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Demos: The Men Who Made and Perfected Ancient Athenian Democracy

Khalid Elhassan January 13, 2025 16 min

Democracy - Ancient Athens — Ancient Athens. Imgur

12. The End of a Tyrant, and the Beginning of the End of Tyranny

Democracy - Statues of the Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogeiton — Statues of the Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Naples National Archaeological Museum

Hipparchus’ bodyguards killed Harmodius on the spot, and Aristogeiton was arrested, tortured, and eventually killed by Hippias. For centuries afterwards, the lovers were celebrated and honored as the Tyrannicides, and public statues were commissioned in their honor. In the meantime, Hippias grew paranoid, and his rule became oppressive as he lashed out indiscriminately at enemies real and imagined. Hippias’ descent into violence eroded the popularity that tyranny had enjoyed since the days of Pisistratus, and the number of victims and exiles forced to flee Athens grew. One exile was Cleisthenes, born circa 570 BC and referred to as “The Father of Athenian Democracy”. He created the system that, with incremental reforms, governed Athens during the Classical era.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.