Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1010

 990 SICYON. Corinthian gulf. Strabo (viii. p. 382) correctly ile- Kcribes it as occupying a strong hill distant 20 stadia from the sea, though he adds that others made the distance 12 stadia, which may, however, have refer- ence to the lower town built at the foot of the table- height. Upon this height the modern village of Fasi- likd now stands. It is defended on eveiy side by a natural wall of precipices, which can be ascended only by one or two narrow passages from the plain. A river flows upon either side of the hill, the one on the eastern side being the Asopus, and that on the western side the Helisson. When Sicyon was at the height of its power, the city consisted of three parts, the Acropolis on the hill of Viisilihi, the lower town at its foot, and a port-town upon the coast. The port-town was well fortitied. (SiK-f- uv'mv Mfx-nv, Xen. Hell. vii. 3. § 2; Polyb. v. 27; Pans. ii. 12. § 2; Strab. I. c.) II. History. — Sicyon was one of the most an- cient cities of Greece, and is said to have existed under the name of Aegialeia (AlyidXeia, Pans. ii. 5. § 6) or Aegiali (Alytaoi, Strab. viii. p. 382) long before the arrival of Pelops in Greece. It was also called Mecone (MiTKcivrj), which was appa- . rently its sacerdotal name, and under which it is celebrated as the " dwelling-place of the blessed," and as the spot wl.ere Prometheus-instituted the Hel- lenic sacrifices and deceived Zeus. (Steph. B. s. v. 'SiKvuii'; Strab. viii. p. 382; Callim. Fragm. 195, p. 513,ed.En7esti; Hesiod. r/^eo^r. 535.) Its name Tel- ciiiNiA (TeA.x"''") lias reference to its being one of the earliest seats of the workers in metal. (Steph. B. s. V. 'S.i.Kvdv). Its name Aegialeia was derived from a mythical autochthon Aegialeus, and points to the time when it was the chief city upon the southern coast of the Corinthian gulf, the whole of which was also called Aegialeia. Its later name of Sicyon was said to have been derived from an Athenian of this name, who became king of the city, and who is represented as a son of either Jla- rafhon or Metion. (Pans. ii. 6. § 5.) This legend ]>oiuts to the fiict that the early inhabitants of Sicyon were lonians. Aegialeus is said, in some traditions, to have been the son of Inachus, the first king of Argos, and the brother of Phoroneus. A long series of the successors of Aegialeus is given, among whom one of the most celebrated was the Argive Adrastus, who, being expelled from his own dominions, fled to Poly bus, then king of Sicyon, and afterwards succeeded him on the throne. (Euseb. Chron. p. 11, seq.; August. Civ. Dei, xviii. 2; Paus. ii. 6. §§ 6, 7.) Homer indeed calls Adrastus first king of Sicyon (Hom. II. ii. 572); and we know that in historical times this hero was worshipped in the city. (Herod, v. 67.) Sicyon was subse- quently conquered by Agamemnon, who, however, left Hippolytus on the throne; but Sicyon became a tributary city to 5Iycenae. (Paus. ii. 6. §§ 6, 7; Hom. /;. ii. 572, xxiii. 299.) Hippolytus was the grandson of Piiai'stus, who was a son of Hercules ; and in consequence of this connection, the inhabit- ants were not expelled or reduced to subjection upon the conquest of the city by the Dorians under Phalces, the son of Temenus; for while the Dorian conquerors, as in all other Doric states, were di- vided into three tribes under the names of Hylleis, Pampliyli, and Dymanatae, the original Sicyonians were formed into a fourth tribe, under the name of Aegialeis, which possessed the same political rights as the other three. (Paus. ii. 6. § 7; Strab. viii. p. 389 ; Herod, v. 68.) Sicyon was now a Doriau SICYON. state; and from this time its real history begins. It was at first dependent upon Argos (Paus. I. c), which was for some time the most powerful state in the Peloponnesus, Sparta being second to it. In the First Messenian War the Sicyonians fought on the side of the Messenians along with the Argives and Arcadians. (Paus. iv. 11. § 1.) In the Second Jlessenian War, about u. c. 676, Sicyon became subject to the tyranny of the Orthagoridae, who governed the city for more than 100 years, and whose rule is praised by Aristotle (A>?. v. 9. § 21) for its mildness. The family of the Orthagoridae belonged to the non-Dorian tribe, and the con- tinuance of their power is to be accounted for by the fact of their being supported by the original population against the Dorian conquerors. Ortha- goras, the founder of the dynasty, is said to have been originally a cook. (Aristot. I. c. ; Hellad. ap. Phot. cod. 279, p. 530 ; Liban. vol. iii. p. 251, ed. Keiske.) In other accounts Andreas is mentioned as the first of the Sicyonian tyrants (Herod, vi. 126; Diod. Fragm. Vat. 14); and it is probable that he is the same person as Orthagoras, as the two names do not occur in the same author. He was succeeded by his son llyron, who gained a cha- riot victory at Olympia iu B.C. 648; Myron by Aristonymus; and Aristonymus by Cleisthenes. (Herod, vi. 126; Paus. ii. 8. § 1, vi. 19. § 1.) The latter was celebrated for his wealth and magnifi- cence, and was also distinguished by his bitter hatred against Argos, and his systematic endeavour to depress and dishonour the Dorian tribes. He changed the ancient and venerable names of the three Dorian tribes into the insulting names of Hy- atae, Oneatae, and Choereatae, from the three Greek words signifying the sow, the ass, and the pig; while he declared the superiority of his own tribe by giving it the designation of Archelai, or lords of the people. Cleisthenes appears to have continued despot till his death, which may be placed about B. c. 560. The dynasty perished with him. He left no son ; but his daughter Agariste, whom so many suitors wooed, was married to the Athenian Megacles, of the great family of the Alcmaeonidae, and became the mother of Cleisthenes, the founder of the Athenian democracy after the expulsion of the Peisistratidae. The names given to the tribes by Cleisthenes continued in use for sixty years after the death of the tyrant, when by mutual agreement the ancient names were restored. (Herod, vi. 126 — 131; Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. iii. p. 43, seq.; Diet, of Biogr. art. Cleisthenes.) A Dorian reaction appears now to have taken place, for during a long time afterwards the Sicyonians were the steady allies of the Spartans. In the invasion of Greece by Xerxes (b. c. 480), the Sicyonians sent a squadron of 15 ships to Salamis (Herod, viii. 43), and a body of 3000 lioplites to Plataea. (Herod, ix. 28.) In the interval between the Persian and Pelopounesian wars the territory was twice invaded and laid waste by the Atiienians, first under Tolmides in B.C. 456 (Tliuc. i. 108; Paus. i. 27. § 5), and a second time under Pericles, B.C. 454 (Time. i. Ill; Diod. xi. 88). A few years later (b.c. 445) the Sicyoni.ans supported the Megarians in their revolt from Athens. (Thuc. i. 114.) In the Pelopounesian War they sided with Sparta, and sent a contingent of ships to the Pelopounesian fleet. (Thuc. ii. 9, 80, 83.) In B. c. 424 the Sicyonians assisted Brasidas in his operations against the Athenians in the Megarid