Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Harmodius (Greek: Ἁρμόδιος, Harmódios) and Aristogeiton (Ἀριστογείτων, Aristogeíton; both died 514 BC) were two lovers in Classical Athens who became known as the Tyrannicides (τυραννόκτονοι, tyrannoktonoi) for their assassination of Hipparchus, the brother of the tyrant Hippias, for which they were executed.
The two principal historical sources covering Harmodius and Aristogeiton are the History of the Peloponnesian War (VI, 56–59) by Thucydides, and The Constitution of the Athenians (XVIII) attributed to Aristotle or his school.
When Peisistratus died in 528/7 BC, his son Hippias took the position of Archon and became the new tyrant of Athens, with the help of his brother, Hipparchus, who acted as the minister of culture.
[4] The plot – to be carried out by means of daggers hidden in the ceremonial myrtle wreaths on the occasion of the Panathenaic Games – involved a number of other co-conspirators.
[6] Seeing one of the co-conspirators greet Hippias in a friendly manner on the assigned day, the two thought themselves betrayed and rushed into action, ruining the carefully laid plans.
Upon being told of the event, Hippias, feigning calm, ordered the marching Greeks to lay down their ceremonial weapons and to gather at an indicated spot.
Thucydides' identification of Hippias as the two's purported main target, rather than Hipparchus who was Aristogeiton's rival erastes, has been suggested as a possible indication of bias on his part.
[7][page needed] Aristotle in the Constitution of Athens preserves a tradition that Aristogeiton died only after being tortured in the hope that he would reveal the names of the other conspirators.
Another is that the Athenians, unwilling to honour a courtesan, placed a statue of a lioness without a tongue in the vestibule of the Acropolis simply to honor her fortitude in maintaining silence.
Subsequent history came to identify the figures of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as martyrs to the cause of Athenian freedom, possibly for political and class reasons, and they became known as "the Liberators" (eleutherioi) and "the Tyrannicides" (tyrannophonoi).
[16] According to later writers, descendants of Harmodius and Aristogeiton's families were given hereditary privileges, such as sitesis (the right to take meals at public expense in the town hall), ateleia (exemption from certain religious duties), and proedria (front-row seats in the theater).
Upon its base was inscribed a verse by the poet Simonides: A marvelous great light shone upon Athens when Aristogeiton and Harmodios slew Hipparchus.
When asked, in the presence of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, which type of bronze was the best, Antiphon the Sophist replied, That of which the Athenians made the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton.
"[30]Lycurgus, in his oration against Leocrates, asserts that In the rest of Greece you will find statues erected in the public places to the conquerors in the games, but amongst you they are dedicated only to good generals, and to those who have destroyed tyrants.
[42] In myrtles veil'd will I the falchion wear, For thus the patriot sword Harmodius and Aristogiton bare, When they the tyrant's bosom gored, And bade the men of Athens be Regenerate in equality.
Thy shade, as men have told, inherits The islands of the blessed spirits, Where deathless live the glorious dead, Achilles fleet of foot, and Diomed.
In myrtles veil'd will I the falchion wear, For thus the patriot sword Harmodius and Aristogiton bare, When they the tyrant's bosom gored; When in Minerva's festal rite They closed Hipparchus' eyes in night.
Harmodius' praise, Aristogiton's name, Shall bloom on earth with undecaying fame; Who with the myrtle-wreathed sword The tyrant's bosom gored, And bade the men of Athens be Regenerate in equality.
