Alkmaioniden

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The Alkmaioniden ( ancient Greek Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι ; also Attic Ἀλκμεωνίδαι , Alkmeoniden , older spelling "Alkmaeoniden") were a noble family in Athens archaic times, which derived its origin from the mythical figure Alkmaion , a great-grandson of Nestor .

In 632 BC BC Archon Megakles from the Alkmaionid family managed to fend off an armed coup. The rebels under their leader, Cylon of Athens, were trapped and starved on the castle hill, the Acropolis . When storming the castle hill, some of the rebels were killed at the altar of the Eumenids . Because of this crime, the Alkmaionids were banished from Attica by a court made up of 300 representatives of the leading families of Athens , and the deceased members of the family were removed from their graves. After this desecration of the holy place, it was believed that there was a curse on the family.

The Alkmaionids moved to Phocis and, according to Herodotus, are said to have made considerable wealth through services that they rendered to an embassy of the Lydian king Kroisos . The anecdote is historically inconclusive - because the son of the archon Megakles, Alkmaion , the first Athenian winner in the Olympic chariot race and beneficiary of the donations described in detail by Herodotus, cannot have been a contemporary of Kroisos - but testifies to the legendary financial resources over which the Alkmaioniden decreed.

It is uncertain when the Alkmaionids returned to Athens; possibly under Solon , because Plutarch expressly states, citing the files in Delphi , that Alkmaion and not Solon led the Athenians in the First Holy War against Krissa . They did not intervene again in Athens' political events until the price-government period. Megakles , the son of Alkmaion and since about 575 BC Married to Agariste , the daughter of the tyrant Kleisthenes of Sikyon , supported in the year 561 BC. First Lycurgus in the dispute with Peisistratos, whom they were initially able to drive from Athens. Soon afterwards, Megacles fell out with the Eupatrids , gave his daughter's hand to Peisistratos and supported his return to Athens. Because Peisistratos allegedly did not consume the marriage, there was another rift between the two and again with the help of Lycurgus it was possible to drive Peisistratos out again.

When Peisistratos returned to Athens after ten years of exile and finally established his tyranny , the Alkmaionids had to 546/45 BC. Left the city and withdrew to Phocis. There they generously financed the rebuilding of the burned Apollo shrine at Delphi .

Possibly they came to terms with Hippias and Hipparchus and in the meantime returned to Athens. At least Kleisthenes , the son of Megacles, was probably an archon in 525/24 BC. Under Hippias. However, the Alkmaionids soon had to leave the city again, probably because they were competing with the two tyrants.

With the help of the Delphic priesthood - now their generosity was paying off - they succeeded in persuading the Spartans to attack Athens in order to save it in 510 BC. From the tyranny of Hippias. Kleisthenes, probably the most important representative of the family, put in 507 BC BC with far-reaching reforms and the smashing of the gentilian order of Athens laid the foundation of Attic democracy . His brother Hippocrates was the grandfather of Pericles through his daughter Agariste . The son of Hippocrates, like his grandfather named Megakles , was born in 487/86 BC. Banned by ostracism . Kleisthenes also had a son named Megakles , who was the grandfather of Alcibiades through his daughter Deinomache and of whom Lysias reports that he had been ostracized twice.

Other members of the Alkmaioniden are for the 5th century BC. And a Megakles, son of Megakles, plays a certain role in The Clouds of Aristophanes . However, the former meaning of gender can no longer be recognized.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus 5, 70 f .; Thucydides 1, 126; Plutarch , Solon 12; Pausanias 7, 25, 3; Scholion to Aristophanes , The Knights 445.
  2. ↑ Plutarch, Solon 12; Aristotle , Athenaion politeia 1.
  3. ↑ Herodotus 6, 125.
  4. ^ Plutarch, Solon 11.
  5. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 6, 127–130.
  6. ↑ Herodotus 1, 59 f .; Plutarch , Solon 29 f .; Aristotle , Athenaion politeia 13 f.
  7. ↑ Herodotus 1:60 .
  8. ↑ Herodotus 1: 60-64.
  9. ^ Benjamin D. Meritt: Greek Inscriptions. In: Hesperia . Vol. 8, 1939, pp. 59-65.
  10. ↑ Herodotus 1, 62-64; Aristotle, Athenaion politeia 19th century .
  11. ^ Aristotle, Athenaion politeia 22.
  12. ↑ Plutarch , Alcibiades 1; Isokrates 16, 26th
  13. ↑ Lysias, Against Alkibiades 39; so also Pseudo-Andokides 4, 34 ( Against Alkibiades ).
  14. ↑ Aristophanes, The Clouds 46, 70, 124, 815.

literature

Web links

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