Assassination of Hipparchus and Fall of the Peisistratids

514–510 BCE

Harmodius and Aristogeiton killed Hipparchus during the Panathenaic festival after a personal conflict involving Hipparchus's pursuit of Harmodius. Harmodius died at the scene and Aristogeiton was later executed.

Hippias responded with harsher rule but was expelled in 510 BC after intervention by Sparta and Athenian opponents. Later democratic memory transformed the assassins into symbols of liberation.

The Praise Singer presents the crisis through Simonides, whose dependence on Hipparchus as a patron makes the political violence also a threat to his artistic life.

Related people for Assassination of Hipparchus and Fall of the Peisistratids

Hipparchus6th century BCE–514 BCE Polycrates575 BCE–523 BCE Pythagorasc. 6th century BCE–c. 490s BCE Simonides of Ceosc. 556–468 BCE

Books

1 Best Novel About the assassination of Hipparchus and the fall of the Peisistratids

The Praise Singer

by Mary Renault

First published 1978 · 4.4(282)