The Lovers That ‘Ended’ Tyranny
by Caleb Henry
The Significance of the Statues
From 477 BCE until 404 BCE, the tyrannicides were the only statues dedicated to mortals present in the Athenian Agora. The statue was erected to commemorate the Athenian heroes, Harmodios and Aristogeiton. A singular memorial in a vast history of great men. This begs the question, what made these two men so special? The two are immortalised as tyrant killers, and they became a prominent symbol of an Athenian duty to reject and destroy would-be tyrants who would dare to threaten Athenian democracy. The statue was constructed in the Golden Age of Athens when citizen involvement in politics was seen as an honourable duty. Its presence in the Agora is significant for this reason, as the Agora was a hub for all citizens of Athens. It functioned as a city centre where people would gather to sell their goods, vote on matters such as ostracisation, celebrate festive periods, and learn the news of the day. This statue and its message are something that loomed over these daily interactions, providing the blueprint for a model citizen. However, the true story of these men strays far from the idyllic portrayal of them. Most significantly, they failed in their attempts to kill Hippias – who was the tyrant of Athens. Their very name, Tyrannicides, is misleading. Historical sources also suggest their goal was not quite so selfless. So, what is the true story of the Tyrannicides? To piece together this narrative, the historians Thucydides, Herodotus and Aristotle will be referenced.
The excavated North Side of the Ancient Agora of Athens
The Real 'Tyrannicides'
Ancient sources agree that Harmodios and Aristogeiton were lovers. Harmodios was the ‘eromenos’, meaning he was the younger of the pair, praised for his beauty by Thucydides and often portrayed as beardless and soft-featured in art. Aristogeiton is identified as the ‘erastes’, the older lover who was portrayed in a more typically masculine fashion, bearded and sharp-featured. When contemplating the plot to assassinate Hippias, it is noteworthy that these two men experienced humiliation at the hands of the tyrant’s brother, Hipparchos. Through these humiliations, a motive can be clearly established. Hipparchos is characterised by Aristotle as a man of many appetites – namely drinking and sex – who had no interest in matters of the state. He enjoyed literature and organising celebrations within Athens. More than once, Hipparchos’ appetites led him to pursue Harmodios, who promptly rejected Hipparchos. Aristogeiton was insulted by this and feared that Hipparchos might abuse his power to force himself upon his beloved Harmodios. This, according to Thucydides, is when the plan was hatched. Aristogeiton alone gathered co-conspirators, he believed through the murder of Hippias, Athens would be made free of all the tyrant’s kin, thus destroying despotism within Athens. Hipparchos, bitterly humiliated by these rejections, enacted revenge on Harmodios through the public humiliation of his sister. He invited Harmodios’ sister to play a part in the yearly Panathenaic procession and then rejected her on the day, implying she was impure and unworthy of taking part in the procession. Thus, two motives are established: Harmodios’, insulted by the cruelty towards his sister, joined the conspirators and Aristogeiton, who intended to protect his lover.
Harmodios and Aristogeiton killing Hipparchos as portrayed on an Attic red figure stamnos
The Assassination Attempt
Moments before the assassination, Harmodios and Aristogeiton witnessed a co-conspirator in conversation with Hippias. Believing their plan to be foiled, they instead targeted Hipparchos, murdering him as he led the Panathenaic procession. Two glaring issues are raised with the immortalisation of the Tyrannicides as heroes of democracy: the fact that they failed to kill the tyrant and their motives, which were fuelled by a personal grievance rather than a noble abhorrence of the nature of despotism. Thucydides’ account acknowledges that Athenians have forgotten the true story. Through revisionism, the Tyrannicides were turned into champions of democracy, and their existence fuelled Athenian supremacist ideology. Their existence almost suggested an inherent morality within the Athenian citizens, and these ideas of grandeur facilitated the birth of the Athenian empire. Ironically, the assassination of Hipparchos served to make matters worse. Thucydides and Herodotus agree that in the four years after his brother’s death, Hippias became crueller, and it was only due to Spartan intervention that the Athenians were rid of him. The choice to remember the Tyrannicides may be an attempt to erase the Spartan role in the birth of democratic Athens, as this challenges the idea of Athenian moral purity. Without this, there would be no justification for their conquest and ruling of smaller ‘inferior’ Greek city-states. The existence of the Tyrannicides allows for an interesting glimpse into Athenian culture and political thought. Despite their failures, the two men remained important in Athens and became a key part of their democratic identity.
Roman Copy of the Original Tyrannicides as seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples
Caleb Henry is an aspiring Historian, currently working towards his masters in Ancient History/History at the University of Glasgow. He has a specific interest in Queer histories, reclaiming history and discovering queer individuals with significant cultural importance to contemporaries. Caleb aspires towards a PHD in Classics, and hopes to one day publish informed historical fiction.
