Polycrates

Polycrates ( ; ), son of Aeaces, was the tyrant of Samos from the 540s BC to 522 BC. He had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant.

Polycrates ( ; ), son of Aeaces, was the tyrant of Samos from the 540s BC to 522 BC. He had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant. ==Family== Polycrates' family background is not clearly known to us. J.P. Barron proposed that Polycrates' ancestors formed a dynasty that ruled Samos from around 600 BC. A shadowy figure, Syloson, son of Calliteles might have been the founder of this dynasty. Barron further proposed that Polycrates' father, Aeaces, ruled Samos around the middle of the sixth century. An inscription survives from this period, in which an individual called Aeaces dedicates some plunder to Hera. Barron's analysis was broadly accepted by Graham Shipley, but has been challenged by Aideen Carty. Polycrates had two brothers, Pantagnotus and Syloson, who were originally his co-rulers. Syloson ruled Samos again after Polycrates' death, and was succeeded by his own son, Aeaces. Herodotus mentions a daughter in his account of Polycrates' death. ===Thalassocracy=== Polycrates recruited an army of 1,000 archers and assembled a navy of 100 penteconters, which became the most powerful navy in the Greek world –– Herodotus says that Polycrates was the first Greek ruler to understand the importance of sea power and Thucydides includes him in his list of thalassocracies in the Aegean. With these forces he implemented a plan to bring all the Greek islands and cities of Ionia under his rule. Polycrates' rise to power took place in the period when the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus conquered western Anatolia. In theory, the Aegean islanders had accepted Persian overlordship after Cyrus conquered Lydia in 546 BC, but in practice the political situation in the Aegean was complicated. This confusion may have contributed to Polycrates' success in projecting his power. Few specifics of Polycrates' naval activities and conquests are preserved. Herodotus refers to an attack on Miletus, in which the Lesbians came to the aid of Miletos and Polycrates won a great naval victory, capturing and enslaving large numbers of Lesbian sailors. The Milesians had become key Persian allies and this victory is probably identical with a victory over Persian navy mentioned in Thucydides and some other historians. Thucydides emphasises his conquest of Delos, the key religious centre of the Aegean. Polycrates formed an alliance with King Amasis of Egypt and A. Carty suggests that Polycrates assisted Amasis in the conquest of Cyprus. In general, though, the ancient sources stress not specific campaigns, but wide-ranging raiding, which may have been more like piracy than campaigns of conquest. Herodotus says that he "raided everyone without any discrimination. For he said that a friend would be more appreciative if what was taken from him was returned than if it had not first been snatched away." Aideen Carty argues that the focus of this raiding was the acquisition of slaves whom he exported to Egypt to serve as mercenaries in Amasis' army. The nature of Polycrates' navy is debated. Some scholars have conceived of his penteconters as powerful warships in a state navy which owned, crewed and operated them in accordance with Polycrates' command. Other scholars consider this picture anachronistic; they present the penteconters as trading and raiding vessels that were owned privately by individual Samian aristocrats, who were essentially autonomous pirates only loosely constrained by Polycrates and the Samian state. In addition to these ships, Polycrates is said to have commissioned a new type of ship called the Samaina, a decked ship with two banks of oars, apparently a merchant galley designed for the rapid transport of goods or troops. ===Persian invasion and death=== Herodotus also tells the story of Polycrates' death. Near the end of the reign of Cambyses (around 522 BC), the satrap of Sardis, Oroetes, planned to kill Polycrates, either because he had been unable to add Samos to Persia's territory, or because Polycrates had snubbed a Persian ambassador. Prior to this, according to Diodorus Siculus, some Lydians fleeing Oroestes' domineering rule sought sanctuary on Samos. Polycrates at first received them, but then put them to the sword and confiscated the possessions that they had brought (Diodorus Siculus, Library 10.16.4). Polycrates was invited to Magnesia, where Oroetes lived. Oroetes claimed that he wanted a promise of refuge on Samos in the event that Cambyses turned on him and that in return he would give Polycrates a large amount of money. Polycrates was convinced and went to Magnesia, where he was assassinated. Herodotus is vague about the manner of Polycrates' death, saying only that it was an undignified end for a glorious ruler; he may have been impaled and his dead body was crucified. Herodotus claims that Polycrates' daughter warned him not to go to Magnesia, reporting a prophetic dream that she had had of him hanging in the air, being washed by Zeus and anointed by the sun god Helios. His death fulfilled this prophecy as when it rained he was 'washed by Zeus' and when the sun shone he was 'anointed by Helios', as the moisture was sweated from him. After the murder of Polycrates by Oroetes, Samos was ruled by Maeandrius. After some time, Syloson, the brother of Polycrates, was installed as governor of Samos by Achaemenid ruler Darius I, receiving the help of general Otanes to expel the impostor who had taken control after Oroetes. ==Samos under Polycrates== ===Construction projects=== Under Polycrates the Samians developed an engineering and technological expertise to a level unusual in ancient Greece. In the midst of his account of Polycrates, Herodotus presents three astounding engineering works of the Samians. The first of these is an aqueduct in the form of a tunnel long which can still be seen and which is known as the Tunnel of Eupalinos. The tunnel was constructed by two teams tunnelling from opposite sides of a ridge who met in the middle with an error of only a few metres — a remarkable engineering feat for the time, and one which probably reflects the practical geometry skills which the Samians had learned from the Egyptians. Polycrates also sponsored construction of a large temple of Hera, the Heraion, to which Amasis dedicated many gifts, and which at long was one of the three largest temples in the Greek world, and he upgraded the harbour of his capital city (modern Pythagorion), ordering the construction of a deep-water mole nearly a quarter mile long, which is still used to shelter Greek fishing boats today. Although these projects are often associated with Polycrates on the strength of the passage of Herodotus, he is actually very vague about when these projects were carried out and what - if anything - they had to do with Polycrates. Archaeological work has made the picture more complicated, suggesting that the Tunnel of Eupalinos may have been dug before his reign and that Polycrates continued projects that were already in course at the Heraion. File:Salvator Rosa - Polycrates' Crucifixion - 1942.292 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg|The crucifixion of Polycrates by Oroetes. File:The crucifixion of Polycrates the tyrant after his capture by the Persians MET DP837539.jpg|The crucifixion of Polycrates the tyrant after his capture by the Persians. File:Polykrates by M.Kozlovsky (1790, GRM) 01.jpg|The crucifixion of Polycrates by Achaemenid Satrap Oroetes. Polykrates by M. Kozlovsky (1790, Russian museum). ==Notes== ==Bibliography== ==Further reading== Saintyves, P. "L'Anneau de Polycrate: Essai sur l'origine liturgique du thème de l'anneau jeté a la mer et retrouvé dans le ventre d'un poisson." In: Revue De L'histoire Des Religions 66 (1912): 49-80. Accessed May 31, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/23662964. ==External links== Livius, Polycrates of Samos by Jona Lendering

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