[3][4] His legacy lies primarily in his institution of the Panathenaic Games, historically assigned the date of 566 BC, and the consequent first attempt at producing a definitive version of the Homeric epics.

[1] The second clan, the Alcmaeonids, came to prominence in the 6th century BC during the lifetime of their namesake Alcmaeon and whose son, Megacles, both opposed and supported Pisistratus at various points in his reign.

[11][8] Due to the infighting between aristocratic families and the inability to maintain order, a tyrant was well-positioned to capitalise on the discontent of the poor and disenfranchised to make a bid for power.

[13] In the first documented instance of Athenian tyranny, Herodotus notes the story of Cylon, an ancient Olympic Games champion, who gathered supporters, in either 636 or 632 BC, in an attempt to seize power by occupying the Acropolis.

[14] Related to Pisistratus through his mother, Solon was an Athenian statesman and lawmaker who, in the early 6th century BC, restructured the social class system of Athens as well as reformed the law code, originated by Draco.

Among his many reforms, Solon eliminated debt slavery, which primarily impacted poor Athenians, who were in the majority, giving the demos — the common people of the city-state — collectively a concession to ease their suffering and possibly preventing a civil war.

[1] Not much is known about the early years of Pisistratus' life, but his father, Hippocrates, attended the Olympic Games in either 608 or 604, and during a sacrifice to the gods, the meat was said to have been boiled without a fire, as witnessed by Chilon the Lacedaemonian.

Around the year 561 BC, Herodotus writes how Pisistratus intentionally wounded himself and his mules, asking the Athenian people to provide bodyguards for protection and reminding them of his prior accomplishments, including the port capture of Nisaea.

By obtaining support from this vast number of the poorer population and receiving the protection of bodyguards, he was able to overrun and seize the Acropolis as well as grasp the reins of the government.

Word travelled fast to the people throughout the villages and even to those in the city believing that Phye was the goddess Athena and consequently, Pisistratus was welcomed back by the awestruck Athenians.

[37][38] During the length of his exile lasting approximately ten years, Pisistratus relocated to Rhaicelus or Rhaecelus, notable for its good agricultural base, in the Strymon river region of northern Greece, and eventually settled in the vicinity of Mount Pangaeus or Pangaion, accumulating wealth from the gold and silver mines located nearby.

[39][40] Financed by the mining money, he hired mercenary soldiers and bolstered with the support of allies such as the Thebans and the affluent Lygdamis of the island Naxos, he looked southward for a return to power.

[42][43] Providing some background details, Herodotus comments that just before the battle commences a seer gave Pisistratus a prophecy that the net has been cast and the tuna will swarm through.

With an emphasis on promoting the city of Athens as a cultural centre and enhancing his prestige, Pisistratus instituted a number of actions to show his support for the gods and patronage of the arts.

New festivals were inaugurated such as the greater and lesser Dionysia, which honoured Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure, and vase paintings of that period highlighted drinking and exuberant celebratory scenes.

Pisistratus reintroduced a focus on olive production and in conjunction, he allocated funds to help the peasants outside the city of Athens, who were a key constituent bloc of his party, the Hyperakrioi, to obtain land as well as purchase tools and farm equipment.

[57] Pisistratus also initiated a travelling system of judges throughout the countryside to conduct trials on location and even the tyrant himself would occasionally accompany these groups for inspection purposes and conflict resolution.

Under Solon, beginning in the early part of the 6th century, these black-figure pottery commodities began to be exported in ever increasing numbers and distance from Athens, arriving throughout the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea regions.

[58][59][60] Public rather than private patronage became the hallmark of a Pisistratus-ruled society, providing a steady source of construction jobs to those citizens in need and more affordable housing in the city centre.

[59] Meanwhile, Verlag argues that the minting most likely started in the first decade of Pisistratus' third reign in power (546 to circa 535 BC), but the design was the so-called Wappenmünzen (heraldic coins) at first and then followed by a change to the owl currency version.

[64] In conjunction with the burgeoning Athenian commerce, Pisistratus conducted a foreign policy, especially in the central Aegean Sea, with the intent of building alliances with friendly leaders.

In addition, Pisistratus was able to establish an Athenian presence in the Thracian Chersonese, now known as the Gallipoli peninsula located in modern-day Turkey, by dispatching Miltiades to rule as tyrant.

Usually, a tyrant would come from the ranks of fellow aristocrats, but would frequently rally the poor and powerless to their cause in a bid to obtain power, exemplified by Pisistratus when he formed the Hyperakrioi faction.

To ease their transition into power and encourage societal security, tyrants could elect to keep the status quo for government institutions and laws, and even legacy officeholders, rather than purge them.

[66] In Herodotus' view as documented in the Histories, after assuming power for the first time, Pisistratus managed the city of Athens even-handedly and fairly, maintaining the government and political office structure as is with no changes to existing laws.

[70] Rosivach writes that the Pisistratid dynasty did not fundamentally change the government as originally created by Solon; instead, they maintained power by installing allies in important governmental positions, threatening force as needed, and using marriage alliances, all being tactics residing outside the constitution and law.

[74] The surviving Pisistratid ruler, Hippias, eventually joined the court of King Darius of Persia, and went on to aid the Persians in their attack on Marathon (490 BC) during the Greco-Persian Wars, acting as a guide.

[75][76] Upon the fall of the Pisistratid dynasty in 510 and the deposition of Hippias, Cleisthenes of Athens ultimately triumphs in a power struggle, dividing the Athenian citizens into ten new tribes, creating a Council of Five Hundred as a representative assembly, and ushering in the age of democratic government in the year 508/507.

[81] During the era of Athenian democracy, the development of ostracism, the expelling of a citizen for up to ten years, as a governmental management tool arose in reaction to the tyranny of the Pisistratids, and was envisioned, in part, as a defence against potential tyrants or individuals who amassed too much power or influence.

[71] The poet Dante in Canto XV of the Purgatorio, the second instalment of the Divine Comedy, references Pisistratus as responding in a gentle way when interacting with an admirer of his daughter.