Peisistratos - Popular Tyrant

Popular Tyrant

As opposed to the contemporary definition of a tyrant, which is a single ruler, often violent and oppressive, Peisistratos was the ideal classical tyrant, which was a non-heritable position that a person took purely by personal ability often in violation of tradition or constitutional norms. We see this in remarks by both Herodotus and Aristotle. Herodotus, in his Histories, wrote that Peisistratos, "not having disturbed the existing magistrates nor changed the ancient laws… administered the State under that constitution of things which was already established, ordering it fairly and well", while Aristotle wrote that "his administration was temperate…and more like constitutional government than a tyranny". Peisistratos often tried to distribute power and benefits, rather than hoard them, with the intent of releasing stress between the economic classes. The elites, who had held power in the Areopagus Council, were allowed to retain their archonships. For the lower classes, he cut taxes and created a band of traveling judges to provide justice for the citizens of Athens. Peisistratos enacted a popular program to beautify Athens and promote the arts. He minted coins with Athena's symbol (the owl), although this was only one type on the so-called Wappenmünzen (heraldic coins), and not a regular device as on the later, standard silver currency. Under his rule were introduced two new forms of poetry, the dithyramb and tragic drama, and the era also saw growth in theater, arts and sculpture. He commissioned the permanent copying and archiving of Homer's two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the canon of Homeric works is said to derive from this particular archiving.