Boardman J., Hammond N.G. L. The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 3, Part 3: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries BC
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PURSUIT OF POWER BY THE DORIAN STATES 335
The orbit
of
Corinth expanded also
by
sea: trading
in the
Gulf of
Corinth
as far as
Ithaca early
in the
century, then founding strong
colonies
at
Coreyra
and
Syracuse c. 733,
and
finally securing
the
approaches and the passage of
the
straits at Rhium by founding Chalcis,
Macynia, Molycrium and Oeniadae
c.
700. The aspects of her maritime
activity which Thucydides
27
stressed
at
1. 13.2—5 were
her
priority
in
the building
of
warships not only
for
herself but also
for
others
—
e.g.
for Samos c. 704
-
her suppression
of
piracy
and her
ability
to
draw
revenues
as a
centre
of
exchange.
To
these
the
archaeologist today
would add the change from the Geometric style to the orientalizing style
and the export
of
Protocorinthian pottery
to
markets throughout
the
west and some
in
the east, where
its
style influenced Rhodes.
Colonial expansion and naval development went hand
in
hand and
owed much to the leadership of
the
Bacchiadae. The new warships were
' triaconters' and 'penteconters', rowed respectively by thirty oarsmen
and fifty oarsmen. The hull
of
the penteconter was narrow and
up to
3 2
metres long, undecked, and with the keel-beam prolonged at the bow
and sheathed with bronze, so that
it
could serve as
a
ram (fig. 48). The
crew
of
such
a
warship could overhaul
and
master any merchantman
or small piratical craft, unless there was
a
high wind
or a
tempestuous
sea.
It
is probable that the Bacchiadae also took steps
to
stimulate and
develop overseas trade.
For
example, fine pottery was produced
for
export
not in
farms and cottages but
in
workshops
so
specialized that
a group of Protocorinthian pots at Thapsus in Sicily has been identified
as coming from one workshop
at
Corinth. The same was no doubt true
of ship-building with its related crafts and of metal-working in precious
metals, bronze
and
iron. What
the
Bacchiadae
did was to
provide
suitable conditions
for
such workshops
to
be set up, and then
to
enjoy
an expanding market.
Few
Corinthian citizens were involved
as
workmen. As Herodotus remarked
(11.
167.2), all Greeks scorned those
who practised trades
and
crafts. This
was
especially true
of the
Lacedaemonians
(he
said),
and the
Corinthians were those who least
looked down
on
handicraftsmen.
It
was only
a
matter
of
degree.
The
bulk
of
those engaged
in
production and trading were aliens, transient
or resident, who were attracted by the facilities which Corinth provided.
These facilities were partly
due to her
geographical position
on the
overland route linking Central Greece and the Peloponnese and on the
isthmus between the two seas; but they were also due to the organizing
ability of
the
Bacchiadae who 'provided exchange on both elements and
so kept their city powerful through
the
raising
of
revenue'.
The Bacchiadae,
a
clan
of
some
two
hundred households which
27
His dates here,
as for
the western colonies,
are
deliberate
and not
theoretical
or
reckoned
in half-generations,
as
suggested, e.g.
in CQ
19 (1969) 100. See above, pp.
89f.
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336
42.
THE PELOPONNESE
48.
Penteconter, from an Athenian black-figure dinos. Late sixth century B.C.
(Paris, Louvre Museum F 62; after H 22, pi. 89; H 59, pi. 14Q
married only among themselves, held a monopoly of offices and elected
one of their number each year to serve as the leading magistrate
{prytanis
or
basileus).
28
Men
of
culture
and
action, they included
a
famous epic
and lyric poet, Eumelus, celebrated lawgivers and founders of colonies;
their wealth
at
home and
in
the colonies was
in
landed property, and
they served as cavalrymen and as leaders
of
heavy-armed infantry. The
citizen society,
of
which they were
the
elite, was organized
for
social
and religious purposes
on
the basis
of
the three Dorian tribes both
in
Corinthia and
in
the colonies. Each family owned
an
inalienable
lot of
land
(kleros),
and each colonial settler was promised
a
lot
overseas.
When
population grew rapidly in Corinthia,
a
family might grow beyond
the
resources
of its
kleros
and
some sons might emigrate.
A
very early
lawgiver
of
Corinth, Pheidon, inheriting
a
situation
in
which
the
original kleroi varied
in
size, tried
to
keep
the
number
of
households
constant and control the size
of
the citizen body. Another Corinthian,
Philolaus,
a
Bacchiad who flourished c. 730
and
legislated
at
Thebes,
tried
to
keep
the
number
of
kleroi there constant
and
relate
the
franchised population
to
them (Arist. Pol. I26jbi2 and 1274331). That
these lawgivers did not solve the problems entirely may be inferred from
the tradition that most
of
the original settlers
at
Syracuse came from
Tenea, an agricultural area inland (Strabo 380). The land-holding family
men of Corinth were certainly citizens and may have met in an assembly
(halia
in
Doric);
but
political power remained
in the
hands
of the
Bacchiadae until
c.
657. The first temple of
Apollo,
built
c.
700, was one
of their monuments.
Megara
too had
ports
on
either
Gulf,
Pagae
and
Nisaea,
and
controlled the routes between Central Greece and the Peloponnese. Her
ability
to
withstand the pressures from Corinth and Athens shows how
tough and well organized
the
Dorians of Megaris
were.
She
compensated
for loss
of
territory
in
the south
by
planting
a
colony
in
Sicily
in 728
and
a
group of very strong colonies
in
the approaches
to
the Black Sea:
Astacus perhaps
in
711, Chalcedon
in
676 and Byzantium
in
668. This
28
E 228,
29jff.
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PURSUIT OF POWER BY THE DORIAN STATES 337
vigorous state was controlled by an aristocratic oligarchy operating
through a council
(bouk)
and an eponymous magistrate, the
basileus;
and
the citizens owned
kleroi
which were worked by serfs (see CAH m.i
2
,
724)-
Achaea, a poor territory which easily became overpopulated, took
part in the colonial expansion. Achaeans together with Troezenians
(whom they later expelled in breach of their oath) founded Sybaris
in the toe of Italy c. 720. Achaeans alone founded Croton in 709,
Metapontum c. 650 and Caulonia c. 675-650. Their choice of sites
was influenced by a desire rather for rich land than good harbourage,
but they developed a portage route which avoided passage through the
Straits of Messina. They planted Scione too in Chalcidice c. 700. It is
possible that the Achaeans combined amongst themselves in founding
Sybaris, since the founder was chosen from Helice, the religious centre
of their loose federation; other Achaean colonies were founded from
individual cities, Rhypes and Aegium. In the west they joined together
in the worship of Hera on the Lacinian promontory near Croton.
The Eleans were able to satisfy their hunger for land by conquering
the Pisatans and annexing the valley of the lower Alpheus in the ninth
or early eighth century. In 776 they organized the Olympic festival and
conducted the games, and thereby obtained a position of prestige and
considerable revenues. It is probable that they planted a colony,
Buchetium, on the north shore of the Gulf of Arta
c.
700, from which
a convenient route led to Dodona, a shrine similar in standing to
Olympia. In the 660s, when they lost Olympia to Pheidon of Argos and
the Pisatans, the Eleans planted two other colonies in the same part of
Epirus, Elatria and Pandosia. Their colonies were in terrain similar to
coastal Elis with swampy pastures for stock-breeding and fishponds in
the lagoons.
29
The leaders of the Eleans in this period were the
descendants of the great clans of the conquest and they formed a ruling
oligarchy, while the people lived in a large number of very small
communities.
Of Arcadia we know only that it maintained its independence against
its numerous neighbours. Its hardy mountaineers were engaged mainly
in pastoralism and stock-raising, and they carried their valuable
ship-building timber down to the coastal towns. Tegea and Mantinea
were already important as religious centres, and they offered markets
to a people who were partly nomadic. Bassae in western Arcadia was
also a place of worship; for votives found there included an iron
statuette of a man, dating from early in the seventh century, and there
were traces of iron-working to the north of the later temple-site.
The literary sources tell us little of Argos after the destruction of
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THE
PELOPONNESE
Asine and the annexation of its territory. That Argos was relatively
prosperous is clear from the excellent pottery which she produced in
her own individual Late Geometric style and then in orientalizing style.
Some of this pottery and its contents were exported, for instance to
Tegea, Megara, Epidauria and Cythera. The inhabited area of Argos
town was much extended at the turn of
the
century, and new cemeteries
were made at
a
distance from it;
a
late eighth-century grave, known
as the Panoply Grave, from the foot of the Larissa enables us to picture
a leading warrior and his possessions in gold, bronze and iron.
30
Some
Argives may have accompanied the Corinthian founders to Syracuse,
as vases of Argive style were found there, but otherwise Argos was not
involved in the colonizing movement. The reason was presumably that
she had enough land for her citizens; in other words, while Sparta was
annexing spacious Messene, Argos retained her hold on Thyreatis,
Cynuria and Cythera, where indeed
a
little Argive and no Laconian
pottery has been found. She may also have exerted pressure on the towns
of the Epidaurian peninsula; for Troezen took part in founding Sybaris
c. 720, and Halieis built a mud-brick wall of defence early in the seventh
century. Then too the people of Halieis made a temple to Apollo with
limestone bases for wooden columns, and these bases were spaced as
in the temple of Artemis Orthia at Limnae in Laconia.
31
In the course
of 700 to 650 the wall of defence was doubled and then underwent a
destruction which was associated with Laconian
I
pottery. Perhaps
Argos was punishing Halieis for an intrigue with Sparta. In the same
half-century the influence of 'Daedalic sculpture' came from Crete to
Argos.
The acme
of
Argive power was reached c. 670-660 under
the
leadership
of
Pheidon,
a
Temenid, who had been elected
to the
traditional office of
basileus
but exercised a despotic rule. Then Argos
defeated Sparta decisively at the battle of Hysiae in Thyreatis (an area
to which Sparta laid claim) and went on to support the Pisatans in
expelling the Eleans from Pisatis and taking control of the Olympic
festival of
668
(see above, p. 325). Pheidon was also in close touch with
the ruling house of Corinth, the Bacchiadae, and his death was said to
have been due to his intervention in
a
faction-struggle at Corinth in
support of his friends. Tradition associated him with Aegina also.
It
seems that for
a
time Pheidon did ' recover the lot of Temenus', the
mastery of the north-eastern Peloponnese (Strabo
3 5
8).
It was then that
he established for this area the use of the so-called Pheidonian measures,
both dry and liquid, which facilitated the exchange
of
agricultural
produce, Argos herself being
a
main producer. He was said to have
dedicated ' to Hera at Argos'
obeliskoi,
spits of iron used as a medium
30
E
189.
CAH
111.1
1
,
781,
fig.
86.
3I
Arch. Dell. 27 (1972) Cbr. 233.
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PURSUIT OF POWER BY THE DORIAN STATES
339
49.
Stone spit-holder from the sanctuary of
Hera at Perachora. Inscribed Spa^a eyolipa
Xfv9\oXev(
rath*
avaKtifiat?
'I am a drachma
(dedicated to) white-armed Hera..." The
spits were fastened to the side of the upright
stele.
Seventh century B.C. (Athens, National
Museum; after E
222,1,
pis. 36c, 132 iii;
A
36,
122-4,
pi- 20, no. 17)
of exchange; and such spits have been found in graves at Argos and
as dedications in shrines at the Argive Heraeum, Perachora (fig. 49) and
Delphi (cf. Hdt.
11.
135.4). Ephorus assumed, mistakenly, that Pheidon
introduced coinage at Aegina. His measure for olive oil was com-
memorated by the name of a special olive oil jar, a
pheidon.
32
The first century of colonial expansion,
c.
750—650,
had revolutionary
effects on the artistic tastes and the economic development of many
states in the Peloponnese. The change from Geometric style to Proto-
corinthian style was from a sparse economy of line and a traditional
mode to a full delight in colour and bold experimentation, inspired no
doubt by contact with oriental art but indicative of a richer and more
liberated way of life. Great strides were taken in metallurgy, in the
making of weapons and the production of bronze vessels. Offerings,
32
Hdt. vr. 127; Arist. Pol. 1310816-27; frs.
480-1;
Ath. Pol. 10; E 228, 344fT; FGrH90 (Nic.
Dam.) F j5; Etym. Mag. 612.58.
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THE
PELOPONNESE
for instance to Zeus and Hera at Olympia, now included superb bronze
cauldrons mounted
on
tripods, beautifully made armour, and great
numbers
of
bronze statuettes
of
horses and men (but not men riding
horses); for these were features of aristocratic ascendancy in many parts
of the Greek world. The rapid spread of the alphabet along the routes
of trade helped individual men
to
express themselves, communicate
over distances, keep records and improve methods of trading.
As mobility increased and festivals were attended by
a
wider clientele,
higher standards were set and fine poetry and music were appreciated.
The epic poems of Homer exercised an enormous influence on art and
literature, but new modes were also developed, even in epic, for instance
by Eumelus
of
Corinth who wrote
of
his own city's mythical past.
Terpander
of
Lesbos and Thaletas
of
Gortyn
in
Crete won fame
at
Sparta as poet-musicians, the former being victorious
at
the 'Carnea'
probably
in
676 and the latter writing songs for the ' Gymnopaidiai',
at which an antiphony was performed between
a
choir
of
boys and
a
choir of men dancing naked on a hot summer day. Terpander sang his
compositions
to
the accompaniment
of
his ' seven-toned' cithara and
took his libretto from well-known epic poems. One
of
the fragments
which may
be
genuine praised Sparta where 'the young men's spear
prospers, the Muse sings clear and wide-pathed justice is the champion
of noble deeds'.
33
In the eastern part of the Peloponnese the rising standard of life and
the accumulation of some capital in propertied families and in states such
as Corinth caused
a
change
in
the methods
of
warfare. As more and
more men were able to equip themselves with iron-tipped spears, iron
sword and bronze armour (shield, helmet, cuirass and greaves), they
became groups of elite warriors, developed a close formation in which
they helped one another, and fought against their peers in set battles.
34
The new armament was available before 700; indeed
it
was partly
responsible
for
the success
of
colonial adventurers. But examples
of
developed 'hoplite warfare' (so-called from
the
hoplon
or
shield)
occurred first in the seventh century in the Peloponnese. The battle of
Hysiae between Argos and Sparta on low ground in the disputed area
was an excellent example. Hoplites fought hoplites in accordance with
a code which was as conventional as that of
an
athletic contest, and they
abode by the decision. If they suffered
a
severe defeat, as the Spartans
did at Hysiae, they might have to postpone the next engagement until
a new generation of warriors was trained. This form of warfare had one
advantage, that the poorer members
of
society and the women and
children were generally not exposed
to
danger.
Hoplite warfare was
a
phenomenon
of
political significance. Only
33
E 151, 28 iff and
E
162, 49.
M
A
59.
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PURSUIT OF POWER BY INDIVIDUALS
341
50.
Scene
on a
Corinthian alabastron from Corinth, showing
a
hoplite panoply: sword, greave, thrusting and throwing (with loop)
spears, corselet, helmet. Second half of seventh century
B.C.
(Berlin,
Staatliche Museen inv. 3148; after H 69, pi.
33.)
the well-to-do could afford
the
time
for
training
and the
cost
of
the
equipment
(fig. 50), and
such warfare developed only when
the
well-to-do became more numerous than they
had
been
in
pastoral
societies. What happened
in
states other than Sparta was a broadening
of the top layer
in
terms
of
wealth and
a
strengthening
of
its position
within society; for light-armed troops lost status by comparison, except
those who were highly trained (as archers were
in
Crete,
for
instance).
This
top
layer gained
too in
solidarity;
for it
was
a
feature
of
hoplite
fighting in
a
phalanx that neighbours
had to
help
one
another.
The
people who made
up the top
layer were
to a
great extent those who
had held hereditary positions of leadership in a tribal society, but during
this century from 750
to
650 there was some infiltration
by
able men
who became wealthy through commercial enterprise.
We are
still
dealing with
an
aristocratic oligarchy;
but a
change
is
coming about
from
the
' aristocrat'
of
hereditary qualifications
to the
' aristocrat'
of
wealth and warfare. The term 'aristoi', 'the best', was taking on a new
meaning
but
within
a
traditional society.
At
Sparta,
as
we have seen,
the situation was different. There the ' Equals' were a well-to-do group
of considerable size, strong
in
their
own
solidarity
and
trained
as
professional soldiers. Although they lost at Hysiae, history was to show
that hoplite warfare might have been invented specifically to ensure their
success
in the
struggle
for
power.
III.
THE
PURSUIT
OF
POWER
BY
INDIVIDUALS,
f.
6jO—JJOB.C.
There
was
colonization
of two
kinds
in
this period.
The
colonies
themselves planted colonies
and
created
a
pattern
of
local power:
Syracuse,
for
instance, planted three colonies
in
south-eastern Sicily
between 663 and 598, and Megara Hyblaea planted Selinus in 628. The
mother cities themselves founded further
colonies.
Megara strengthened
her position
in
the Propontis and Black Sea by founding Selymbria
in
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THE
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the seventh century and Mesembria and Heraclea Pontica
in
the sixth
century; thus
her
harbours, including Byzantium, Chalcedon
and
Astacus, were well placed
to
draw revenues from trade through
the
Bosporus. Corinth consolidated her grip on the coasting route
to
the
west
by
planting further colonies: Sollium, Leucas, Anactorium,
Ambracia and Apollonia Illyrica between 665 and 588. One reason for
her policy was a quarrel with Corcyra which led to the first naval battle
between Greek fleets c. 664. She planted also Potidaea in Chalcidice on
the north-eastern route
c.
600. As these colonies were independent states
from the outset,
it is
misleading
to
talk
of
Corinth having
a
colonial
empire; but as long as she maintained good relations with her colonies,
she
and
they
had a
common interest
in
keeping down piracy
and
drawing revenues from trade which passed through their waters. The
first settlers varied
in
number- 200
at
Apollonia Illyrica and 1,000
at
Leucas
—
but others followed to create an entirely Greek city. Thus there
was every opportunity in this century for any surplus population in the
Peloponnese
to
emigrate to the new world.
The reflex action of colonial expansion was an enormous increase in
seaborne trade, accelerating after 650. The main stream flowed along
the northern Mediterranean and the Black
Sea,
and the chief beneficiaries
in old Greece were the states near the Isthmus which formed
a
bridge
between the east and the west: Corinth, Sicyon, Megara, Aegina and
as a late competitor Athens. In 650-5 50 Corinth held the lead in pottery
and bronzework, ship-building and naval power, and after 550
it
was
only in pottery that Corinth was outstripped by Athens. A lesser route
of trade ran from Egypt and Cyrene to Thera and Laconia or Cythera,
whence one could proceed to the Argolic and Saronic Gulfs or take the
direct but less safe passage westwards. Here Laconia played
a
leading
part, and her pottery was
in
vogue until 550; thereafter
it
began
to
decline
in
popularity and in quality.
It
was in general, and not least
in
some parts
of
the Peloponnese,
a
century
of
remarkable prosperity.
Prosperity bred ambition,
and it
was
the
most prosperous states
which provided
the
earliest examples
of
the seizure and exercise
of
power by one man, which the Greeks called
monarkhia
or
tyrannis,
the
latter being
a
loan-word from Lydia, which
had the
overtones
of
oriental wealthy despotism. The link between prosperity and tyranny
was observed by Thucydides
(1.
13.1). 'As Greece became more power-
ful and made more of the acquisition of wealth than even before, then
generally tyrannies were established
in the
states
as the
revenues
became greater.' How is the link to be explained? Greek writers of the
fourth century, such as Aristotle, tended to think that the early tyrants
were
'
demagogues' who reached the top with popular support in a time
of faction and used mercenary troops
to
seize power; but
it
is evident
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PURSUIT OF POWER BY INDIVIDUALS 343
that they were reading the conditions
of
their own time back into the
seventh century.
35
Solon and Theognis, who lived
so
much closer
to
the origins
of
tyranny, provided
a
more convincing picture
of the
conditions which gave rise to it. In
brief,
desire for wealth was the root
of the trouble, and
it
was the ruthlessness of the oligarchic leaders and
the witlessness of
the
common people which led to tyranny. Thus Solon
wrote
of
the faction which was almost
a
precondition
of
tyranny: ' It
is
the
townsmen themselves
who
mean
to
corrupt
the
great state
[Athens]
in
their witlessness and their pursuit
of
money, and
it is
the
ruthless spirit
of
the leaders
{hegemones)
of
the people
{demos,
not
in a
popular but in
a
total sense), who have committed great outrages and
are ripe
to
suffer many sorrows.' Then
of
the sequel:
'It is
from
the
great
men
that
the
state
is
corrupted,
and it is
through lack
of
understanding that the people have fallen into slavery
to
the one-man
ruler
{monarkhos).'
Theognis of Megara, who flourished probably from
550 onwards, wrote
to
Cyrnus
of
his fear
of
impending tyranny
as
follows (41—52):
The townsmen here are still sensible, but the leaders
{hegemones)
are heading
for a fall into much trouble. Good men, Cyrnus, never yet corrupted a state;
but
when
it
is
the pleasure of the wicked to commit
outrage,
when they corrupt
the people, when they give unjust judgements for the sake of their own profits
and
power,
then... from them
arise
factions
and killings
of kindred
and
one-man
rulers {monarkhoi).
If we apply these views
to
the conditions
of
the seventh century,
it
seems that the process was generally as follows. A traditional and more
or less hereditary oligarchy remained
in
power within
a
static,
agricultural, tribal society, but
it
was disrupted by the swing towards
capitalism which Thucydides had
in
mind. Opportunities for personal
aggrandizement arose from
the
new conditions,
and
were exploited
ruthlessly by those who already had means and position. Faction grew
between rival groups of oligarchs, and led to civil war and sometimes
to tyranny. The common people, being without the experience
of
the
actuality
of
power, showed their witlessness
in
trusting those who
abused their trust. The struggle was initially not between the oligarchs
and the people, not between the rich and the poor, but between rival
leading oligarchs. Herodotus summarized the situation in words which
he placed
on
the lips
of
the wise Persian King, Darius:
In an oligarchy the fact that a number of men are competing for distinction
in affairs of
state
cannot but lead to violent personal feuds; each of them wants
to get to the top and to see his own proposals carried; so they quarrel. Personal
35
Writers such as Ephorus gave detailed accounts which can only be fictitious; see FGrH 90
(Nic.
Dam.) F J7-F 61; 105 F 2; Plut. Mor. 555A-B; D.S. vm. 24.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
344 4
2
-
THE
PELOPONNESE
quarrels lead to open dissension and then to bloodshed; and from bloodshed
the result is one-man rule
(monarkhid).
(in. 82.3)
We know more about the rise of tyranny
at
Corinth than
at
Argos,
Megara and Sicyon. The closed oligarchy
of
the Bacchiadae, having
ruled Corinth autocratically
for
longer than anyone could remember,
was inevitably subjected
to
new strains
by the
rapid move towards
capitalism during
the
first half
of
the seventh century. These strains
caused faction-strife, of which
a
romanticized version has come down
to us, but
it
seems that
it
involved Pheidon
of
Argos who sent help
'through friendship', presumably to one group among the Bacchiadae,
and that
it
contributed
to
the fall
of
the Bacchiadae. The first tyrant,
Cypselus, took power in
65 7
soon after the probable date of Pheidon's
demise. He was presumably the leader of the faction which ended the
rule
of
the Bacchiadae.
As he
had married into
or
even within
the
Bacchiadae, which was
an
endogamous group,
and as he had
been
appointed
to a
magistracy, which was
a
monopoly of the Bacchiadae,
the faction he led was within the Bacchiadae most probably.
Our best source
of
information
is a
speech by
a
Corinthian, which
Herodotus made up in order to include the Corinthian tradition about
the tyrants of Corinth. Most of it is folk-tale, but it includes two oracles
issued by Delphi after the events
to
which they refer but still within
the time of the tyranny. The first was addressed allegedly to the parents
of Cypselus, then childless, and ran thus.' Eetion, no one honours you,
right honourable though you are. Labda
is
pregnant, and will bring
forth
a
rolling stone;
it
will fall upon one-man rulers
{monarkhoi)
and
set Corinth right' (Hdt. v. 92/3.2). The priest who devised this oracle
wished
to
show hostility not towards Cypselus but towards the losers,
those
of
the Bacchiadae who stood
for
autocratic rule themselves (as
monarkhoi). The opening words may refer
to
Eetion's childlessness,
which was a matter of shame among Dorians and especially in a leading
citizen. The second oracle was addressed allegedly to Cypselus and was
supposed to have led him to seize power.' Happy is the man who enters
my house, Cypselus, Eetion's son, king
(basileus)
of
famous Corinth,
himself and his sons, but no longer his sons' sons' (Hdt. v. 926.2). The
composer of this oracle wished to natter the tyrants as ' kings', and he
worded the oracle before the time when the grandson of Cypselus did
in fact succeed
to the
position
of
'king'. We have
no
idea how
the
revolutionary
coup
d'etat was achieved.
36
It has sometimes been suggested that Cypselus, being of non-Dorian
36
A
2, i6ffon the nature of the evidence; 43ffon tyranny at Corinth; cf.
A
6,1 14-37 and
E
228,
44iff,
on whose late dating of Cypselus' tyranny see M-L p. 11. Hdt. m. 52.4 represents Cypselus
and his son as
a
basileus.
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