20. The Gay Lovers Who Sought to End Tyranny
Hipparchus hit on Harmodius, the eromenus, or younger male lover, of Aristogeiton. Harmodius shot Hipparchus down and told Aristogen what had happened. The spurned Hipparchus then set out to get some payback. He invited Harmodius’ kid sister to play a role at a religious festival, then publicly berated and chased her away as ineligible because she was not a virgin. That shamed Harmodius’ family. In retaliation, Harmodius and Aristogeiton decided to assassinate both Hipparchus and his brother Hippias, and free Athens of tyranny. They were only partially successful. At the Panathenaian festival, they stabbed Hipparchus to death, but only wounded Hippias. Hipparchus’ bodyguards took care of Harmodius on the spot, and Aristogeiton was arrested, tortured, and eventually ended by Hippias. The lovers were celebrated and honored for centuries afterward in Athens as the Tyrannicides, and public statues were commissioned in their honor.
After his brother’s assassination, Hippias grew paranoid, and his rule became oppressive as he lashed out indiscriminately at enemies real and imagined. Hippias’ descent into violence eroded the popularity that tyranny had enjoyed since the days of Peisistratos, and the number of victims and exiles forced to flee Athens grew. One exile was Cleisthenes, who began to plot with other exiles to overthrow the tyranny. Invasion was considered, but Hippias had a well-equipped army, while the exiles did not, and lacked the funds for an army of their own. So they sought to enlist the help of Sparta, which had the Greek world’s best army, to liberate Athens.