Phrynon of Athens ( el, Φρύνων ο Αθηναίος;
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
; before 657 BC –
Sigeum
Sigeion (Ancient Greek: , ''Sigeion''; Latin: ''Sigeum'') was an ancient Greek city in the north-west of the Troad region of Anatolia located at the mouth of the Scamander (the modern Karamenderes River). Sigeion commanded a ridge between the Aeg ...
; c. 606 BC) was a general of ancient Athens, and a winner in
ancient Olympic Games
The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. ...
.
['']Great Greek Encyclopedia
The ''Great Greek Encyclopedia'' (Greek: ''Μεγάλη Ελληνική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια'') is a general knowledge Greek-language encyclopedia, printed initially between 1926 and 1934.
The encyclopedia was founded in 1926 by Pavlos ...
'', Pavlos Drandakis, ed., el, «Φρύνων ο Αθηναίος» vol. 24, p. 231.
Biography
Phrynon was born in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
before 657 BC. In 636 BC, he won the
stadion or
pentathlon
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...
in the Olympic Games (36th
Olympiad
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not until ...
).
Later he became a general of Athens.
In the period 608–606 BC, a war was conducted by Athens against
Mytilene
Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...
over control of
Sigeum
Sigeion (Ancient Greek: , ''Sigeion''; Latin: ''Sigeum'') was an ancient Greek city in the north-west of the Troad region of Anatolia located at the mouth of the Scamander (the modern Karamenderes River). Sigeion commanded a ridge between the Aeg ...
.
Phrynon was the general of the Athenians.
In order to end the conflict quickly, Phrynon accepted the invitation to duel made by the Mytilenean general
Pittacus
Pittacus (; grc-gre, Πιττακός; 640 – 568 BC) was an ancient Mytilenean military general and one of the Seven Sages of Greece.
Biography
Pittacus was a native of Mytilene and son of Hyrradius. He became a Mytilenaean general who, with ...
(one of the
Seven Sages of Greece
The Seven Sages (of Greece) or Seven Wise Men (Greek: ''hoi hepta sophoi'') was the title given by classical Greek tradition to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7–6th century BC who were renowned for their wisdom.
The S ...
).
Phrynon was defeated at the duel because Pittacus had a hidden net beneath his shield and with it caught and killed him.
[''Philosophes de Diogène Laërce'' (in French)]
Chapter IV (Pittacus), p. 74
Pittacus thus won the war for his homeland. The aristocrat and poet
Alcaeus of Mytilene
Alcaeus of Mytilene (; grc, Ἀλκαῖος ὁ Μυτιληναῖος, ''Alkaios ho Mutilēnaios''; – BC) was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical ...
wrote several poems about this conflict.
The Athenian soldiers received the corpse of their general and, withdrawing from Mytilene, carried it back to Athens, where Phrynon was buried with honors.
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 f ...
mentions the struggle between Athens and Mytilene in the context of
Peisistratos
Pisistratus or Peisistratus ( grc-gre, Πεισίστρατος ; 600 – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...
and does not restrict himself to the time of Peisistratos, but freely goes back to an earlier stage of what he says was a protracted struggle.
Theodore Wade-Gery
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...
notes Phrynon as founder of colonies at
Sigeum
Sigeion (Ancient Greek: , ''Sigeion''; Latin: ''Sigeum'') was an ancient Greek city in the north-west of the Troad region of Anatolia located at the mouth of the Scamander (the modern Karamenderes River). Sigeion commanded a ridge between the Aeg ...
and
Elaious
Elaeus ( grc, Ἐλαιοῦς ''Elaious'', later ''Elaeus''), the “Olive City”, was an ancient Greek city located in Thrace, on the Thracian Chersonese. Elaeus was located at the southern end of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles) near th ...
—instead of
Achilleion by tradition—and accepting the emendation which produces Phrynon's name at Ps. ''Skymnos'' 707f.
References
See also
*
Olympic winners of the Stadion race
The following is a list of winners of the Stadion race at the Olympic Games from 776 BC to 225 AD. It is based on the list given by Eusebius of Caesarea using a compilation by Sextus Julius Africanus. The Stadion race was the first and most importa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phrynon of Athens
7th-century BC Greek people
7th-century BC births
600s BC deaths
Ancient Athenian generals
Ancient Olympic competitors
Military personnel killed in action