Peisander () was an

Athenian 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 ...

from the ''

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

'' of

Acharnae Acharnae or Acharnai (; ) was a ''deme'' of ancient Athens. It was part of the phyle Oineis. Acharnae, according to Thucydides, was the largest deme in Attica. In the fourth century BCE, 22 of the 500 members of the Athenian council came ...

, who played a prominent part in the

Athenian coup of 411 BC The Athenian coup of 411 BC was the result of a revolution that took place during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The coup overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known ...

, which briefly replaced the

Athenian democracy Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Ancient Greece, Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Classical Athens, Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting lib ...

with an

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...

controlled by a group called the Four Hundred.

Character

Several of the Athenian

comic poet Ancient Greek comedy () was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically exa ...

s mentioned him in unflattering terms. A fragment of the lost play ''The Babylonians'' (427 BC) by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

suggests that he was satirised in it as having been bribed to help bring about the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

(431–404 BC). A fragment of the or of

Eupolis Eupolis (; 446 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Biography Very little is known about Eupolis' life. His father was named Sosipolis. There are few sources on when he first ...

says, ("Peisander served at Pactolus, and was the worst man in the army").

Pactolus Pactolus (), also called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας), the modern Sart Çayı , is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Ged ...

is a river in

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

(in modern Turkey), fabled in antiquity for its gold. It further appears from the ''

Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

'' of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

that in 422 BC he shrank pusillanimously from serving in the expedition to

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

under

Cleon Cleon (; ''Kleon'' ; died 422 BCE) was an Athenian politician and general (''strategos'') during the Peloponnesian War. The son of Cleaenetus, a wealthy tanner, Cleon was among the first prominent Athenian politicians of the 5th century BCE to ...

. Meineke suggested that he may have been tried on a charge of (, cowardice) (although there is no evidence for this); saying that that would explain the line in the ''Maricus'' of Eupolis, ("listen now to Peisander perishing"). Meineke dates the play ''Peisander'' by the comic poet

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

, in which he was the main subject, to the same period. Aristophanes ridiculed him for trying to conceal his cowardice under a blustering manner. He gave further occasion for satire to Aristophanes, Eupolis,

Hermippus Hermippus (; fl. 5th century BC) was the one-eyed Athenian writer of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the Peloponnesian War. Life He was the son of Lysis, and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was younger than Telecleides and old ...

and Plato by his gluttony and his unwieldy bulk, the latter of which procured for him the nicknames of and ("donkey-driver" and "donkey"); appropriately, as the donkeys of Acharnae were noted for their size.

Political career

In 415 BC, he was one of the commissioners () who investigated the puzzle of the mutilation of the Hermae. He joined with Charicles in representing the outrage as connected with a conspiracy against the people, thus inflaming a popular fury. In 414 BC he was ''

archon eponymos In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon (ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων, ''epōnymos archōn''). "Archon" (ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες, ''archontes'') means "ruler" or "lord", frequently ...

''. Towards the end of 412, he was recorded as being the chief, or at least the ostensible chief, agent who instigated the revolution of the Four Hundred, having been sent about that time to Athens from the army at

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

to bring about the recall of

Alcibiades Alcibiades (; 450–404 BC) was an Athenian statesman and general. The last of the Alcmaeonidae, he played a major role in the second half of the Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician, but subsequently ...

and the overthrow of the democracy; or, rather, according to him, a modification of it. On his arrival, he urged these measures on his countrymen as their only means of obtaining the help of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, without which they could not hope to win advantage over their enemy the

Lacedaemonians 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 valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

(Spartans); while ingenuously suggesting that the people would always have the option of restoring the former order afterwards. In this apparent emergency they consented, and gave Peisander and ten others discretionary power to negotiate with

Tissaphernes Tissaphernes (; ; , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian commander and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thucydides and Xenophon. According to Ctesias, he was the son of Hidarnes III and therefore, the gre ...

(a Persian) and Alcibiades (an Athenian renegade). At his instigation they also removed the command of the fleet from Phrynichus and Scironides, who were opposed to the new movement; the former of whom he accused of having betrayed

Amorges Amorges (Old Iranian: ''(H)umarga'', ), son of the Persian rebel satrap Pissouthnes (Πισσούθνης) of Lydia, was the leader of a Carian rebellion against king Darius II Nothus in 413 BC. He was captured by Tissaphernes and executed in 4 ...

and caused the capture of

Iasos Iasos or Iassos (; ''Iasós'' or ''Iassós''), also in Latinized form Iasus or Iassus (), was a Ancient Greece, Greek city in ancient Caria located on the Gulf of Iasos (now called the Güllük Gulf, Gulf of Güllük), opposite the modern town ...

. Before he left Athens, Peisander organised a conspiracy among the several political clubs (''hetairiai'', ) for the overthrow of the democracy, and then proceeded on his mission. The negotiation with Tissaphernes failed, however, and he returned with his colleagues to Samos. There, he strengthened his faction in the army, and formed an oligarchical party among the Samians themselves. He then sailed again to Athens to complete his work there, establishing an oligarchy in every city where he landed. Five of his fellow envoys accompanied him, while the others were employed in the same way elsewhere. On his arrival at Athens with a body of heavily-armed

hoplite Hoplites ( ) ( ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the sold ...

s, drawn from some of the states he had revolutionised, he found that the clubs had almost effected his object already, principally by assassination and the general terror thus produced. When matters were fully ripe for the final step, Peisander made the successful proposal in the assembly for the establishment of the Four Hundred. In all the measures of this new government, of which he was a member, he took an active part, and when

Theramenes Theramenes (; ; died 404/403 BC) was an Athenian military leader and statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was active during the two periods of oligarchic government at Athens, the 400 and later the Thirty Tyrants, ...

, and others withdrew from it, he sided with the more violent aristocrats. He was one of those who, on the counter-revolution later in 411, took refuge with

Agis Agis or AGIS may refer to: People * Agis I (died 900 BC), Spartan king * Agis II (died 401 BC), Spartan king * Agis III (died 331 BC), Spartan king * Agis IV (265–241 BC), Spartan king * Agis (Paeonian) (died 358 BC), King of the Paeonians * Ag ...

(king of

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 ...

) at Deceleia. His property was confiscated, and he seems to have never returned to Athens.

Character

Political career

References

Further reading