Polycrates (tyrant of Samos)

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Polycrates was an ancient Greek tyrant who lived from about 538 to 522 BC. Ruled on the Greek island of Samos .

Early life and rule

Polycrates was probably around 570 BC. Born in BC and came from an aristocratic Sami family. Based on an inscription, it is sometimes assumed that his father Aiakes could also have been a tyrant of Samos, which is however unlikely. About the life that Polycrates led before he came to power on Samos, only the anecdote handed down by Athenaeus is known that he lent precious blankets or dining tables and cups to fellow citizens on solemn occasions, from which it can be deduced that Polykrates even before his time as Tyrant was wealthy and "indulged in a luxurious lifestyle".

Polykrates took power on Samos through an armed attack during a religious festival in honor of Heras, at which Polykrates and his brothers Pantagnotos and Syloson, with the support of Lygdamis , the tyrant of Naxos , arrested the unarmed participants, killed some and also occupied the Acropolis. Presumably this happened in 538 BC. Since Lygdamis had to be established in order to provide assistance abroad, a certain period of time must have passed since his assumption of rule, which in turn has been achieved with the help of the since 546 BC. Chr. Alone ruling Peisistratos had taken place, have passed. Other indicators Eusebius , chronicon S. 189 and Thucydides 1,13,6, v which former Polycrates' tyranny 532nd And the latter suggests a rough chronological correspondence with Cambyses II . A list of thalassocracies by Diodorus , given in Eusebius, chronicon p. 106, represents a Sami sea domination from 538 to 522 BC. BC, which probably coincides with Polykrates' rule. At first the three brothers ruled Samos together, but Polykrates got rid of his co-rulers by murdering Pantagnotos and driving Syloson into exile. From now on, probably from around 532 BC. He ruled alone.

For the three large Sami buildings - the tunnel of Eupalinos , the Heraion and the port - which Herodotus cites as a justification for his Sami excursion and which Aristotle probably meant by the "polycratic buildings", Polycrates may not or only partially have been responsible. The tunnel was probably started earlier, while a never-finished new Heraion could have been commissioned by Polykrates. However, the port cannot be clearly assigned. Polykrates is said to have built a palace for himself, which Caligula is said to have admired long afterwards .

Polykrates apparently managed to amass a certain amount of wealth through piracy and thus to lure famous personalities to his court. At times the poets Ibykos and Anakreon worked at his court and praised the tyrant; Polykrates is said to have paid the famous doctor Demokedes an annual salary of two talents. The wealth of the tyrant was downright proverbial and later became the subject of moralizing reports influenced by the tyrant topic, which, however, should not be taken literally or viewed as historical facts. Opponents of tyranny and potentially competing aristocrats like Pythagoras left the island.

Foreign Policy and Death

Outwardly, Polykrates acted primarily as a trader and pirate by means of a well-equipped fleet, whose ships, modified fifty oars, were fast and spacious and were called Samainai. Herodotus calls him the first Greek who aspired to rule of the sea and mentions victories over Lesbos and Miletus . According to Thucydides , Polycrates subjugated a number of islands. However, the power of Polycrates was restricted when he sent ships to the Persian king Cambyses II, which he manned with internal enemies, as support for his Egyptian invasion and had Cambyses informed that he should no longer send the Sami back home. However, they turned back, defeated a fleet of the Polycrates and landed on Samos, where they were repulsed. In order to drive out Polykrates, they then asked the Spartans for help. According to Herodotus, they agreed and Corinthians also joined the new attack, which also failed, so that Polycrates was able to maintain himself as the tyrant of Samos.

It is unclear how Polycrates felt about the Persian Empire , which at the time gained supremacy in the region. At first he was probably allied with the Egyptian king Amasis . Herodotus ends this alliance with the ring story, which is often taken up by later ancient authors: Amasis warns the Greeks that too much luck arouses the envy of the gods and that he should part with his greatest treasure. Polykrates then throws a valuable ring into the sea, but gets it back against his will. The horrified Amasis sees it as a sign of the gods and ends the alliance. This anecdote is clearly not historical and comes from Herodotus. It is therefore unclear when the alliance was broken by whom; there is also the possibility that Polykrates waited until after Amasis' death to join the militarily superior Persians, who were now beginning to show presence in the Mediterranean. But it is also possible that Polycrates was already active on behalf of Cambyses and held the defiant Persian governor Oroites in check for the Persian king .

522 BC In any case, Polykrates had to struggle with financial problems, which was probably a consequence of the defeat against the insurgents, the attacks on Samos and the declining income from piracy resulting from the weakening of the fleet. When Oroites, who allegedly felt threatened by Cambyses, offered him an alliance and part of his property, Polycrates first sent his secretary Maiandrios to examine the alleged treasure. Maiandrios was either outwitted or bribed by Oroites, so that Polykrates drove to a meeting with Oroites. After the satrap then, as Herodotus writes, "let him die of a death that I do not want to tell, he hung him on the cross." Herodotus, who stayed on Samos for a while and portrayed Polycrates benevolently, considered this death unworthy of him .

reception

Friedrich Schiller treats him in the famous ballad Der Ring des Polykrates at the peak of his successes. The template for this was provided by the passage in III. Book of the Histories of Herodotus. Schiller's ballad made Polykrates known in the German-speaking world and provided a few other, albeit less well-known, adaptations of the material, including by Wilhelm Schnitter .

literature

Web links

Commons : Polykrates  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Suda , keyword Ἀνακρέων , Adler number: alpha 1916 , Suda-Online ; see. John P. Barron: The Sixth-Century Tyranny at Samos. In: Classical Quarterly 58, 1964, pp. 210-229, p. 212; Renate Tölle-Kastenbein: Herodotus and Samos. Bochum 1976, p. 20; Cecil M. Bowra: Greek Lyric Poetry. 2nd Edition. Oxford 1961, pp. 268f.
  2. ↑ Herodotus testifies to the name in 2,182; 3.39; 3.139; 6.13; 6.14. Other information in Suda , keyword Ἴβυκος , eagle number: iota 80 , Suda-Online and Himerios , orationes 29,22 are misleading and should be neglected in relation to Herodotus, cf. Loretana de Libero: Die archaische Tyrannis, Stuttgart 1996, p. 258.
  3. ↑ See Graham Shipley: A History of Samos, 800-80 BC. Oxford 1987, pp. 70f .; Mary White: The Duration of the Sixth Century Tyranny at Samos. In: Journal of Hellenic Studies 74, 1954, pp. 37-43, pp. 37 and 42f., BM Mitchell: Herodot and Samos In: Journal of Hellenic Studies 95, 1975, pp. 75-91, p. 78.
  4. ↑ See de Libero, pp. 258f.
  5. ^ Francis X. Ryan: The stromnai of the Polycrates of Samos. In: Studia Humaniora Tartuensia 10, 2009, pp. 1–8, p. 6. Ryan suggests the dining bed as a translation for στρωμνα und and connects with the assumption that Polykrates introduced the custom of eating lying down on Samos, which has only just spread.
  6. ^ Rainer Bernhardt : Luxury criticism and expenditure restrictions in the Greek world (= Historia. Individual writings 168). Stuttgart 2003, p. 29.
  7. ↑ Polyainos , Strategemata 1.23; Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp : Archaic Greece. The city and the sea. Munich 2015, p. 230.
  8. ↑ See Helmut Berve: The tyranny among the Greeks. Volume 2, p. 583; Jules Labarbe: Un Putsch dans la Grece antique. Polycrate et sus freres a la conquete du pouvoir. In: Ancient Society 5, 1974, pp. 21-41, p. 41.
  9. ↑ See Matthew Dillon, Lynda Garland: The ancient Greeks. History and culture from archaic times to the death of Alexander. London 2013, p. 278.
  10. ↑ Herodotus 3.60.
  11. ^ Aristotle, Politik 5, 1313b.
  12. ↑ See Hermann J. Kienast: The tunnel of Eupalinos on Samos (= Samos. XIX). Bonn 1995, p. 181f.
  13. ↑ Cf. Hendrik Svenson-Evers: The Greek architects of archaic and classical times (= archaeological studies. Volume 11). Frankfurt a. M. 1996, p. 45.
  14. ↑ See de Libero, p. 294f.
  15. ^ Suetonius , Caligula 21. However, in contrast to the other buildings, this palace cannot be proven archaeologically, cf. Stein-Hölkeskamp, ​​p. 233.
  16. ↑ Suda sv Ἴβυκος.
  17. ↑ Anakreon F 46 D; Strabon 6,638; Herodotus 3, 121; Athenaios 12, 540e; Aelianus , varia historia 9.4; Suda sv Ἀνακρέων.
  18. ↑ See Stein-Hölkeskamp, ​​p. 234.
  19. ↑ Herodotus 3,131; Athenaios 12, 522 b. The historicity of the person des Demokedes is, however, controversial.
  20. ↑ Athenaios 12, 540 cd = Klytos FGrH 490 F 2, Alexis FGrH 539 F 2; Athenaios 12, 540 f - 541 a = Klearchos F 44 Wehrli.
  21. ↑ See Bernhardt, p. 30; Linda-Marie Günther : Everything from everywhere ... - Trade and Tryphe at Polykrates of Samos. In: Munster contributions to ancient trade history 18, 1999, pp. 48–56, p. 54.
  22. ↑ See Stein-Hölkeskamp, ​​p. 231.
  23. ↑ Herodotus 3,122.
  24. ↑ Herodotus 3:39.
  25. ↑ Thucydides 1,13,4.
  26. ↑ Herodotus 3:44.
  27. ↑ Herodotus 3:45.
  28. ↑ Herodotus 3, 46ff. The story that Herodotus tells as a justification for this help is, however, considered untrustworthy, cf. Paul Cartledge: Sparta and Samos: A Special Relationship? In: Classical Quarterly 32, 1982, pp. 243-265, pp. 256ff.
  29. ↑ Herodotus 3: 55ff.
  30. ↑ Retold or mentioned in Valerius Maximus 6.9, Ext. 5; Maximus of Tire 34.5; Strabon 6,637; Diodorus 1,95,3; Cicero , de finibus bonorum et malorum 5.92; Stobaios , florilegium (sermones) 4,48a, 15.
  31. ↑ Herodotus 3,40ff.
  32. ↑ See Mitchell, p. 79; de Libero, p. 279; JE van der Veen: The Lord of the Ring. Narrative Technique in Herodotus 'Story on Polycrates' Ring. In: Mnemosyne 46, 4, 1993, pp. 433-457 refers to the warning sages as a typical motif in Herodotus.
  33. ↑ See de Libero, p. 279.
  34. ↑ Cf. Andrik Abramenko: Polykrates' foreign policy and end. A revision. In: Klio 77, 1995, pp. 35-54. Considered in a certain light, Polykrates' statement in Herodotus 3:39 supports these considerations.
  35. ↑ Herodotus 3,120ff.
  36. ↑ See Shipley, p. 103.
  37. ↑ Herodotus 3.125.
  38. ↑ Herodotus 3,125; see. Thomas Schmitz: Polycrates. In: Peter Möllendorf, Annette Simonis, Linda Simonis (Eds.): Historical figures of antiquity. Reception in literature, art and music (= Der Neue Pauly. Supplements Volume 8) Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, Sp. 767–772, Sp. 768.
  39. ↑ See Schmitz, Col. 770ff.
personal data
SURNAME Polycrates
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tyrant of Samos
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Greece Ancient Greece Samos
DATE OF DEATH 522 BC Chr.
Place of death Samos