The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids ( grc-gre, Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι ; Attic: ) were a wealthy and powerful

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

of ancient

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, a branch of the

Neleides Neleides or Nelides ( (Nηλείδης); also Neleiades (Νηληιάδης), Neleius, and in the plural Neleidae; grc-gre, Νηλεῖδαι) was a patronymic of ancient Greece derived from Neleus, son of the Greek god Poseidon, and was used to r ...

who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon, the great-grandson of Nestor. In the 7th through 5th centuries BC, the Alcmaeonidae played a significant role in the developments and events that occurred in Athens. Such developments included overthrowing an Athenian

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to re ...

, helping to lay the foundations of Athenian democracy, and having generals for Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The Alcmaeonidae were mentioned frequently throughout

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

' '' The Histories'', and many played a key role in shaping Athens. The first prominent Alcmaeonid was

Megacles Megacles or Megakles ( grc, Μεγακλῆς) was the name of several notable men of ancient Athens, as well as an officer of Pyrrhus of Epirus. First archon The first Megacles was possibly a legendary archon of Athens from 922 BC to 892 BC. A ...

, who was exiled from the city and given a curse on him and his family. Furthermore, there was Cleisthenes, who became known as "the father of Athenian democracy" by numerous scholars and historians. Another famous Alcmaeonid was

Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...

, whom

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

would later call "the first citizen of Athens," as well as Alcibiades, who switched sides numerous times during the Peloponnesian War, and would end up being the last of the notable Alcmaeonidae. The main aristocratic rival of the Alcmaeonidae in the 6th and 5th centuries BC were the

Peisistratids Pisistratus or Peisistratus ( grc-gre, wikt:Πεισίστρατος, Πεισίστρατος ; 600 – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unificat ...

Early background and history

Unlike many aristocratic families at the time, the Alcmaeonidae were not named after a mythological founder, but rather from an historical figure. In this case, the founder was Alcmaeon, father of Megacles. Similar to other aristocratic families however, was that the Alcmaeonidae did employ the tradition of reusing the name of the maternal or paternal grandfather in the family. As a result, there are numerous Megacles, Alcmaeon, and Cleisthenes names in this family. The first noteworthy Alcmaeonid was

, son of Alcmaeon, who was the Archon Eponymous of Athens in the 7th century BC. He was responsible for killing the followers of

Cylon of Athens Cylon (Greek: Κύλων ''Kylon'') was an Athenian associated with the first reliably dated event in Athenian history, the Cylonian Affair, an attempted seizure of power in the city. Cylon, one of the Athenian nobles and a previous victor of th ...

during the attempted coup in 632 BC, as Cylon had taken refuge as a suppliant at the temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

, even though Megacles had promised their safety. In essence, he went against his word. As a result of their actions, Megacles and his Alcmaeonid followers were the subject of an ongoing curse and were exiled from the city. Even the bodies of buried Alcmaeonidae were dug up and removed from the city limits. Alcmaeonids were allowed back into the city in 594 BC, during the archonship of

Solon Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...

, and were able to recover significant influence. During the

tyranny A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

of Pisistratus, a member of the influential Peisistratids family and rival clan to the Alcmaeonidae, the aforementioned Megacles married his daughter to the tyrant, but when the tyrant refused to have children with her, Megacles and his allies banished him. Later the Alcmaeonids would claim to have been exiled following Pisistratus' return in 546 BC, so as to distance themselves from possible accusations of complicity, but epigraphic evidence in fact proves that Cleisthenes was archon for the year 525–24 BC. Megacles was able to marry (for a second or third time) Agarista, the daughter of the tyrant

Cleisthenes of Sicyon Cleisthenes ( ; grc-gre, Κλεισθένης) was the tyrant of Sicyon from c. 600–560 BC, who aided in the First Sacred War against Kirrha that destroyed that city in 595 BC. He was also said to have organized a successful war against Argos ...

. They had two sons, Hippocrates and another Cleisthenes, this one the reformer of Athenian democracy. Hippocrates' daughter was Agariste, the mother of

Contributions to Athenian democracy: Cleisthenes

The Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes overthrew

Hippias Hippias of Elis (; el, Ἱππίας ὁ Ἠλεῖος; late 5th century BC) was a Greek sophist, and a contemporary of Socrates. With an assurance characteristic of the later sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects ...

, the son and successor of Pisistratus, in 508 BC. Herodotus claimed in his ''The Histories'' that the Alcmaeonidae specifically hated tyranny, and that they were more esteemed and highly honored than any other clan for ridding Athens from it. Cleisthenes had bribed the oracle at Delphi (which the Alcmaeonidae had helped to build while they were in exile) to convince the

Spartans Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

to help him, which they reluctantly did. He was, at first, opposed by some who felt the famous curse made the Alcmaeonidae ineligible to rule; the Spartan king

Cleomenes I Cleomenes I (; Greek Κλεομένης; died c. 490 BC) was Agiad King of Sparta from c. 524 to c. 490 BC. One of the most important Spartan kings, Cleomenes was instrumental in organising the Greek resistance against the Persian Empire of Dariu ...

even turned against Cleisthenes and the latter was briefly exiled once more. However, the citizens called for Cleisthenes to return, as Cleisthenes achieved support from the masses due to his calls for a more democratic system against his rival

Isagoras Isagoras ( grc-gre, Ἰσαγόρας), son of Tisander, was an Athenian aristocrat in the late 6th century BC. He had remained in Athens during the tyranny of Hippias, but after Hippias was overthrown, he became involved in a struggle for power ...

, thus giving more power to the people, and the restored Alcmaeonids were responsible for laying the foundations of Athenian democracy. A few of the contributions that the Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes helped develop in Athens included the shifting of political organization from the four traditional tribes, which were based on family relations and which formed the basis of the upper class Athenian political power network, into ten tribes according to their area of residence (their ''

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

''), which would form the basis of a new democratic power structure. Additionally, through Cleisthenes' reforms, the people of Athens endowed their city with isonomic institutions—equal rights for all citizens (though only men were citizens)—and established

ostracism Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the ci ...

as a punishment. He also established

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

—the random selection of citizens to fill government positions rather than kinship or heredity, a true test of real democracy. He reorganized the Boule, created with 400 members under

, so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe. He also introduced the bouletic oath, "To advise according to the laws what was best for the people".

Later years: Pericles and Alcibiades

The Alcmaeonidae were said to have negotiated for an alliance with the

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

during the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...

, despite the fact that Athens was leading the resistance to the Persian invasion. In Herodotus' ''The Histories'', the Alcmaeonidae were accused of sending a shield as a warning signal for the Persians, something that Herodotus, in his opinion, refused to believe that the Alcmaeonidae could be traitors to Athens. In addition, many scholars have debated over the veracity of the story of the shield signal, some believing that it was a ploy to slander the Alcmaeonidae, others that it was just a tale that had gained traction and had no truth. The_Acropolis_of_Athens_from_the_Pnyx_on_March_9,_2020

The_Acropolis_of_Athens_from_the_Pnyx_on_March_9,_2020

Pericles and Alcibiades also belonged to the Alcmaeonidae, and during the Peloponnesian War the Spartans referred to the family's curse in an attempt to discredit Pericles. Pericles led Athens from roughly 461 to 429 BC, in what is sometimes referred to as the "

Age of Pericles Fifth-century Athens is the Greek city-state of Athens in the time from 480 to 404 BC. Formerly known as the Golden Age of Athens, the later part being the Age of Pericles, it was buoyed by political hegemony, economic growth and cultural flouris ...

." He is credited in part for the transformation of Athens into an empire through the Delian League. Pericles promoted the arts and literature, and it is principally through his efforts that Athens acquired the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

world. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis, including the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...

. This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to its people. Pericles' Funeral Oration is nowadays synonymous with the struggle for participatory democracy and civic pride. He eventually would succumb to the

Plague of Athens The Plague of Athens ( grc, Λοιμὸς τῶν Ἀθηνῶν}, ) was an epidemic that devastated the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year (430 BC) of the Peloponnesian War when an Athenian victory still seemed within r ...

that ran rampant during this time, killing numerous people. Alcibiades was a prominent orator, general, and statesmen of Athens as well; however, he would end up switching sides from Athens to Sparta during the Peloponnesian War several times. He was an aggressive advocate for the

Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devas ...

for Athens, but eventually fled to Sparta after accusation of

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physica ...

. According to some scholars, Alcibiades was an invincible general and wherever he went, victory would follow him; had he led the army in Sicily, the Athenians would have avoided disaster and, had his countrymen followed his advice at Aegospotami, Lysander would have lost and Athens would have ruled Greece. Alcibiades also tried to ally with the Persians after he was accused of

impiety Impiety is a perceived lack of proper respect for something considered sacred. Impiety is often closely associated with sacrilege, though it is not necessarily a physical action. Impiety cannot be associated with a cult, as it implies a larger b ...

, but Thucydides claims this was due to him wanting to be restored in Athens by the Persians, ultimately failing to achieve his goal.Strassler, R.B, ed. ''The Landmark Thucydides.'' pp. 8.47. The family would eventually disappear from prominence after Athens's defeat in the Peloponnesian War.

Family tree

As a result of a family tradition for naming descendants after their forebears, members of the family can easily be confused. Hence, what follows is a partial family tree of the historical Alcmaeonid family. Males are in blue, females in red, and those related by marriage in white.

Notes

References

Other sources

* {{Authority control Ancient Athenian families Medism