Chilon and Solon Warnings about Peisistratos’ Tyranny
Abstract
The way in which we shape a particular memory based on tragic facts of the past has an e ect on the knowledge we have of that past. In this article, we aim to discern the reliability of two episodes in which Chilon of Sparta and Solon of Athens, two of the Seven Wise men of ancient Greece, warn about Pisistrato’s becoming a tyrant. Hence we analyse both cases separately, paying special attention to the sources and their historical evolution, in order to understand these episodes’ presence in the historiography of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Historiographical analysis of both stories in their respective sources let us conclude that both warnings were more literary than historical.
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