Megacles

Megacles, son of Hippocrates, was an Athenian aristocrat of the Alcmaeonid clan active in the early 5th century BC, distinguished primarily as one of the first individuals ostracized under the democratic procedure introduced by Cleisthenes to exile potential threats to the polity.^[1] A member of the deme Alopeke, he belonged to the influential Eupatrid family that had shaped Athenian politics through prior generations, including alliances with tyrants and opposition factions.^[2] His ostracism in 486 BC, shortly following the Athenian triumph at Marathon, reflected lingering suspicions toward the Alcmaeonids' historical ties to figures like Pisistratus and their reputed pro-Persian leanings during the invasion, as evidenced by surviving ostraka inscribed with his name often decrying his wealth, horse-breeding, and perceived moral lapses.^[1] As brother to Agariste, who married Xanthippus and bore the statesman Pericles, Megacles was uncle to one of Athens' most pivotal leaders, underscoring the family's enduring prominence despite periodic exiles.^[2]

Athenian Megacles of the Alcmaeonidae

The Archonship of Megacles I and Cylon's Coup (632 BC)

Megacles I, a member of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid genos, held the office of eponymous archon in Athens during 632 BC, presiding over the city's traditional nine-archon magistracy which wielded primary executive authority in matters of governance and public order.^[3] This position placed him at the forefront of responding to internal threats, including an audacious attempt by Cylon, an Athenian noble and Olympic victor in the stadion race of 640 BC, to establish himself as tyrant.^[4] Cylon, leveraging his familial ties as son-in-law to Theagenes, the tyrant of Megara, assembled a hetaireia of young partisans supplemented by Megarian forces to seize power.^[3]^[4] Consulting the Delphic oracle, Cylon received ambiguous guidance to take the Acropolis during the great panegyris of Zeus, which he interpreted as coinciding with the Olympic Games; however, the Athenian festival of Zeus Olympios did not align precisely, leading him to proceed regardless.^[3] On the appointed day, Cylon's group successfully occupied the Acropolis, anticipating widespread support from the populace amid dissatisfaction with the archonship system.^[4] Yet the expected uprising failed to materialize, leaving the conspirators isolated and vulnerable to counteraction by the archons under Megacles' leadership, who mobilized Athenian forces to besiege the stronghold.^[3] As provisions dwindled, Cylon and his brother escaped, but the remaining supporters, weakened by hunger, sought sanctuary at the altar of Athena Polias within the Acropolis precinct.^[3] Megacles and the archons, assuming sole responsibility for the crisis as the city's chief magistrates, extracted promises of safe conduct to compel surrender but proceeded to execute the suppliants by force, dragging many from the altar and slaying them in the vicinity; additional refugees who fled to other sanctuaries met similar fates at the hands of pursuing partisans.^[3]^[4] This suppression, while quelling the immediate threat, marked a rupture in Athenian stasis, as the violation of sanctuary norms implicated the archons in the shedding of blood under divine protection, with primary blame attaching to Megacles personally due to his oversight of the operation.^[3] Thucydides and Herodotus, drawing on oral traditions preserved in elite circles, portray the event as a foundational episode of intra-elite conflict, underscoring the fragility of archon authority against ambitious hetaireiai.^[3]^[4]

The Miasma and Its Consequences for the Family

The execution of Cylon's supporters, who had taken refuge as suppliants at altars dedicated to Athena and the Semnai Theai on the Acropolis, was classified by Athenians as a grave sacrilege, violating the sacred protection owed to those invoking divine asylum.^[3] This act, ordered by the archon Megacles I and other magistrates primarily from the Alcmaeonid clan, incurred a miasma—a contagious religious pollution believed to provoke divine wrath and afflict the community.^[4] Ancient accounts attribute the blame squarely to the Alcmaeonidae, marking them as the "accursed" (enagoi) for shedding blood in sacred precincts, an offense compounded by the supporters' starvation and desperate pleas at the altars.^[3] The miasma's hereditary nature, rooted in Athenian conceptions of ancestral fault where descendants bore the pollution of forebears' crimes, ensured its persistence across generations, manifesting in recurrent political disabilities for the Alcmaeonidae.^[5] Immediately following the affair around 632 BC, Megacles and his kin faced exile as the primary bearers of guilt, with their return contingent on ritual purification that proved elusive.^[4] By the era of Solon's reforms circa 594 BC, the unresolved pollution reignited public demands for the clan's expulsion, viewing their presence as a stain endangering Athens' prosperity and oracle responses.^[2] Later tyrants, including Pisistratus, invoked or exploited the curse to justify exiles, reinforcing its role in curtailing Alcmaeonid influence despite their wealth and alliances. Efforts to mitigate the miasma included the Alcmaeonidae's prominent stewardship at the Delphic oracle, where family members served as treasurers and oversaw dedications, potentially as acts of expiation to appease Apollo and restore favor.^[6] Herodotus notes their privileged prostasia (patronage) at Delphi, which afforded influence over consultations that might interpret or alleviate the family's taint, though the curse's invocation persisted in political rhetoric, such as during Spartan interventions.^[4] While some contemporary interpretations frame Megacles' actions as justifiable suppression of an oligarchic coup threatening constitutional order, ancient sources emphasize the sacrilege's objective pollution over such defenses, underscoring causal links to Athens' cycles of instability.^[3]

Megacles II: Marriage to Agariste and Political Alliances

Megacles II, son of Alcmaeon and grandson of Megacles I, solidified the Alcmaeonid family's influence through his marriage to Agariste, daughter of Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyon.^[7] Herodotus recounts that Cleisthenes, seeking a suitable match from across Greece, invited over a hundred suitors to Sicyon for a year-long festival, evaluating them through athletic contests, banquets, and tests of character, such as a footrace and a vigorous pancake-flipping challenge.^[7] Megacles distinguished himself among competitors from cities like Athens, Eretria, and Sicyon itself, ultimately winning Agariste's hand after Cleisthenes dismissed less worthy candidates, including one for crude behavior and another for excessive sleep.^[8] The marriage, dated circa 575 BC, linked the Alcmaeonids to a powerful non-Athenian dynasty, enhancing their prestige amid ongoing Athenian rivalries and underscoring their capacity to compete on a panhellenic stage.^[2] In the political turbulence following Solon's archonship and reforms of 594 BC, Megacles emerged as leader of the coastal faction (Paralioi), which drew support from maritime traders and Attic periphery interests, positioning it against the inland-oriented plains faction (Pedieis) under Lycurgus son of Aristolaïdas.^[9] This tripartite division—complemented by Pisistratus' hill faction (Diakrioi or Hyperakrioi), backed by rural and urban poor—intensified competition for control of Athens' institutions in the mid-sixth century BC.^[9] Megacles' coastal group initially opposed Pisistratus' ambitions, contributing to his expulsion after a brief initial seizure of power circa 561–560 BC.^[9] Seeking advantage against the plains faction, Megacles forged a pragmatic alliance with Pisistratus circa 556 BC, inviting the latter's return from exile to jointly oust Lycurgus and consolidate power.^[10] This coalition enabled Pisistratus to reestablish influence through shared governance, sealed by the tyrant's marriage to Megacles' daughter Coesyra, reflecting a calculated power-sharing arrangement rooted in mutual enmity toward rivals rather than broader ideological convergence.^[11] Aligned with archon lists and Herodotus' narrative, this mid-century maneuver marked a causal pivot toward autocratic consolidation in Athens, as factional pacts eroded Solonian checks and foreshadowed prolonged tyrannical interludes.^[2]

Conflict with Pisistratus and the Ensuing Scandal

In the mid-6th century BC, after Pisistratus's expulsion from Athens following his first brief tyranny (c. 561–556 BC), Megacles II of the Alcmaeonidae, facing persistent factional violence between his supporters and those of Lycurgus, proposed an alliance to restore the exiled tyrant.^[10] Megacles offered Pisistratus a return to power on the condition that he marry Megacles's daughter, Coesyra, thereby forging a marital bond to legitimize the partnership and consolidate elite influence.^[10] Pisistratus accepted the terms, reestablishing his rule around 556 BC without the dramatic ruse involving the tall woman Phye that had marked his initial ascent.^[9] This union temporarily quelled intra-aristocratic strife, providing short-term political stability by aligning the Alcmaeonid faction with Pisistratus's popular base of small farmers and artisans. The alliance unraveled due to a personal scandal detailed in Herodotus's Histories. Aware of the miasma afflicting the Alcmaeonidae—stemming from the family's role in the sacrilegious slaughter of Cylon's supporters in 632 BC—Pisistratus sought to avoid producing heirs with Coesyra, fearing the taint would undermine his existing sons' claims.^[11] To this end, he initially abstained from conventional intercourse, engaging instead in what Herodotus describes as "the Athenian fashion," an ambiguous phrase interpreted by some as non-penetrative or intercrural methods to preserve her technical virginity and prevent conception.^[11] However, on one occasion, Pisistratus lapsed into normal relations, resulting in Coesyra's pregnancy; when questioned by her father about the absence of consummation signs (such as expected blood from defloration), she revealed her dissatisfaction, prompting Pisistratus to deny any such act had occurred.^[11] Megacles, interpreting this as a deliberate insult to his family's bloodline purity and an attempt to evade the marriage's dynastic intent, viewed the unnatural practices as further defilement akin to the existing curse, leading to immediate rupture.^[11] Outraged, Megacles allied anew with Lycurgus and expelled Pisistratus once more, forcing the tyrant into a second exile that lasted until his definitive return in 546 BC via mercenary forces.^[12] Herodotus presents the episode as factual, drawing from oral traditions current in 5th-century Athens, though the salacious details may reflect moralistic embellishment to underscore how personal deceptions destabilize elite pacts.^[11] The scandal highlights the fragility of aristocratic alliances reliant on trust and lineage honor: while the marriage initially promised mutual benefit through power-sharing and strife reduction, the betrayal eroded confidence, exemplifying causal dynamics where individual opportunism precipitates broader political reversals.^[12] No contemporary inscriptions corroborate the intimate specifics, but the pattern of Pisistratus's interrupted tyrannies aligns with independent accounts of Athenian factionalism.^[9]

Descendants, Reforms, and Involvement in the Persian Wars

Megacles II fathered Cleisthenes, who rose to prominence following the expulsion of the Pisistratid tyrants in 510–508 BC and implemented constitutional reforms that reorganized Athenian society into ten tribes composed of demes from across Attica, diluting traditional regional and familial power structures to promote broader citizen participation in governance.^[13] These isonomic measures, enacted around 508 BC, built on anti-tyrannical momentum partly enabled by Megacles II's earlier political maneuvers against Pisistratus, including alliances that weakened the tyrant's hold despite subsequent scandals.^[14] The Alcmaeonidae, including Megacles II's brother Alcmaeon, maintained international ties that fueled suspicions of opportunism; Alcmaeon served as an envoy to the Lydian court of Croesus around the mid-sixth century BC, receiving substantial wealth in gold and silver for facilitating consultations at Delphi, which Herodotus details as a reward for loyalty and service (Histories 6.125). Such connections, while enriching the family, contributed to later accusations of medism during the Persian Wars, exacerbated by the lingering miasma from the Cylonian affair. In the Persian invasions, the Alcmaeonidae played a contested role; family members participated in the Athenian defense at Marathon in 490 BC, where approximately 192 Athenians fell according to Herodotus (6.117), with casualty lists inscribed by tribe reflecting elite involvement across the citizen body, including noble houses like the Alcmaeonidae despite their phlogist miasma tainting claims of full loyalty. A debated tradition recorded by Herodotus (6.115, 121–124) alleges that Alcmaeonids signaled the Persian fleet post-battle via a raised shield, interpreted by hostile sources as treasonous collusion to restore Hippias, though Herodotus rejects this in favor of their anti-tyranny record; modern analyses view it as likely propaganda from rivals, given the family's Delphic influence.^[15] Balancing these criticisms, the Alcmaeonids leveraged control over Delphi—stemming from their sixth-century reconstruction of the temple—to urge Spartans repeatedly to "liberate Athens" from the Pisistratids (Herodotus 6.123), an action that, while self-serving, aligned with fostering structures of equal political rights.

Other Athenian Megacles

Megacles Son of Hippocrates and Ostracism (486 BC)

Megacles, son of Hippocrates from the Attic deme of Alopece and brother to another Cleisthenes, represented a prominent Athenian aristocratic family active in the early democratic period following the Persian Wars. He was ostracized in 486 BC, one of the earliest recorded instances after Hipparchus son of Charmus in 487/6 BC. This exile, lasting ten years without loss of property, stemmed from a public vote where at least 6,000 citizens inscribed names on ostraca to identify perceived threats to the state.^[16] According to Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians, Megacles' ostracism formed part of a sequence targeting associates of the Pisistratid tyrants, whom the demos viewed as latent dangers capable of fomenting tyranny amid ongoing aristocratic factionalism. Surviving ostraca from the Athenian Agora, numbering in the thousands for Megacles, often decry his wealth, luxury, and equestrian pursuits—markers of elite status that fueled popular suspicion of oligarchic ambitions or disloyalty during the post-Marathon era of Persian tensions.^[17] This event underscored ostracism's dual role in early Athenian democracy: as a prophylactic against stasis by preemptively exiling influential figures without judicial process, thereby consolidating popular sovereignty after Cleisthenes' reforms, yet also as a mechanism vulnerable to manipulation by demagogues like the ascendant Themistocles, who navigated similar elite rivalries. While preventing overt coups, such votes against non-Alcmaeonid and reformist-adjacent aristocrats like Megacles highlighted tensions between egalitarian ideals and the arbitrary sidelining of potential rivals, reflecting causal dynamics of power consolidation through mass participation rather than elite consensus.^[18]

Megacles of Epirus

Service Under Pyrrhus and the Italian Campaign (280 BC)

Megacles served as a trusted officer and companion to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, joining the expeditionary force dispatched to southern Italy in 280 BC at the request of the Greek city of Tarentum, which sought aid against Roman encroachment. Pyrrhus crossed the Adriatic with approximately 25,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and 20 war elephants, landing near Tarentum to confront the Roman consul Publius Valerius Laevinus. Megacles participated in the initial maneuvers, contributing to the Epirote army's advance through Lucania toward the Roman lines.^[19] The decisive engagement occurred at the Battle of Heraclea in June 280 BC, where Pyrrhus' forces clashed with a Roman army of comparable size, estimated at 20,000-25,000 legionaries supported by allied Italian troops. To mitigate personal risk during a critical cavalry charge against the Roman center, Pyrrhus exchanged his distinctive cloak, helmet, and arms with Megacles, positioning himself behind the front lines while Megacles led the assault in the king's guise. This tactic initially succeeded in drawing enemy focus, but Roman soldiers, including a warrior named Dexous, targeted Megacles, striking him down and seizing his (Pyrrhus') insignia, which sparked rumors of the king's death and nearly unraveled the Epirote momentum. Pyrrhus then revealed himself, rallying his troops and deploying elephants to shatter the Roman lines, securing victory at the cost of 4,000-11,000 Epirote casualties compared to 7,000-15,000 Roman dead.^[19]^[19] Megacles perished in the melee at Heraclea, his sacrifice underscoring the high attrition rates that plagued Pyrrhus' campaign due to unfamiliar terrain, protracted supply lines across the Adriatic, and the Romans' capacity for rapid reinforcement and replacement of losses. The battle exemplified the tactical edge of Hellenistic phalanx and elephant formations over Roman manipular legions in open ground, yet the irreplaceable loss of experienced officers like Megacles contributed to Pyrrhus' strategic overextension, as subsequent engagements yielded similarly disproportionate costs without decisive territorial gains. No further records detail Megacles' prior exploits, positioning his service as emblematic of the professional soldiery drawn into Hellenistic adventurism beyond native Epirote domains.^[19]^[19]