PEISISTRATUS B.c.), Athenian statesman, was the son of Hippocrates and second cousin to Solon, whose friend ship he retained in spite of their political opposition. About 57o he became well known and popular as commander in the war with Megara which resulted in the recovery of Salamis. He next appears in politics as leader of the third party, the men of the hill-country (Diacrii), who were still discontented in spite of Solon's reforms, which had given them freedom, but not land. Peisistratus' family estates at Marathon were in this district. His eloquence and personal charm soon made him a popular favourite; Solon (frag. 8, Diehl) warned Athens of the danger, but was unheeded. The other two parties were the Shore (Parali), led by the Alcmaeonidae, at the moment represented by Megacles, and the Plain (Pedieis) under Miltiades.
The chronology of Peisistratus' rise to power is disputed, though the sequence of events is known. By feigning an attack on his life, Peisistratus got a guard assigned to him, armed with staves, with whose assistance he seized the Acropolis and established a tyranny in 561-560. Almost at once a coalition between the Plain and the Shore drove him out, but in 560-559 Megacles had fallen out with his allies and recalled Peisistratus. Peisistratus married Coesyra, daughter of Megacles, and apparently refused to have children by her, the Alcmaeonidae being under a curse. The coalition was renewed, and in 556 Peisistratus was again driven out. He settled at Rhaecelus, where he founded a city and established friendly relations with Macedon, and then obtained command of the silver mines of Mt. Pangaeus. This enabled him to raise a mercenary army, and he strengthened his position by intriguing with Thebes and Argos. Then he moved to Eretria as a base for operations against Athens, and in 541 landed near Marathon, among his own party, defeated the Government forces and established himself as tyrant for good. The Alcmaeonidae fled ; Lygdamis, Peisistratus' assistant in the business, he made tyrant of Naxos. He ruled Athens peaceably till his death in 527.
There is no doubt that the rule of Peisistratus was generally beneficial to Athens. His foreign policy was remarkably adroit. His own interest demanded that the neighbouring States should not be alienated, or they would have harboured the plots of his exiled opponents. So he contrived to keep peace with Sparta, Argos, Thessaly, Aegina and Thebes all at the same time. Further afield he was more ambitious. The silver of Pangaeus and Lau reium he already controlled. Its effect is seen in the increasing value of the Athenian tetradrachm, which reacted favourably on Athenian commerce. Of his other exploits the most important are in the northern Aegean. By recapturing Sigeium and encouraging Miltiades' venture in the Thracian Chersonese he controlled the vital corn route to the Pontus. Of his domestic policy it is ad mitted that it was just and beneficent, and preserved the form of the SoIonian constitution, while keeping the magistracies in the hands of himself and his family. It may be added that he corn
pleted Solon's work by giving land (confiscated from his enemies) to those to whom Solon had only given freedom. He put a tax of one-tenth (or one-twentieth) on the produce of the land, and used it partly to advance money to the new proprietors, to the advantage of agriculture, partly on the fortification of the city. Thus Athens was free of wars and internecine struggle, and for the first time for years knew settled financial prosperity.
The money which he accumulated he put to good use in the construction of roads and public buildings. Like Cleisthenes of Sicyon and Periander of Corinth, he realized that one great source of strength to the nobles had been their presidency over the local cults. This he diminished by increasing the splendour of the Panathenaic festival every fourth year and the Dionysiac rites, and so created a national rather than a local religion. With the same idea he built the temple of the Pythian Apollo and began, though he did not finish, the temple of Zeus. To him are ascribed also the original Parthenon on the Acropolis, afterwards burned by the Persians, and replaced by the Parthenon of Pericles. It is said that he gave a great impetus to the dramatic representations which belonged to the Dionysiac cult, and that it was under his encouragement that Thespis of Icaria, by imper sonating character, laid the foundation of the great Greek drama of the 5th and 4th centuries. Lastly, Peisistratus carried out the purification of Delos, the sacred island of Apollo of the Ionians; all the tombs were removed from the neighbourhood of the shrine, the abode of the god of light and joy.
He gave equal encouragement to poetry ; Onomacritus, the chief of the Orphic succession, and collector of the oracles of Musaeus, was a member of his household. As to the library of Peisistratus, we have no good evidence; it may perhaps be a fiction of an Alexandrian writer. There is a strong tradition that he first collected the Homeric poems, and had them sung at the Panathenaea.
It appears that Peisistratus was benevolent to the last, and, like Julius Caesar, showed no resentment against enemies and calum niators. What Solon said of him in his youth was true throughout, "there is no better disposed man in Athens, save for his ambition." He was succeeded by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus, by whom the tyranny was in various ways brought into disrepute. (See also GREECE: History; ATHENS.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Ancient: Herod. i. 59 ; Plut., Solon 3o ; Arist., Poli tics, V. 12, 5-1315 b.; Constitution of Athens (Ath. Pol.) cc. 14-19. Modern: The Cambridge Ancient History (vol. iv., 1926) gives a com plete bibliography for the Diacrii, see P. M. Ure, J.H.S., 131-142 (1906). For the chronology, F. E. Adcock in C.Q., xviii. 174 (1924). T. W. Allen, "Peisistratus and Homer," in Classical Quarterly, vol. vii. p. 33. On the question of the family of Peisistratus see Wilamowitz Moellendorff, Aristoteles and Athen (Berlin, 1893) and a criticism by E. M. Walker in the Classical Review, vol. viii. p. sob, col. 2.