Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1011

 SICYON. (Time. iv. 70), and in the same year they repulsed a descent of the Athenians under Demosthenes upon tlieir territory. (Thuc. iv. 101.) In B.C. 419 they imited with the Corintliians in preventing Alcibiades from erecting a fortress upon the Achaean promon- tory of Ehium. (Thuc. v. 52.) About this time a democratical revolution appears to have taken place, since we find the Lacedaemonians establishing an oligarchical government in Sicyon in B.C. 417. (Thuc. V. 82.) In the wars of Lacedaemon against Corinth, B.C. 394, and against Thebes, b. c. 371, the Sicyonians espoused the side of the Lacedaemo- nians. (Xen. Hell. iv. 2.§ 14, iv. 4. § 7, seq. vi. 4. § 18.) But in B. c. 368 Sicyon was compelled by Epaminondas to join the Spartan alliance, and to admit a Thebaa harmost and garrison into the citadel. Euphron, a leading citizen of Sicyon, taking advantage of these circumstances, and supported by the Arcadians and Argives. succeeded in establishing a democracy, and shortly after- wards made himself tyrant of the city. But being expelled by the Arcadians and Thebans, he retired to the harbour, which he surrendered to Sparta. By the assistance of the Athenians he returned to Sicyon ; but finding himself unable to dislodge the Theban garrison from the Acropolis, be re- paired to Thebes, in hopes of obtaining, by corrup- tion and intrigue, the banishment of his opponents and the restoration of his own power. Here, how- ever, he was murdered by some of his enemies. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1 — 3 ; Diod. xv. 69, 70 ; Diet, of Biogr. art. Euphiion.) Sicyon seems, however, to have been favorable to tyrants ; for, after a short time, we again find the city in their power. The facility with which ambitious citizens obtained the supreme power was probably owing to the antago- nism between the Dorian and old Ionian inhabitants. Demosthenes mentions two Sicyonian tyrants, Aristratus and Epichares, in the pay of Philip (de Cor. pp. 242, 324). In the Lamian war, after the death of Alexander the Great, B.C. 323, the Sicyonians joined the other Greeks against the Macedonians. (Diod. xviii. 11.) The city subse- quently fell into the hands of Alexander, the son of Polysperchon ; and after his murder in B. c. 314, his wife Cratesipolis continued to hold the town for Cassander till B.C. 308, when she was induced to betray it to Ptolefny. (Diod. xix. 67, xx. 37.) In B. c. 303, Sicyon passed out of the hands of Ptolemy, being surprised by Demetrius Poliorcetes in the night. It appears that at this time Sicyon consisted of three distinct parts, as already mentioned, the Acropolis, on the hill of Vasilikd, the lower city at its foot, and the port-town. It is probable that formerly the Acropolis and the lower city were united with the port-town, by walls extending to the sea; but the three quarters were now separated from one another, and there was even a vacant space between the lower town and the citadel. Seeing the difficulty of defending so extensive a space with the diminished resources and population of the city, and anxious to secure a strongly fortified place, Demetrius compelled the inhabitants to remove to the site of the ancient Acropolis, which Diodorus describes as " a site very preferable to that of tlie former city, the inclosed space being an extensive plain, surrounded on every side by precipices, and so difficult of access that it would not be possible to attack the walls with machines." This new city was called Demetrias. (Diod. x.x. 102; Pint. Demetr. 25 ; Pans. ii. 7. § 1 ; Slrab. viii. p. 382.) The name Demetrias SICYON. 991 soon disappeared ; but the city continued to remain upon its lofty site, which was better adapted than most mountain heights in Greece for a permanent population, since it contained a good supply of water and cultivable land. Pausanias {I.e.) represents the lower town as the original city of Aegialeus ; but Col. Leake justly remarks, it is more natural to con- clude that the first establishment was made upon the hill Vasilikd, which, by its strength and its secure distance from the sea, possesses attributes similar to those of the other chief cities of Greece. Indeed, Pausanias himself confirms the antiquity of the occu- pation of the hill of Vasilikd, by describing all the most ancient monuments of the Sicyonians as standing upon it. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p. 367.) After Demetrius quitted Sicyon, it again became subject to a succession of tyrants, who quickly dis- placed one another. Cleon was succeeded in the tyranny by Euthydemus and Timocleides ; but they were expelled by the people, who placed Cleinias, the father of Aratus, at the head of the government. Cleinias was soon afterwards murdered by AbantidaSv who seized the tyranny, B.C. 264. Abantidas was murdered in bis turn, and was succeeded by his father Paseas ; but he again was murdered bv Nicocles, who had held the sovereign power onlv four months, when the young Aratus surprised tho citadel of Sicyon, and delivered his native city from the tyrant, B. c. 251. (Paus. ii. 8. §§ 1—3; Plut, Ai-at. 2.) Through the influence of Aratus, Sicyon now joined the Achaean League, and was one of the most important cities of the confederacy. (Paus. ii. 8. § 3; Plut. Arat. 9; Polyb. ii. 43.) In conse- quence of its being a member of the league, its ter- ritory was devastated, both by Cleomenes, b. c. 233 (Plut. Arat. 41, Cleom. 19; Polyb. ii. 52), and by the AetoHans, B.C. 221. (Polyb. iv. 13.) In the Roman wars in Greece, Sicyon was favoured by Attains, who bestowed handsome presents upon it. (Polyb. xvii. 16; Liv. xxxii. 40.) The conquest of Corinth by the Romans, b. c. 146, was to the ad- vantage of Sicyon, for it obtained the greater part of the neighbouring territory and the administration of the Isthmian games. (Paus. ii. 2. § 2.) But even before Corinth was rebuilt, Sicyon again declined, and appears in an impoverished state towards the end of the Republic. (Cic. ad Alt. i. 19, 20, ii. 1.) After the restoration of Corinth, it still further de- clined, and its ruin was completed by an earthquake, which destroyed a great part of the city, so that Pausanias found it almost depopulated (ii. 7. § 1). The city, however, still continued to exist in tho sixth century of the Christian era ; for llierocles (p. 646, Wess.) mentions New Sicyon (Ne'o 2i- KvJov') among the chief cities of Achaia. Tho maritime town was probaiily Old Sicyon. Under the Byzantine empire Sicyon was called Hellas, and the inhabitants Ilelladici, probably in contradis- tinction to the surrounding Slavonic inhabitants. (^tKViii', 7] vvv 'EAAdj, Suidas ; tcoi' 'S.iKvoivitev Twu vvv Kiyofxivuiv 'EAAoSiKoir, Malaia, iv. p. 68, Bonn.) Tho name Vasilikd (to BauiAi/ca) has reference to the ruins of the temples and other public buildings. III. Art, (fc — Sicyon is more renowned in the artistic than in the political history of Greece, p'or a long time it was one of the chief seats of Grecian art, and wns celebrated alike for its painters and sculptors. According to one tradition painting was invented at Sicyon, where Tclephanes was the first to practise the monogram, or drawing in outline