HOME
*



picture info

Telesarchus Of Samos
In ''The Histories'' of Herodotus, Telesarchus ( el, Τελέσαρχος, ''Telesarkhos'') was a 6th-century BC aristocrat who played a role in the political upheavals of Samos during its conquest by Darius and the Persians. A story of power struggles After the tyrant Polycrates was killed, following talks with the Persians, his secretary Maeandrius seized power over Samos but attempted to restore a democratic form of government (ἰσονομίη, "rule of equals"). Telesarchus, representing the aristocratic faction, asserted that Maeandrius was "not fit to rule" and accused him of fiscal impropriety. To silence his criticism, Maeandrius arrested him. Nothing further was heard from Telesarchus, but the confrontation causes Maeandrius to become aware of and fear an opposition movement. He arrested a number of aristocrats on suspicion, abandoned his efforts toward democratic reform, and resolves to hold power as a tyrant: "Telesarchus' contemptuous refusal of democracy thus pro ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for having written the '' Histories'' – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to perform systematic investigation of historical events. He is referred to as " The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero. The ''Histories'' primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. His work deviates from the main topics to provide a cultural, ethnographical, geographical, and historiographical background that forms an essential part of the narrative and provides readers with a wellspring of additional information. Herodotus has been criticized for his inclusion of "legends and f ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Aristocracy
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's origins in ancient Greece, the Greeks conceived it as rule by the best-qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favorably with monarchy, rule by an individual. The term was first used by such ancient Greeks as Aristotle and Plato, who used it to describe a system where only the best of the citizens, chosen through a careful process of selection, would become rulers, and hereditary rule would actually have been forbidden, unless the rulers' children performed best and were better endowed with the attributes that make a person fit to rule compared with every other citizen in the polity. Hereditary rule in this understanding is more related to oligarchy, a corrupted form of aristocracy where there is rule by a few, bu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Samos Island
Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region. In ancient times, Samos was an especially rich and powerful city-state, particularly known for its vineyards and wine production. It is home to Pythagoreion and the Heraion of Samos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the Eupalinian aqueduct, a marvel of ancient engineering. Samos is the birthplace of the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, after whom the Pythagorean theorem is named, the philosophers Melissus of Samos and Epicurus, and the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, the first known individual to propose that the Earth revolves around the sun. Samian wine was well known in antiquity and is still produced on the island. The island was governed by the semi-autonomous Princ ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Darius I Of Persia
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans (Thrace– Macedonia and Paeonia) and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan. Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he later fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time; a major event in Darius' life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt. Althou ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest empire in history, spanning a total of from the Balkans and Egypt in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Around the 7th century BC, the region of Persis in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau was settled by the Persians. From Persis, Cyrus rose and defeated the Median Empire as well as Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, marking the formal establishment of a new imperial polity under the Achaemenid dynasty. In the modern era, the Achaemenid Empire has been recognized for its imposition of a successful model of centralized, bureaucratic administration; its multicultural policy; building complex infrastructure, such as road systems and an organized postal system; the use of official languages across ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


GR Samos
GR may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film and television * '' Golmaal Returns'', a 2008 Bollywood film * ''Generator Rex'', an animated TV series * Guilty Remnant, a cult-like organization portrayed in '' The Leftovers'', an HBO television series Gaming * Game Revolution, a video game review web site * ''GeneRally'', a racing game * GamesRadar, a website owned by Future Publishing * ''Ghost Recon'', a video game series * * '' Ghost Reveries'', a 2005 album by Opeth Companies, groups, and organizations * Aurigny Air Services (IATA airline designator) * Gemini Air Cargo (IATA airline designator) * Globalise Resistance, a UK anti-capitalist group * Gonnema Regiment, an infantry regiment of the South African Army * Goodrich Corporation, an aerospace manufacturer in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States * Greetings & Readings, an independent bookseller * Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota's racing division Places * Garden Reach, a neighbourhood of Indian city Kolkata * G ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tyrant
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power without constitutional right, yet the word had a neutral connotation during the Archaic and early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw ''tyrannos'' as a negative word, and on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, its negative connotations only increased, continuing into the Hellenistic period. The philosophers Plato and Aristotle defined a tyrant as a person who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. The ''Encyclopédie'' defined the term as a usurper of sovereign power who makes "his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust desires, which he substitutes ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Polycrates
Polycrates (; grc-gre, Πολυκράτης), son of Aeaces, was the tyrant of Samos from the 540s BC to 522 BC. He had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant. Sources The main source for Polycrates' life and activities is the historian Herodotus, who devotes a large section of book 3 of his '' Histories'' to the rise and fall of Polycrates (3.39-60, 3.120-126). His account was written in the third quarter of the 5th century BC, nearly a century after Polycrates' death, was based mostly on oral traditions and incorporates many folk-tale elements. Furthermore, Herodotus creatively shaped his account of Polycrates in order to make general moral points and to comment on the imperialism of the Athenian empire in his own day. Some poetry from Polycrates' time comments on him in passing and there is a smattering of references to Polycrates in other literary sources ranging in date from the 4th century BC to the Roman Imperial period. These sources preserve u ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose governing officials to do so ("representative democracy"). Who is considered part of "the people" and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries. Features of democracy often include freedom of assembly, association, property rights, freedom of religion and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights. The notion of democracy has evolved over time considerably. Throughout history, one can find evidence of direct democracy, in which communities make decisions through popular assembly. Today, the dominant form of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Otanes
Otanes (Old Persian: ''Utāna'', grc-gre, Ὀτάνης) is a name given to several figures that appear in the ''Histories'' of Herodotus. One or more of these figures may be the same person. In the ''Histories'' Otanes, son of Pharnaspes He was regarded as a Persian nobleman, being among the few with highest ranks in the kingdom, who was also a political philosopher. ''Histories'' 3.68.1, 3.68.3, 3.69.6 has an Otanes as the son of the Achaemenid Pharnaspes, as the father of Phaidyme (or Phaedyma), who in turn is a wife of Cambyses II, and later a wife of the Gaumata alias Smerdis. Herodotus gives this Otanes a role in the overthrow of the false Smerdis, and ''this'' Otanes is therefore generally assumed to be identical to a known co-conspirator of Darius I, mentioned in Darius's own list of his helpers at overthrowing Gaumata (DB IV 83). The Behistun inscription has this Otanes as the son of Thukhra, in which case he could not have been the son of Pharnaspes, and so cannot h ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Syloson
Syloson ( grc-gre, Συλοσών, ''gen''.: Συλοσῶνος) governed Samos as a vassal ruler on behalf of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. He was appointed by king Darius I and was the brother of Polycrates of Samos. When Polycrates became tyrant of the island he exiled Syloson. Syloson went to Egypt, where he stayed until a "flame-coloured mantle" he was selling brought him in contact with Darius I of Persia. At the time Darius I of Persia was a spearman in Cambyses II of Persia's army. Syloson saw how much Darius liked the mantle and gave it to him for free. When Darius rose to power Syloson went to visit him in Susa. Darius offered him gold and silver for his kindness in the past with the mantle but Syloson refused and wanted military assistance in retaking Samos. "To me, O king, give neither gold nor silver, but recover and give me my fatherland Samos, which now that my brother Polycrates has been slain by Oroites is possessed by our slave." Darius agreed and sent an ex ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Marcel Detienne
Marcel Detienne (October 11, 1935 in Liège, Belgium – March 21, 2019 in Nemours, France) was a Belgian historian and specialist in the study of ancient Greece. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he held the Basil L. Gildersleeve chair in Classics. Along with Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Detienne has sought to apply an anthropological approach, informed by the structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss, to classical and archaic Greece. Biography Detienne received his ''Doctorat en sciences religieuses'' at the ''École des Hautes Études'' in 1960, and his ''Doctorat en philosophie et lettres'' from the University of Liège in 1965. Detienne was at one time a ''directeur d'études'' at the ''École pratique des hautes études'', where he taught until 1998. He was also a founder of the ''Centre de recherches comparées sur les sociétés anciennes'' in Paris. Detienne began teaching in the Department of Classics at Johns Hopkins University in 1 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]