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Peisistratus on the Strymon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

J. W. Cole
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Extract

Both Herodotus and Aristotle record the first known contact between Athens and the Macedonian area. It occurs in the time of Peisistratus, specifically during his second (?) exile. Herodotus refers briefly to revenues which Peisistratus collected from the Strymon region, which helped him recover his power (i. 64. 1). Aristotle in more detail states: ‘Peisistratus joined with others in the settlement of Rhaecelus in the Thermaic Gulf area. From there he went to the Pangaion region from which he raised money …’ (A.P. 15. 2).

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , April 1975 , pp. 42 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1975

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References

page 42 note 1 It is improbable that the Macedonian kingdom at this time extended east and south of the Axius. Thuc. ii. 99–100 strongly suggests that the eastern frontier was not advanced to the west bank of the Strymon until after the Persian evacuation in 479. The status of the Greek colonies (?) on the west and north-west shores of the Thermaic Gulf is most uncertain. Thuc. i. 137. I describes Pydna as a Macedonian possession before the end of Alexander I's reign. Their position may have been analogous to that of the Greek cities around the coast of Thrace: free communities nominally, but with mixed populations and owing something of allegiance to the local authority, in this instance, the Macedonian king.

page 42 note 2 Lyc. Alex. 1236–8; Hdt. vii. 132. 2.Google Scholar

page 42 note 3 CP xlii (1947), 88–91.Google Scholar I accept his criticism of ATL's identification of Cissus and Megalo Karaburnu and the consequential identification of Rhaecelus and Aeneia. I doubt, however, the validity of pressing the meaning of a particular word in Lyco-phron οικεῑν, particularly in view of Aristotle's συνῴκισε. I think it most likely that Rhaecelus is close to Aeneia, but distinct from it.

page 43 note 1 Hdt. v. 94. 1.

page 44 note 1 The earliest reference to the myth is Horn. Il. vi. 130. Aeschylus wrote a trilogy on the theme; one of the plays was named The Edonians; see Nauck frg. 123–6 and Schol. Arist. Thesm. 135.Google ScholarSoph. Ant. 955 has a further reference.Google Scholar

page 44 note 2 Thuc. i. 100. 3.

page 44 note 3 The introduction of the Thracian deity Bendis to Athens in the fifth century and the new emphasis placed upon the cult in 429, almost certainly as a gesture of goodwill to Sitalces, are a suggestive parallel. See Ferguson, W., Hesperia, Suppl. 8 (1949), 131–62Google Scholar, and Pečirka, J., The Formula for the Grant of Enktesis in Attic Inscriptions (Prague, 1966), 122–30.Google Scholar

page 44 note 4 Origin of Tyranny (Cambridge, 1922), 54–8.Google Scholar