Editing Cylon of Athens (section)

== History in literature ==
[[File:Megara Gulf.jpg|thumb|Modern map shows the location of Megara where Cylon's supporters hailed from, relative to the city of Athens]]
Scholarship has attempted to definitively date the events of Cylon's coup, but the only primary records of him come from [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]], both of whom only mention that he was a previous winner of the Olympic Games.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=John Henry |date=1892 |title=The Date of Cylon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310410 |journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |volume=3 |pages=12 |doi=10.2307/310410|jstor=310410 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to Thucydides (1.126), the [[oracle]] at [[Delphi]] had advised Cylon to seize Athens during a festival of [[Zeus]], which he understood to mean the Olympics, and become the tyrant of the city himself.<ref>{{Citation |last=Thucydides |editor-first1=K. J. |editor-last1=Dover |title=History of the Peloponnesian War |date=1965-01-01 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00266005 |work=Thucydides: Book I |access-date=2023-06-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00266005 |isbn=978-0-19-831832-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Herodotus (5.71) mentions nothing about a festival of Zeus, and Thucydides (1.126) continues with the discussion of the festival called [[Meilichios|Diasia]], leaving some scholars to question whether the attempted seize of Athens actually occurred during the Olympic Games.<ref>{{Citation |last=Rood |first=Tim |title=The Cylon Conspiracy: Thucydides and the Uses of the Past |date=2013-02-15 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110297751.119 |work=Thucydides Between History and Literature |pages=131 |access-date=2023-06-05 |publisher=DE GRUYTER|doi=10.1515/9783110297751.119 |isbn=978-3-11-029768-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, the coup was opposed by the masses, and Cylon and his supporters took refuge in [[Athena]]'s temple on the [[Acropolis, Athens|Acropolis]]. According to Thucydides, while many of them suffered from famine and dehydration during their time of refuge, Cylon and his brother escaped, but his followers were cornered by Athens' nine [[Archons of Athens|archons]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Thucydides |editor-first1=K. J. |editor-last1=Dover |title=History of the Peloponnesian War |date=1965-01-01 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00266005 |work=Thucydides: Book I |access-date=2023-06-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00266005 |isbn=978-0-19-831832-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to [[Plutarch]] and Thucydides, they were persuaded by the archons to leave the temple and stand trial after being assured that they were subject to any punishment except death. In an effort to ensure their safety, the accused tied a rope to the temple's statue of Athena and went to the trial. On the way, the rope (again, according to Plutarch) broke of its own accord.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=John Henry |date=1892 |title=The Date of Cylon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310410 |journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |volume=3 |pages=17 |doi=10.2307/310410|jstor=310410 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Athenian archons, led by [[Megacles]], took this as the goddess's repudiation of her suppliants and proceeded to stone them to death (on the other hand, [[Herodotus]], (5.71), and Thucydides, (1.126), do not mention this aspect of the story, stating that Cylon's followers were simply killed after being convinced that they would not be harmed). Most likely, the story found in Plutarch is a later invention. In Herodotus' (5.71) version of the story, Cylon and his brother never escape and are subject to death along with their followers.<ref>{{Citation |last=Herodotus |editor-first1=Robin |editor-first2=Carolyn |editor-last1=Waterfield |editor-last2=Dewald |title=Book 5 |date=1998-03-05 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00271235 |work=Oxford World's Classics: Herodotus: The Histories |access-date=2023-06-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00271235 |isbn=978-0-19-953566-8 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>