Harmodius and Aristogeiton
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Harmodius (circa 530 BC - 514 BC) and Aristogeiton (circa 550 BC - 514 BC), known as "the Liberators" and "the Tyrannicides", became heroes in Athens through their role in the overthrow of the Tyranny of the Peisistratid family.
Peisistratus seized power in 541 BC and established a radical regime. Peisistratus is usually called a tyrant, but the Greek word tyrannos does not mean a cruel and despotic ruler, merely one who took power by force. Peisistratus was in fact a very popular ruler, who made Athens wealthy and powerful, although the old aristocratic families he had driven from power hated him. When Peisistratus died in 528 BC, his sons Hippias and Hipparchus succeeded him. They continued their father's policies, but their popularity declined after Hipparchus began to abuse the power of his position.
In 514 BC Hipparchus sought the sexual favours of Harmodius, who was, the historian Thucydides tells us, "then in the flower of youthful beauty," which would have made him about 15. Harmodius was the eromenos (younger lover) of Aristogeiton, whom Thucydides describes as "a citizen then in middle rank of life" - possibly aged about 35 and a member of one of the old aristocratic families.
Sexual relations between an older man (the erastes) and a youth were sanctioned by custom in Athens and other Greek cities, although these relationships were not homosexual in the modern sense of the word, but paederastic. Such relationships were governed by strict conventions, and Hipparchus's actions in trying to steal Aristogeiton's eromenos was a definite breach of the rules. (Thucydides says bluntly that Aristogeiton "was his lover and possessed him.")
Harmodius rejected Hipparchus and told Aristogeiton what had happened. Hipparchus, spurned, avenged himself by having Harmodius' young sister disqualified from carrying a ceremonial offering basket at the Panathenaea festival on the pretext she was not a virgin, as was required. This was such a mortal offence to Harmodius's family that he and Aristogeiton resolved to assassinate both Hippias and Hipparchus and thus to overthrow the tyranny.
The plot - to be carried out by means of daggers hidden in the ceremonial myrtle wreaths - involved a number of other co-conspirators, but seeing one of these greet Hippias in a friendly manner on the assigned day, the two thought themselves betrayed and rushed into action, ruining the carefully laid plans. They managed to kill Hipparchus, stabbing him to death as he was organizing the Panathenaean processions at the foot of the Acropolis, but the two lovers were killed on the spot by Hipparchus's guards, and there was no revolt.
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 other conspirators. During his ordeal, pesonally overseen by Hippias, he feigned willingness to betray his co-conspirators, claiming only Hippias' handshake as guarantee of safety. Upon receiving the tyrant's hand he is reputed to have berated him for shaking the hand of his own brother's murderer, upon which the tyrant wheeled and struck him down on the spot. Likewise, there is a tradition that Aristogeiton was in love with a courtesan (see hetaira) by the name of Leæna (lioness) who also was kept by Hippias under torture - in a vain attempt to force her to divulge the names of the other conspirators - until she died. It was said that it was in her honor that Athenian statues of Aphrodite were from then on accompanied by stone lionesses [after Pausanias].
His brother's murder led Hippias to establish an even stricter dictatorship, which proved very unpopular and was overthrown, with the help of an army from Sparta, in 510 BC. This was followed by the reforms of Cleisthenes, who established a democracy in Athens.
Subsequent mythology thus came to identify the romantic figures of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as martyrs to the cause of Athenian freedom, and they became known as "the Liberators" (eleutherioi) and "the Tyrannicides" (tyrannophonoi). According to later writers, descendants of Harmodius and Aristogeiton 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). Since it is not known if Harmodius had any descendants (it is most unlikely that Aristogeiton did), this may be a later invention, but it illustrates their posthumous status.
After the establishment of democracy, the sculptor Antenor was commissioned to produce a statue group of Harmodius and Aristogeiton that was erected in the Agora. This statue group was stolen by the Persians when they occupied Athens in 480 BC (see Persian Wars). It was returned to Athens by Alexander the Great (according to the historian Arrian) or by Seleucus I (according to the Roman writer Valerius Maximus). In the meantime, however, the Athenians had commissioned Critius and Nesiotes to produce new statues, which were set up in about 477 BC.
Both statue groups are now lost, but the later work was extensively copied in Hellenistic and Roman times. An excellent copy may be seen in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. It shows idealised portraits of the two heroes: a nude, clean-shaven Harmodius (with a much more adult physique than he would actually have had), thrusting a sword forward in his upraised left hand, another sword in his right hand; and the bearded Aristogeiton, also brandishing two swords, a chlamys, or cape, draped over his left shoulder. Of the four swords only the hilts are left, and the original head of Aristogiton having been lost, another has been set in its place and is only a poor fit. Another tribute to the two heroes was a hymn sung as a drinking song (skolion) at the symposia, written by Callistratus, an Athenian poet known only for this work.
The story of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, and its treatment by later Greek writers, is illustrative of attitudes to homosexuality in Ancient Greece. Both Thucydides and Herodotus say that the two were lovers, without making any comment on this fact: clearly they assumed that their readers would be familiar with institutionalised homosexuality and would find nothing remarkable about it.
The story continued to be cited as an admirable example of heroism and devotion for many years. In 346 BC, for example, the politician Timarchus was prosecuted (for political reasons) on the grounds that he had been a prostitute. The orator who defended him, Demosthenes, cited Harmodius and Aristogeiton, as well as Achilles and Patroclus, as examples of the beneficial effects of homosexual relationships. The fact that the statues of the Liberators were still being copied in Roman times shows the durability of their legend.
External links
- Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton (http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/History/Harmodius/Harmodius.htm)de:Tyrannenmörder