because he had refused to have children with his daughter, Pisistratus was again exiled by Lycurgus and Megacles.
After Pisistratus’ second exile he had left Athens for almost ten years before he had made his third attempt to return to power. During his exile he had made laid a solid foundation for his return. Profiteering from the silver and gold mines of Mt. Panganeum and also gaining military, political strength from aristocrats and nobles in Thebes, Argos, Naxos and other city-states. In 546 BC Pisistratus gathered his army at Marathon, which news had travelled fast into Athens and many lower class citizens such as farmers and the common man had flocked to the aid of Pisistratus after hearing his return. It was at Pallene, which Pisistratus had launched a full assault on the Athenian army during the middle of the day where they were the least alert. After a complete victory Pisistratus had marched into Athens and conquering the two other political forces became the tyrant of Athens for the third time and remained in power until his death in 527 BC.
Pisistratus’ rise to power had been through many challenges and perils but through the use of his wit, charisma and resources he had been able to rule Athens and turn Athens into a power state that could compete with Sparta who was at the time an economically and military strong state (Andrewes, 2008:416). We will now look at his reformations especially through religious reformations during his term to show his ability to solidify the support for his government.
From the 8th century religion wasn’t just an instrument used to bind together the members of the family, the clan, the tribe and the state through worship (Moore 1909-14:51). Religion was made the common and permanent concern of all citizens, yet many citizens became self-conscience of what they wished to receive and achieve through religion. Many came to become dissatisfied with the sacred conditions of the state and seek to establish their own personal relationships with the gods, which in return satisfies their own religious satisfaction. We see the emergence of cults such as the Mysteries, the worship of Demeter and many other religious cults that worshipped deities that suited their personal religious specifications. Yet there weren’t a central state that acted as religious centre that people could visit and practise their religion freely.
Pisistratus had designed his internal policies to increase the unity and magnificence of the Athenian state.
He identified religion was a common and permanent string that attached all its citizens interwoven with the structure of the Greek polis. Pisistratus aimed for religious reforms and established the Olympian worship at the heart of Athens, here all the great gods would reside in Athens therefore stating Athens as the city of the gods. His reformations started with the great shrine of Demeter at Eleusis (Brouskari, 1997), which he had brought under state control and constructed the first major Hall of Mysteries (Telesterion) for the annual rites of initiation into the cult (Hammond, 1967:6-8). Pisistratus had opened the grounds of the Acropolis, the sacred ground of worship in Athens for centuries, to many local cults in Attica and they were either moved into the city or had established secondary shrines. For example the temple of Artemis was continuingly worshipped at Brauron but Pisistratus had established a secondary temple of Artemis on the Acropolis. Also as an act to solidify his own position in parallel to unity the citizens of Athens, Athena was promoted as the main deity to be worshipped by all
Athenians.
Pisistratus developed and flourished the city with arts, sculptures, festivals and literature. The beautification of shrines and temples allowed Athenians to have a sense of pride and motivation to practise religion and he glorified traditional Athenian festivals such as the Panathenaea, a four yearly festival devoted to Athena, with athletic contest and prizes for bards reciting Homeric epics such as Odyssey (Garland, 1988:1148). Pisistratus also commissioned the permanent archiving of Homer’s Illiad and the Odyssey, where as Homer’s works were previously spoken and orally passed down. Two new forms of poetry, the dithyramb and tragic drama, were introduced during his rule. Under Pisistratus’ rule Athens flourished architecturally with the stone Doric temple of Athena, possibly an old Parthenon (Tournikiotis, 1994) under the temple and constructed an entry gate to the Acropolis.
Herodotus and Aristotles both claimed Pisistratus to be a moderate, mild tempered, generous and forgiving ruler. Aristotle in Ath. Pol. stated “his administration was temperate…and more like constitutional government than a tyranny”. We can see during Pisistratus rule, religion was able to flourish during a declining and separating Athenian government due to infighting and political struggles. Religion acted as the bonding agent that held the citizens back together and have hope for the future of Athens. With the acceptance of different cults and establishing new shrines and temples the Athenians were delighted to see the development of their city. The central act was to devote their material wealth and their noblest arts to the gods of Athens (Andrews, 1956). It gave the citizens a true sense that Athens was blessed and Pisistratus, as he came riding in a chariot with Phya (dressed as Athene) during his second term, was chosen by their state deity Athene.
Unfortunately Pisistratus died around 528/527 BC handing the throne over to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. Herodotus and Thucydides agree that Pisistratus’ elder son, Hippias, succeeded him (Herodotus, Histories). Alike their father Hippias and Hipparchus they had tried to rule Athens as their father had with harmony and unity. Similar to their father Hippias was greatly appreciative of poets and craftsmen, and Athens was able to continue to flourish and Athenians seemed to accept the ruling of the Peisistratids and the theme of unity still existed during the reign of Hippias and Hipparchus. It was the death of Hipparchus in 514 BC that transformed Hippias into a retreated, spiteful and harsher towards his people. He began to allow armed mercenaries within the city walls and raised the taxes so he could hire more of the similar taxes. The lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton (Macgregor, 1914:33) had murdered his brother due to their personal vices and four years later as stated by Herodotus was when the Spartans and Alcmaeonidaes dethroned and expelled Hippias in 510 BC.
With Hippias’ decline in popularity with the people, the Alcmaeonidae family saw it as a chance to seize power within Athens (Hornblower, 2003). Since they were exiled in 546 BC by Pisistratus himself they were seeking opportunities to return. During their exile they had built and over delivered the quality of the new temple at Delphi, which then they had bribed the oracles of Delphi to trick the Spartans to help them overthrow Hippias. After two attempts the Spartans, led by Cleomenes I, were able to remove and expel Hippias from Athens (Littman, 1974). Due to his late tyranny the Athenians didn’t rally to have Hippias reinstated, which ended the rule of the tyrants from 546-510 BC. Yet not all of the Pisistratids were expelled from Athens and this shows that the Athenians felt no immediate need to completely purge the city of Pisistratids indicates the lingering feelings towards the former tyrants. Attitudes towards tyranny soured significantly and irreversibly when Hippias had led the Persians back to Greece during Darius’ invasion in 490. The finalization of attitudes toward the Pisistratids and toward tyranny in general can be seen in the first application of ostracism in Athens (Ath. Pol. 22:3). After the Battle of Marathon, the condemnation of tyrants became harsher and more widespread in Athens, the once accepting and unity was broken due to the actions of Hippias.
When the word ‘Tyrant’ first appeared in Greek, it was not always associated with the negative and suppressive leader. Like Pisistratus they can be noble, moderate, benevolent. Through his vision of identifying religion as one of the key factors in unity and structure in society Pisistratus was able to turn tyranny into a sustainable and comfortable ruling. Although Hippias and Hipparchus had followed their father’s footsteps yet they couldn’t overcome their own corruption and destroyed what was once a flourishing cultural and religious development in Greece. Both Herodotus and Thucydides point to Hippias’ ejection in 510 is truly the act as the marker of the end of tyranny in Athens (Sealey, 1976:28). Thus from the glory of Pisistratus to its demise in Hippias, we see how the Athenian attitude towards tyranny evolved from acceptance into abhorrence by the fifth century.
Bibliography
1. Andrewes, A., (1956), The Greek Tyrants, The Tyranny of Pisistratus, Ebury Press, ch. 44, pg. 414
2. Aristotle, (2002), The Athenian Constitution. Translated by P.J. Rhodes. London: Penguin Group
3. Brouskari, M., (1997). The Monuments of the Acropolis, Athens.
4. Camp, J., (2001), The Archaeology of Athens, London: New Haven
5. Hammond, N.G.L., (1967), A History of Greece to 322 BC, Ed. 2, ch.6 and 8
6. Herodotus, (1998), Herodotus: The Histories. Translated by Robin Waterford. New York: Oxford University Press,
7. Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, A., (2003), The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Peisistratus. Oxford University Press, Ed. 3
8. Littman, R.J., The Greek Experiment. Imperialism and Social Conflict 800-480 B.C. London: Thames and Hudson
8. Macgregor, M. (1914), The Story of Greece, Harmodius and Aristogiton, London: Thomas Nelson and Sons LTD, ch.33
9. Moore, C.H., (1909-14), Religion, IV. Greek Religion, New York: P.F. Collier & Sons, vol. 51
10. Plutarch, (1998), Solon. Greek Lives: A selection of nine Greek Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield, New York: Oxford University Press Inc
11. Sealy, R. (1976), A History of the Greek States ca. 700-338 BC. Berkeley: University of California Press
12. Thucydides, (1996), The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, Edited by Robert B. Strassler, New York: Simon & Schuster
13. Tournikiotis, P., (1994) . The Parthenon and Its Impact in Modern Times, Athens
Essay Topic: How did Pisistratus and his sons use religion to solidify support for their government at Athens?
In Ancient Greece religion was a tool used for many different reasons, whether it was to explain the creation of the universe or to explain the occurrences of nature. Religion was a very important aspect of Greek society and culture and through ritualistic practises it allows communities to unify in a common goal to please the Gods. Among the many emperors and tyrants of Athens, it was Pisistratus that allowed religion and religious rituals to flourish in Athens. His sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, had followed in his footsteps to continue ruling Athens but they had lacked to charisma and vision that Pisistratus had. In this …show more content…
essay we will be examining the rise and fall, death and accomplishments of Pisistratus his ruling as the last tyrant of Greece. Followed by his sons who had failed to capture the citizens of Athens as their father did, which lead to their eventual downfall and death.
Pisistratus was a close follower of the Lawgiver Solon, who had reformed the political and cultural policies of Greece and giving them the first set of laws that everyone should abide by. Solon’s laws had protected the poor and eased the suffering of the poor from the tyranny of the noble families but the Solonian reorganization of the constitution had not eliminated bitter aristocratic contentions for control of the archonship, the chief executive post (Plutarch, 30). At this point in time there consisted of three major factors and according to Herodotus the political landscape was about territorial divisions in Attica. There were the men of the Plains, led by Lycurgus, the men of the Coast, led by Megacles and the men of the hills. The hills were the least politically influential and the poorest of the three factions yet that is where Pisistratus’ main political support came from (Ath. Pol.).
In 560 BC Pisistratus became a very popular and successful politician yet he wanted more power and at one point he had devised a stunt that would grant him the power to seize the Acropolis. Pisistratus had slashed himself and the mules of his chariot with a knife then after he drove into the agora (marketplace) with a blood trail following behind him he stated that he had just been the victim of a terrorist attack devised by his enemies (Ath. Pol.). Afraid for his safety the Athenians had voted and agreed to allow him use of a bodyguard armed with clubs. With the aid of the bodyguard appointed by the people he was able to seize the Acropolis and held power briefly in 560/559 BC before he was exiled after one year. To regain his power he had a short-lived marriage with the daughter of Megacles and again acquired temporary power in Athens but Pisistratus knew that he had to win the hearts of the people therefore as Herodotus stated he created a simple-minded way to make his return (Herodotus, Histories 1:60). In 550 BC he had hired a stately women named Phya and had her dressed as the goddess ed and rode beside him in their golden chariot claiming to the people that he had the blessing of Athene but because he had refused to have children with his daughter, Pisistratus was again exiled by Lycurgus and Megacles.
After Pisistratus’ second exile he had left Athens for almost ten years before he had made his third attempt to return to power. During his exile he had made laid a solid foundation for his return. Profiteering from the silver and gold mines of Mt. Panganeum and also gaining military, political strength from aristocrats and nobles in Thebes, Argos, Naxos and other city-states. In 546 BC Pisistratus gathered his army at Marathon, which news had travelled fast into Athens and many lower class citizens such as farmers and the common man had flocked to the aid of Pisistratus after hearing his return. It was at Pallene, which Pisistratus had launched a full assault on the Athenian army during the middle of the day where they were the least alert. After a complete victory Pisistratus had marched into Athens and conquering the two other political forces became the tyrant of Athens for the third time and remained in power until his death in 527 BC.
Pisistratus’ rise to power had been through many challenges and perils but through the use of his wit, charisma and resources he had been able to rule Athens and turn Athens into a power state that could compete with Sparta who was at the time an economically and military strong state (Andrewes, 2008:416). We will now look at his reformations especially through religious reformations during his term to show his ability to solidify the support for his government.
From the 8th century religion wasn’t just an instrument used to bind together the members of the family, the clan, the tribe and the state through worship (Moore 1909-14:51). Religion was made the common and permanent concern of all citizens, yet many citizens became self-conscience of what they wished to receive and achieve through religion. Many came to become dissatisfied with the sacred conditions of the state and seek to establish their own personal relationships with the gods, which in return satisfies their own religious satisfaction. We see the emergence of cults such as the Mysteries, the worship of Demeter and many other religious cults that worshipped deities that suited their personal religious specifications. Yet there weren’t a central state that acted as religious centre that people could visit and practise their religion freely.
Pisistratus had designed his internal policies to increase the unity and magnificence of the Athenian state.
He identified religion was a common and permanent string that attached all its citizens interwoven with the structure of the Greek polis. Pisistratus aimed for religious reforms and established the Olympian worship at the heart of Athens, here all the great gods would reside in Athens therefore stating Athens as the city of the gods. His reformations started with the great shrine of Demeter at Eleusis (Brouskari, 1997), which he had brought under state control and constructed the first major Hall of Mysteries (Telesterion) for the annual rites of initiation into the cult (Hammond, 1967:6-8). Pisistratus had opened the grounds of the Acropolis, the sacred ground of worship in Athens for centuries, to many local cults in Attica and they were either moved into the city or had established secondary shrines. For example the temple of Artemis was continuingly worshipped at Brauron but Pisistratus had established a secondary temple of Artemis on the Acropolis. Also as an act to solidify his own position in parallel to unity the citizens of Athens, Athena was promoted as the main deity to be worshipped by all
Athenians.
Pisistratus developed and flourished the city with arts, sculptures, festivals and literature. The beautification of shrines and temples allowed Athenians to have a sense of pride and motivation to practise religion and he glorified traditional Athenian festivals such as the Panathenaea, a four yearly festival devoted to Athena, with athletic contest and prizes for bards reciting Homeric epics such as Odyssey (Garland, 1988:1148). Pisistratus also commissioned the permanent archiving of Homer’s Illiad and the Odyssey, where as Homer’s works were previously spoken and orally passed down. Two new forms of poetry, the dithyramb and tragic drama, were introduced during his rule. Under Pisistratus’ rule Athens flourished architecturally with the stone Doric temple of Athena, possibly an old Parthenon (Tournikiotis, 1994) under the temple and constructed an entry gate to the Acropolis.
Herodotus and Aristotles both claimed Pisistratus to be a moderate, mild tempered, generous and forgiving ruler. Aristotle in Ath. Pol. stated “his administration was temperate…and more like constitutional government than a tyranny”. We can see during Pisistratus rule, religion was able to flourish during a declining and separating Athenian government due to infighting and political struggles. Religion acted as the bonding agent that held the citizens back together and have hope for the future of Athens. With the acceptance of different cults and establishing new shrines and temples the Athenians were delighted to see the development of their city. The central act was to devote their material wealth and their noblest arts to the gods of Athens (Andrews, 1956). It gave the citizens a true sense that Athens was blessed and Pisistratus, as he came riding in a chariot with Phya (dressed as Athene) during his second term, was chosen by their state deity Athene.
Unfortunately Pisistratus died around 528/527 BC handing the throne over to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. Herodotus and Thucydides agree that Pisistratus’ elder son, Hippias, succeeded him (Herodotus, Histories). Alike their father Hippias and Hipparchus they had tried to rule Athens as their father had with harmony and unity. Similar to their father Hippias was greatly appreciative of poets and craftsmen, and Athens was able to continue to flourish and Athenians seemed to accept the ruling of the Peisistratids and the theme of unity still existed during the reign of Hippias and Hipparchus. It was the death of Hipparchus in 514 BC that transformed Hippias into a retreated, spiteful and harsher towards his people. He began to allow armed mercenaries within the city walls and raised the taxes so he could hire more of the similar taxes. The lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton (Macgregor, 1914:33) had murdered his brother due to their personal vices and four years later as stated by Herodotus was when the Spartans and Alcmaeonidaes dethroned and expelled Hippias in 510 BC.
With Hippias’ decline in popularity with the people, the Alcmaeonidae family saw it as a chance to seize power within Athens (Hornblower, 2003). Since they were exiled in 546 BC by Pisistratus himself they were seeking opportunities to return. During their exile they had built and over delivered the quality of the new temple at Delphi, which then they had bribed the oracles of Delphi to trick the Spartans to help them overthrow Hippias. After two attempts the Spartans, led by Cleomenes I, were able to remove and expel Hippias from Athens (Littman, 1974). Due to his late tyranny the Athenians didn’t rally to have Hippias reinstated, which ended the rule of the tyrants from 546-510 BC. Yet not all of the Pisistratids were expelled from Athens and this shows that the Athenians felt no immediate need to completely purge the city of Pisistratids indicates the lingering feelings towards the former tyrants. Attitudes towards tyranny soured significantly and irreversibly when Hippias had led the Persians back to Greece during Darius’ invasion in 490. The finalization of attitudes toward the Pisistratids and toward tyranny in general can be seen in the first application of ostracism in Athens (Ath. Pol. 22:3). After the Battle of Marathon, the condemnation of tyrants became harsher and more widespread in Athens, the once accepting and unity was broken due to the actions of Hippias.
When the word ‘Tyrant’ first appeared in Greek, it was not always associated with the negative and suppressive leader. Like Pisistratus they can be noble, moderate, benevolent. Through his vision of identifying religion as one of the key factors in unity and structure in society Pisistratus was able to turn tyranny into a sustainable and comfortable ruling. Although Hippias and Hipparchus had followed their father’s footsteps yet they couldn’t overcome their own corruption and destroyed what was once a flourishing cultural and religious development in Greece. Both Herodotus and Thucydides point to Hippias’ ejection in 510 is truly the act as the marker of the end of tyranny in Athens (Sealey, 1976:28). Thus from the glory of Pisistratus to its demise in Hippias, we see how the Athenian attitude towards tyranny evolved from acceptance into abhorrence by the fifth century.
Bibliography
1. Andrewes, A., (1956), The Greek Tyrants, The Tyranny of Pisistratus, Ebury Press, ch. 44, pg. 414
2. Aristotle, (2002), The Athenian Constitution. Translated by P.J. Rhodes. London: Penguin Group
3. Brouskari, M., (1997). The Monuments of the Acropolis, Athens.
4. Camp, J., (2001), The Archaeology of Athens, London: New Haven
5. Hammond, N.G.L., (1967), A History of Greece to 322 BC, Ed. 2, ch.6 and 8
6. Herodotus, (1998), Herodotus: The Histories. Translated by Robin Waterford. New York: Oxford University Press,
7. Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, A., (2003), The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Peisistratus. Oxford University Press, Ed. 3
8. Littman, R.J., The Greek Experiment. Imperialism and Social Conflict 800-480 B.C. London: Thames and Hudson
8. Macgregor, M. (1914), The Story of Greece, Harmodius and Aristogiton, London: Thomas Nelson and Sons LTD, ch.33
9. Moore, C.H., (1909-14), Religion, IV. Greek Religion, New York: P.F. Collier & Sons, vol. 51
10. Plutarch, (1998), Solon. Greek Lives: A selection of nine Greek Lives, translated by Robin Waterfield, New York: Oxford University Press Inc
11. Sealy, R. (1976), A History of the Greek States ca. 700-338 BC. Berkeley: University of California Press
12. Thucydides, (1996), The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, Edited by Robert B. Strassler, New York: Simon & Schuster
13. Tournikiotis, P., (1994) . The Parthenon and Its Impact in Modern Times, Athens