Latest / The History of Greece: Philosophy, Empire, and Endless Reinvention — Fexingo History / The Thirty Tyrants: Athens' Year of Terror
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Peloponnesian War — the battles, the plague, the Sicilian disaster. But what happened right after Athens surrendered in 404 BCE was almost as dramatic as the war itself. Luna: The Thirty Tyrants? Lucas: Exactly. A Spartan-backed oligarchy that took over Athens and, within eight months, turned the city into a bloodbath. It's a story about ideology, betrayal, and a city that nearly tore itself apart. Lucas: After the Athenian fleet was destroyed at Aegospotami in 405, Lysander, the Spartan admiral, blockaded Athens until it starved into surrender. The terms were harsh: Athens had to tear down its Long Walls, surrender most of its fleet, and accept a Spartan garrison on the Acropolis. Luna: And they installed the Thirty? Lucas: Right. A commission of thirty men was appointed to draft a new constitution, but instead they seized power and ruled by terror. Their leader was Critias — yes, Plato's relative, the same Critias who appears in his dialogues. He was a former student of Socrates, but he turned into a ruthless autocrat. Lucas: The Thirty started by arresting and executing their political enemies, especially democratic leaders and wealthy metics whose property they confiscated. Within months, they killed about 1,500 people, and many more fled the city. Their reign was so brutal that even Sparta eventually got worried. Luna: But wasn't there a moderate faction among them? Lucas: Yes, led by Theramenes. He had been a key figure in the oligarchic coup of 411 earlier in the war, but he argued that the Thirty were going too far. He insisted on broadening the citizen body to include more moderate oligarchs, not just the extremists. Critias saw this as treason. Lucas: Critias gave a speech in the council, the boulē, denouncing Theramenes as a traitor, and then forced him to drink hemlock — the same poison that would later kill Socrates. Xenophon records Theramenes' death in his Hellenica: he tossed the last drops from the cup like a game of kottabos, saying 'here's to the health of the fair Critias.' Bitter irony. Luna: So Critias eliminated his rival and tightened his grip. Lucas: Exactly. But the violence backfired. Many Athenians who had fled the city gathered in Thebes, where they were given refuge. Under the leadership of Thrasybulus, a democratic general from the war, they marched on the fortified outpost of Phyle on the Athenian border. Lucas: Speaking of which, I should mention that this show is possible because of listeners like you who support it. If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, and you'd like to keep these conversations ad-free, you can buy me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Every bit helps us keep digging into stories like this one. Luna: Yeah, it's such a small gesture that makes a big difference for the show. Lucas: So Thrasybulus and his band of about seventy exiles took Phyle by surprise. Then, when the Thirty sent a force to dislodge them, the democrats ambushed them in a snowstorm — it was winter — and killed about 120 of the oligarchic troops. Luna: That's where the tide turned. Lucas: Exactly. Thrasybulus then marched on Piraeus, the port of Athens, and seized the hill of Munichia. Critias led the full force of the Thirty — along with the Spartan garrison — to attack. In the battle, Critias himself was killed, and the oligarchs were routed. Lucas: After Critias' death, the remaining Thirty fled to Eleusis, and a new, less extreme oligarchy took over in Athens, but they couldn't hold power. The Spartan king Pausanias, worried about instability, brokered a peace: the democrats would return, and an amnesty was declared for all but the worst offenders. Luna: The amnesty — that's remarkable. They agreed not to seek revenge. Lucas: Yes, and it's one of the most impressive features of the restored democracy. In 403 BCE, the Athenians formally reconciled. They swore an oath: 'I will not recall the grievances of the past.' No trials, no purges. Socrates' student Xenophon says the city returned to normal remarkably quickly, though the scars remained. Luna: But wasn't there tension afterward? I mean, the amnesty couldn't erase everything. Lucas: True. The orator Lysias, whose brother was killed by the Thirty, wrote speeches that subtly attacked the oligarchs even within the bounds of the amnesty. And there were lawsuits over property. But the amnesty held as a political principle. It allowed Athens to rebuild without a cycle of revenge. Lucas: The Thirty Tyrants left a deep scar on Athenian memory. They became a cautionary tale about what happens when ideology trumps law. And it's no coincidence that Plato, who was a young man during the tyranny, later wrote about the dangers of tyranny in his Republic — with Critias, his own relative, as a prime example. Luna: So in a way, the Thirty helped shape Western political philosophy. Lucas: Exactly. The horror of that regime made thinkers like Plato and Aristotle argue for mixed government and the rule of law. The amnesty also became a model for reconciliation in later democracies. So from the ashes of the Thirty, Athens — and later the world — learned something about how fragile democracy really is.