Sicyon - Revision history

Irlandos: /* External links */

2010-08-02T10:55:42Z

External links

Irlandos: /* References */

2010-08-02T10:55:22Z

References

Irlandos at 10:53, August 2, 2010

2010-08-02T10:53:06Z

Irlandos: New page: '''Sikyon''' (Greek Σικυών) was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-...

2010-08-02T10:51:09Z

New page: '''Sikyon''' (Greek Σικυών) was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-...

New page

'''Sikyon''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] Σικυών) was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern [[Peloponnesus]] between [[Corinth]] and [[Achaea]] on the territory of the present-day [[prefecture]] of [[Corinthia]]. The king-list given by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]<ref>Pausanias 2.5.6-6.7.</ref> comprises twenty-four kings, beginning with the autochthonous Aegialeus; the penultimate king of the list, [[Agamemnon]], compels the submission of Sicyon to [[Mycenae]]; after him comes the [[Dorian]] usurper [[Phalces]]. Pausanias shares his source with [[Castor of Rhodes]], who used the king-list in compiling tables of history; the common source was convincingly identified by F. Jacoby<ref>F. Jacoby on Castor in ''Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker'' 250 F 2, noted with approval by Robertson 1999:65 and note 36.</ref> as a lost ''Sicyonica'' by the late fourth-century poet [[Menaechmus]] of Sicyon.

Sicyon was built on a low triangular [[plateau]] about two miles from the [[Corinthian Gulf]]. Between the city and its port lay a fertile plain with olive groves and orchards. After the [[Dorian invasion]] the community was divided into the ordinary three Dorian tribes and an equally privileged tribe of [[Ionian]]s, besides which a class of serfs lived on and worked the land.

For some centuries, Sicyon remained subject to [[Argos]], whence its Dorian conquerors had come; as late as [[6th century BC|500 BC]] it acknowledged a certain suzerainty. However, its virtual independence was established in the [[7th century BC]], when a line of tyrants arose and initiated an anti-Dorian policy. Chief of these rulers was the founder's grandson [[Cleisthenes of Sicyon|Cleisthenes]], the uncle of the Athenian legislator [[Cleisthenes]]. Besides reforming the city's constitution to the advantage of the Ionians and replacing Dorian cults with the worship of [[Dionysus]], Cleisthenes gained renown as the chief instigator and general of the [[First Sacred War]] ([[590 BC]]) in the interests of the [[Delphian]]s.

About this time, Sicyon developed the various industries for which it was noted in antiquity. As the abode of the sculptors [[Dipoenus and Scyllis]] it gained pre-eminence in woodcarving and bronze work such as is still to be seen in the archaic metal facings found at [[Olympia]]. Its pottery, which resembled [[Corinthian ware]], was exported with the latter as far as Etruria. In Sicyon also the art of [[painting]] was supposed to have been invented. After the fall of the tyrants their institutions survived till the end of the 6th century BC, when Dorian supremacy was re-established, perhaps by the agency of [[Sparta]] under the [[ephor]] [[Chilon]], and the city was enrolled in the [[Peloponnesian League]]. Henceforth, its policy was usually determined either by [[Sparta]] or [[Corinth]].

In the [[5th century BC]] Sicyon, like Corinth, suffered from the commercial rivalry of [[Athens]] in the western seas, and was repeatedly harassed by squadrons of Athenian ships. In the [[Peloponnesian War]] Sicyon followed the lead of Sparta and Corinth. When these two powers quarrelled after the [[peace of Nicias]] it remained loyal to the Spartans. Again in the [[Corinthian war]], Sicyon sided with Sparta and became its base of operations against the allied troops round Corinth. In [[369 BC|369]] it was captured and garrisoned by the [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]]s in their successful attack on the Peloponnesian League. During this period Sicyon reached its zenith as a centre of art: its school of painting gained fame under [[Eupompus]] and attracted the great masters [[Pamphilus (painter)|Pamphilus]] and [[Apelles]] as students; its sculpture was raised to a level hardly surpassed in Greece by [[Lysippus]] and his pupils.

The destruction of Corinth ([[146 BC|146]]) brought Sicyon an acquisition of territory and the presidency over the [[Isthmian games]]; yet in Cicero's time it had fallen deep into debt. Under the Roman empire it was quite obscured by the restored cities of [[Corinth]] and [[Patra|Patrae]]; in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]' age (A.D. 150) it was almost desolate. In [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] times it became a bishop's seat, and to judge by its later name Hellas it served as a refuge for the Greeks from the Slavonic immigrants of the 8th century.

The village of [[Vasiliko]] (described by the 1911 ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' as "insignificant") now occupies the site.

== Notable people ==
*[[Butades]] ([[7th century BC]]) sculptor
*[[Canachus]] ([[6th century BC]]) sculptor
*[[Aristocles (sculptors)|Aristocles]] ([[5th century BC]]) sculptor
*[[Praxilla]] (5th century BC) poetess
*[[Eupompus]] ([[4th century BC]]) painter
*[[Melanthius]] (4th century BC) painter
*[[Pausias]] (4th century BC) painter
*[[Eutychides]] (4th century BC) sculptor
*[[Lysippos]] (4th century BC) sculptor
*[[Lysistratus]] (4th century BC) sculptor
*[[Xenokrates of Sicyon|Xenokrates]] ([[3rd century BC]]) sculptor
*[[Sostrates of Sicyon|Sostrates]] ([[4th century BC]]) [[pankratiast]]; thrice Olympic champion
*[[Aratos of Sicyon]] ([[3rd century BC]]) Head of Achaean League

==References==
,references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.sikyon.com/Sicyon/sicyon_egpg1.html "Sicyon: The most ancient Greek city-state"], Ellen Papakyriakou/Anagnostou. Contains a great deal of information on ancient and present-day Sicyon.
*[http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/sicyon/sicyon.home.htm "The Greco-Roman Theatre at Sicyon"], The Ancient Theatre Archive. Theatre specifications and tour of the ancient theatre.

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Ancient Greece]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:55, August 2, 2010
Line 38:		Line 38:


−	[[Category:Ancient ~~Greece~~]]	+	[[Category:Ancient Greek cities]]

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 ==References==
-,references/>
+<references/>
 ==External links==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''Sikyon''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] Σικυών) was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern [[Peloponnesus]] between [[Corinth]] and [[Achaea]] on the territory of the present-day [[prefecture]] of [[Corinthia]]. The king-list given by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]<ref>Pausanias 2.5.6-6.7.</ref> comprises twenty-four kings, beginning with the autochthonous Aegialeus; the penultimate king of the list, [[Agamemnon]], compels the submission of Sicyon to [[Mycenae]]; after him comes the [[Dorian]] usurper [[Phalces]]. Pausanias shares his source with [[Castor of Rhodes]], who used the king-list in compiling tables of history; the common source was convincingly identified by F. Jacoby<ref>F. Jacoby on Castor in ''Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker'' 250 F 2, noted with approval by Robertson 1999:65 and note 36.</ref> as a lost ''Sicyonica'' by the late fourth-century poet [[Menaechmus]] of Sicyon.
-Sicyon was built on a low triangular [[plateau]] about two miles from the [[Corinthian Gulf]]. Between the city and its port lay a fertile plain with olive groves and orchards. After the [[Dorian invasion]] the community was divided into the ordinary three Dorian tribes and an equally privileged tribe of [[Ionian]]s, besides which a class of serfs lived on and worked the land.
+Sicyon was built on a low triangular plateau about two miles from the [[Corinthian Gulf]]. Between the city and its port lay a fertile plain with olive groves and orchards. After the [[Dorian invasion]] the community was divided into the ordinary three Dorian tribes and an equally privileged tribe of [[Ionians]], besides which a class of serfs lived on and worked the land.
 For some centuries, Sicyon remained subject to [[Argos]], whence its Dorian conquerors had come; as late as [[6th century BC|500 BC]] it acknowledged a certain suzerainty. However, its virtual independence was established in the [[7th century BC]], when a line of tyrants arose and initiated an anti-Dorian policy. Chief of these rulers was the founder's grandson [[Cleisthenes of Sicyon|Cleisthenes]], the uncle of the Athenian legislator [[Cleisthenes]]. Besides reforming the city's constitution to the advantage of the Ionians and replacing Dorian cults with the worship of [[Dionysus]], Cleisthenes gained renown as the chief instigator and general of the [[First Sacred War]] ([[590 BC]]) in the interests of the [[Delphian]]s.