Chilon and the Opposition to Tyranny in the Tradition of the Seven Wise Men
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34624/fb.v0i21.41590Keywords:
Tyranny, Seven Sages, Chilon, Sparta, Athens, DelphiAbstract
Through the mouth of Demaratus, Herodotus presents Chilon as being the sagest among the Spartans (7.235.5), thus paving the way that would lead to the inclusion of Chilon among the stable group of Seve Wise Men. However, this note is relatively discrete. More information is provided by the anecdote narrated earlier by the same Herodotus (1.59.1-3), depicting a meeting between Chilon and Hippocrates, the would-be father of the future tyrant Peisistratus. The anecdote reveals a basic animosity against tyranny, which will hang as a conceptual background in the tradition of the sophoi — despite the fact that some of the figures included in the group had exercised tyrannical rule. The historicity of this encounter of Chilon and Hippocrates must, understandably, be perceived with a good deal of skepticism. This does not prevent, however, that Chilon’s premonitory warnings contributed to establishing an authoritative terminus a quo for the tradition of Spartan opposition to tyrannical governments, which would become a distinguishing trait, as can be seen e.g. in Herodotus (5.92.1-2), Thucydides (1.18), Aristoteles (Pol. 1310b-1311b), Plutarch (Mor. 859C-D), and Polybius (4.81.13). A papyrus from the 2nd century BC (P. Ryl. 18 - FGrHist 105 F 1) even maintains that, during Chilon’s ephorate, the Spartans would have waged a systematic campaign against the tyrannies then existing in Greece. It is the goal of this paper to analyze how this opposition to tyranny became more broadly part of the Seven Sages tradition, takings as reference mainly the testimonies of Herodotus, Plato, Plutarch and Diogenes Laertius.
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