Thirty Tyrants
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The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in April 404 BC. Its two leading members were Critias and Theramenes. Critias, who led the Thirty, was a friend of Socrates and Plato's uncle.
Theramenes accused the Thirty of punishing innocent men and using their authority for personal gain instead of for the good of the city. For instance, the Thirty severely reduced the rights of Athenian citizens. Participation in legal functions—which had previously been open to all Athenians—was restricted to a select group of 500 persons. Only 3,000 Athenians were granted the right to carry weapons or receive a jury trial. The open hostilities between these 3,000 citizens and Critias and Theramenes eventually caused the failure of the oligarchy.
The Thirty began a purge of citizens who had collaborated with the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War. Hundreds were condemned to execution by drinking hemlock, while thousands more were exiled from Athens. One of the most famous men who escaped from Athens during this reign of terror, was the wealthy Lysias. This is the same Lysias as mentioned in Plato's Republic.
The Thirty Tyrants were overthrown by the exiled general Thrasybulus and his allies from Thebes in 403 BC. After the Thirty had been overthrown in a coup that killed Critias, Lysias accused Eratosthenes of the wrongful death of Lysias's brother, Polemarchus.
[edit] List of the Thirty Tyrants (a.k.a. "The Council of Thirty")
- Aeschines of Athens, of the Kekropis tribe
- Anaetius
- Aresias
- Aristoteles (also a member of The Four Hundred and mentioned in Plato's Parmenides)
- Chaereleos
- Charicles, son of Apollodorus
- Chremo
- Cleomedes, son of Lycomedes
- Critias
- Diocles
- Dracontides
- Erasistratus of Acharnae
- Erastosthenes
- Eucleides
- Eumathes
- Hiero
- Hippolochus
- Hippomachus
- Melobius
- Mnesilochus
- Mnesitheides
- Onomacles
- Peison
- Phaedrias
- Pheido
- Polychares
- Sophocles (an Athenian orator, not the playwright)
- Theogenes
- Theognis
- Theramenes, son of Hagnon, of the tribe Pandionis, in the deme of Steiria
