2 – Cylon: Athens (632 BC)
The information relating to Cylon is a little more reliable than what we know about Cypselus. That is because he was one of the chief protagonists in the Cylonian Affair, the first event in Athenian history that is reliably recorded. Cylon was an Athenian nobleman and gained fame for his success in the Olympic Games. He was married to the daughter of Theagenes, the tyrant of Megara and in 632 BC; he attempted a coup with the support of his father-in-law.
According to Herotodus, Cylon consulted the Oracle at Delphi and was advised to seize power in Athens during the greatest festival of Zeus. Cylon interpreted the message to mean that he was to attempt his coup during the Olympic Games. However, the would-be tyrant misinterpreted the message; it meant that he should make his attempt during the feast of Diasia in March; it was celebrated outside the city of Athens.
Nonetheless, Cylon followed through on his plan and enlisted the help of Megarian soldiers (sent by Theagenes) and noble youths because he didn’t have the support of the people. When Athenians saw that Cylon was aided by foreign soldiers, he lost his last chance of gaining their support. Although he succeeded in taking the Acropolis, the quick actions of Lord Megacles, the chief magistrate in the city, ensured the coup was a failure. He ensured that the Acropolis was quickly surrounded and he promised Cylon’s followers clemency if they left the building and surrendered.
Meanwhile, Cylon and his brother managed to escape the fortress. Cylon’s supporters apparently tied a rope to the temple’s statue to ensure their safety when they came out. Plutarch wrote that the rope broke on the way out and Megacles took this as a sign that the goddess had turned her back on the accused. As a result, they were stoned to death. Thucydides and Herodotus wrote that the supporters were killed but made no mention of the rope.
Megacles and his men were exiled from the city because it was illegal to murder supplicants. In April 2016, archaeologists found a mass grave containing 80 bodies in a suburb of Athens; some of them were shackled. Carbon dating suggests the bodies came from the third quarter of the 7th century BC so they may be the remains of Cylon’s supporters. Although he was never technically the tyrant of Athens, Cylon’s actions paved the way for others to seize power in the city-state.