Thrasybulus: Encyclopedia II - Thrasybulus - The Thirty Tyrants

Thrasybulus - The Thirty Tyrants

In 404 BC, following a defeat at the Battle of Aegospotamai, Athens was forced to surrender, ending the Peloponnesian War. In the wake of this surrender, the Spartan navarch Lysander imposed a strict oligarchich government on Athens, which came to be known as the Thirty Tyrants. This government executed a number of citizens and deprived all but a few of their rights, particulary after the execution of the moderate oligarch Theramenes. Fearing for their lives, numerous Athenians fled to Thebes^[8].

Thrasybulus had been one of the first to oppose the oligarchy and had been exiled to Thebes (Cornelius Nepos). From there, he led a party of 70 exiles to seize a fort on the Athenian border. A large body of men now flocked to his leadership, and in rapid order Thrasybulus first defeated a detachment of the Spartan garrison, then marched his men, by now 1000 strong, to Piraeus by night and occupied a strong point there. The next day, the forces of the Thirty marched out and assaulted the fortified hill that Thrasybulus was holding. They were defeated, and Critias, the leader of the Thirty, was killed^[9].

After this victory, the oligarchic forces broke down into disarray. The remainder of the Thirty fled to Eleusis, and the oligarchs within Athens began squabbling amongst themselves. New leaders were selected, but were unable to deal with Thrasybulus, and were forced to send to Sparta for help. From Sparta, however, came not the aggressive Lysander, but the more conservative Pausanias. Abandoning the attempt to impose an oligarchy, he arranged a settlement between the forces of Thrasybulus and the oligarchs in the city, which allowed democracy to be restored. In power, Thrasybulus pushed through a law which pardoned all but a few of the oligarchs, preventing a brutal reprisal by the victorious democrats. For his actions, Thrasybulus was awarded an olive crown by his countrymen^[10].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Thirty Tyrants", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki