Editing Polycrates (section)

=== Cultural legacy ===
''Polycrates' Ring'' (German: ''[[Der Ring des Polykrates (poem)|Der Ring des Polykrates]]'') is a lyrical ballad written in June 1797 by [[Friedrich Schiller]] and first published in his 1798 Musen-Almanach annual. It is about how the greatest success gives reason to fear disaster. Schiller relied on the accounts of the fate of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, in Herodotus' Histories, Book III.

The early 20th century opera ''[[Der Ring des Polykrates (opera)|Der Ring des Polykrates]]'' by [[Erich Wolfgang Korngold]] retells the story of Polycrates as a modern fable.

Polycrates is mentioned in [[Lord Byron|Byron's]] famous stanzas "The Isles of Greece:"

:Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
:We will not think of themes like these!
:It made Anacreon's song divine:
:He served—but served Polycrates—
:A tyrant; but our masters then
:Were still, at least, our countrymen.

In modern folkloristics, the tale of Polycrates' Ring originated the [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index|Aarne–Thompson–Uther]] tale type ATU 736A, named after this episode. The story is acknowledged by scholarship as "widespread"<ref>Brockington, Mary. "Discovery in the Morrois: Antecedents and Analogues." ''The Modern Language Review'' 93, no. 1 (1998): 1-15. doi:10.2307/3733618.</ref> and "attested in numerous literatures and languages".<ref>Parsons, Ben. "‘I Was Beaten and I Beat’: Responding to Discipline." In: Punishment and Medieval Education, 165-206. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY, USA: Boydell & Brewer, 2018. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1qv17q.10.</ref>