Ariston of Cyrene
Ariston (
After an election that led to a tie between the democratic party and the party of the aristocratic nobles, Ariston led an
There the nobles raised an army of 3000 Messenian mercenaries, and marched on Cyrene. The fighting was severe, but ended in a stalemate. [2]
Afterwards, the two sides came to an agreement and the powers of government were divided, with each party agreeing to alternate running the state for one year each.[4][5][3]
Some scholars believe it was this event that the philosopher Aristotle was referring to in his Politics when describing the "revolution at Cyrene".[6][3]
"Ariston" was an exceptionally common name in Cyrene at this time, and there are several other people named "Ariston of Cyrene" in the literature:[7]
- Ariston of Cyrene, son of Menon, mentioned in an epigram of Theaetetus of Cyrene as having died at sea.[7]
- Ariston of Cyrene, husband to Zeuxo, who won the women's four-horse chariot event at the Panathenaic Games in 198 BCE.[8]
References
- ^ Fage, J. D.; Clark, John Desmond; Oliver, Roland Anthony, eds. (1975). "The Greek colonization of Cyrenaica; the Battiadai and the Republic". The Cambridge History of Africa. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ^ ISBN 9789004059702. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ^ ISBN 9781107377042. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 14.34
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 4.26.2
- ^ Aristotle, Politics 1319b, 1-19
- ^ ISBN 9781107168503. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
- ISBN 9780199296729. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Ariston (3)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 309.