The Bacchiadae ( ''Bakkhiadai''), a tightly knit
Doric clan, were the ruling family of
ancient Corinth
Corinth ( ; ; ; ) was a city-state (''polis'') on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese peninsula to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Ancient Athens, Athens and Sparta. The modern city ...
in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, a period of Corinthian cultural power.
History
Corinth had been a backwater in eighth-century Greece. In 747 BCE (a traditional date) an
aristocrat
The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...
ic revolution ousted the Bacchiad kings of Corinth, when the royal clan of Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males and claiming descent from the Dorian
hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
through the seven sons and three daughters of a
legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...
ary king Bacchis, took power from the last king, Telestes. Practising strict
endogamy
Endogamy is the cultural practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relatio ...
, which kept clan outlines within a distinct extended ''
oikos
''Oikos'' ( ; : ) was, in Ancient Greece, two related but distinct concepts: the family and the family's house. Its meaning shifted even within texts.
The ''oikos'' was the basic unit of society in most Greek city-states. For regular Attic_G ...
'', they dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by electing annually a ''
prytanis'' who held the kingly position for his brief term, no doubt a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials) and a ''
polemarch
A polemarch (, from , ''polémarchos'') was a senior military title in various ancient Greek city states ('' poleis''). The title is derived from the words '' polemos'' ('war') and ''archon'' ('ruler, leader') and translates as 'warleader' or 'wa ...
os'' to head the army.
In 657 BCE, the Bacchiadae were expelled in turn by the
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 ...
Cypselus
Cypselus (, ''Kypselos'') was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC.
With increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures, Greek city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings; ...
, who had been polemarch. The exiled Bacchiadae fled to
Corcyra
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
(a colony of Corinth) and to
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...
, traditionally to found
Syracuse in Sicily, and to
Etruria
Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...
, where
Demaratus installed himself at
Tarquinia
Tarquinia (), formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscans, Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropolis, necropoleis, or cemeteries. Tarquinia was designated as a ...
, founding a dynasty of Etruscan kings. The royal line of the
Lynkestis of
Macedon
Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...
was also of Bacchiad descent. The
foundation myths of Corcyra, Syracuse, and Megara Hyblaea contain considerable detail about the Bacchiadae and the expeditions of the Bacchiad
Archias of Corinth, legendary founder of Syracuse in 734–33 BCE, and
Philolaos, lover of
Diocles of Corinth, victor at Olympia in 728 BCE and a ''nomothete'' (lawgiver) of
Thebes.
Some of the Bacchiadae also fled to
Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
, for which they possibly fought against the
Messenians during the
Second Messenian War
The Second Messenian War was a war which occurred ca. 660–650 BC between the Ancient Greek states of Messenia and Sparta, with localized resistance possibly lasting until the end of the century.L. G. Pechatnova, ''A History of Sparta (Archaic ...
.
[Wickert, ''Der peloponnesische Bund'', p. 15 (note 35).]
List of the Bacchiad kings of Corinth
* Aletes 1073 - 1035 BCE
* Ixion 1035 - 997 BCE
* Agelas I 997 - 960 BCE
* Prymnis 960 - 925 BCE
* Bacchis 925 - 890 BCE
* Agelas II 890 - 860 BCE
* Eudemus 860 - 835 BCE
* Aristomedes 835 - 800 BCE
* Agemon 800 - 784 BCE
* Alexander 784 - 759 BCE
* Telestes 759 - 747 BCE
See also
*
Aristoi
References
Bibliography
*Édouard Will, ''Korinthiaka: recherches sur l'histoire et la civilisation de Corinth des origines aux guerres médiques'', Paris, Boccard, 1955.
*Konrad Wickert, ''Der peloponnesische Bund von seiner Entstehung bis zum Ende des Archidamischen Krieges'', Erlangen, 1961.
{{Rulers of Corinth
Corinthian mythology
Dorian mythology
Mythology of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
Ancient Greek patronymics
Heracleidae
Ancient Greek dynasties