Medism (, ''medismos'') in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

referred to the act of imitating, sympathizing with, collaborating with, or siding with the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

. While the term "Mede" was commonly used by Greeks to refer to the Persians, strictly speaking, the

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

were a distinct Iranian people who were co-rulers with the Persians in the Medo-Persian (Achaemenid) Empire. The Greeks began using the term "Persians" around the 470s, as evidenced by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' play ''

The Persians ''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilog ...

'' in 472. Medism was generally considered unacceptable and even criminal in many ancient Greek city-states. However, it was not specifically outlawed. In

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, individuals suspected of medism were charged with treason. Similar attitudes can be observed in other Greek city-states as well. For instance, in Teos, a law from the classical period stipulated that anyone who betrayed the city would face the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, without differentiating between betrayal to the Persians or any other group. Prominent historical figures were implicated in medism-related controversies. Themistocles, an Athenian statesman, was ostracized for his alleged medism. Pausanias, the leader of the Hellenic League during the Battle of Plataea, was accused of medism by other member states, leading to Athens seizing control of the league.

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

mentioned instances of "state medism" in

Aegina Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, Argos, Thebes, and other Boeotian cities. In Athens, astute politicians exploited popular sentiments against medism for personal gain, which resulted in a conflict between poets Timocreon of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

and

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; ; c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Kea (island), Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of criti ...

of Ceos, who supported and opposed Themistocles, respectively.Rachel M. McMullin, 'Aspects of Medizing: Themistocles, Simonides and Timocreon of Rhodes', ''The Classical Journal'', Vol. 97, No. 1 (Oct.-Nov. 2001), page 55

See also

References

Further reading