Peisistratus The Tyrant
Peisistratus the Tyrant
In our current day and age, when people think of the word tyrant, they typically think of a repressive leader of some sort. Someone who does not generally care for the well-being of the people under his rule, and is only out to better his own position in life. This, however, was not always the case. In fact, in the past, tyrants were looked at as great leaders in some sectors of the world. One place where this held to be true was Athens in sixth century B.C.E.
In a time when very few people held the majority of wealth and power, it was a breath of fresh air when the tyrant Peisistratus seized power. It was not until his third attempt that Peisistratus would actually stay in power for a prolonged period of time, as his first two times in power were overthrown by others. But when he finally did garner the power that was sought after, he started right away to better the lives of all the citizens in Athens.
Before the rule of Peisistratus, “[Athens] had no plan for a larger destiny” (Robinson 1970: 72). The first goal for Peisistratus was to establish some sort of foreign policy, to help advance Athens in the eyes of the rest of the world, while also generating income to be used to help the citizens of Athens. Most other Greek states had trade routes in the Aegean; Athens had none (Robinson 1970: 72). Peisistratus first order of business in this regard was to capture Sigeum in the Troad (which is now located in modern Turkey) as it was essential to establish trade routes for Athens (Robinson 1970: 72). With this now in place, the infrastructure for a great economy was starting to take shape. And with that in place, Peisistratus was able to start on his main goal when he came to power in Athens – restoring Athens to greatness, and making life enjoyable again for the common man (Robinson 1970: 73).
The next major thing that Peisistratus would need to restore respectability to the common...
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