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Chapter 2 - The Garden of Pisistratus

Benefactions and Dues in Archaic Athens

from Part I - Benefiting the Community in Early Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2021

By
Beate Wagner-Hasel
Edited by
Marc Domingo Gygax  and
Arjan Zuiderhoek
Marc Domingo Gygax
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
Arjan Zuiderhoek
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
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Summary

On the one hand, the tyrants of the archaic age are considered to be demophagoi, the ‘eaters’ of common goods; on the other hand, their reign is praised as the Golden Age of Kronos. This chapter deals with the relationship between tyrants and the people and discusses the connection between dues and benefactions. It establishes the notion that the reign of tyrants as well as the reign of succeeding aristocratic houses were rooted in the tradition of Homeric kings. The garden of the Phaeacian king Alcinoos, where the citizens drew their water, symbolizes ideal ruling. Exactly the same kind of benefactions, the securing of the water supplies, has been attributed to the archaic tyrants. The chapter aims to present the lines of tradition as well as the discontinuities in the early Greek conceptions of generosity and dominion.

Keywords

duestitheaparchaigerasgarden-fruitswater supplytyranny
Type
Chapter
Information
Benefactors and the Polis
The Public Gift in the Greek Cities from the Homeric World to Late Antiquity
 , pp. 44 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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