In 404 BCE, Athens was surrounded. The city’s last fleet had been destroyed at the Battle of Aegospotami. Its once great empire had been conquered or revolted. A victorious Spartan fleet and army blockaded the city by land and sea. The bitter 27-year-long Peloponnesian War was at an end and the Athenians were forced to surrender.
After half a century of growing power, Athens was reduced to a Spartan ally. The city’s fortifications were torn down and the foundation of its power, its fleet, was reduced to a token force. Worse followed. The Spartans, an oligarchy overseen by two kings, were no friends of democracy and the conquering army stayed in the city until the Athenians abolished their century-old experiment in popular rule. Athens was to be just another city ruled by an oligarchy of the wealthy elite.
But democracy was not done with Athens.
Before the Thirty Tyrants: Athenian Democracy
Over the course of the 5th century BCE, the Athenians developed a remarkable way to organize their collective lives, democracy. While this democracy reflected the society of ancient Greece in that it excluded women, resident foreigners, and slaves, the amount of power it gave to its ordinary citizens has, still, never been surpassed.
The Athenian citizen was not just a voter. They were encouraged to actively participate in the running of their city and to make decisions collectively. The average citizen attended the debates in the mass assemblies on the Pnyx Hill, sat on the juries in the law courts, and took their turn in public office.
In 404 BCE, all of this was abolished. Replacing mass participation was a committee of Thirty of Athens’ wealthiest citizens charged with drawing up a revised constitution. Their short reign would go down in history as the rule of the Thirty Tyrants.
Rise of the Thirty Tyrants
An aristocratic elite had always existed within Athenian democracy. Their wealth and property were never threatened and many aristocrats, most famously Pericles, took up leadership roles. Among this elite, anti-democratic views were common. When Athens faced a previous crisis during the Peloponnesian War, these supporters of oligarchy briefly took power in 411-410 BCE, but democracy swiftly returned.
While the Thirty were a committee, one man stood out. Critias was one of those aristocrats who did not hide their feelings about democracy. A relative of the philosopher Plato and companion of Socrates, Critias was representative of the oligarchic philosophy. He was an admirer of the Spartans and supported the charismatic renegade aristocrat Alcibiades in the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War, which saw him exiled.
For Critias and the other oligarchs, the defeat of the democrats and the support of Sparta was the chance to turn the discussions of countless banquets and symposia into a real program to transform Athens.
The rule of the Thirty quickly descended into a reign of terror. Democrats and those who had informed against aristocrats under the democracy were the first targets (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.3.12). Soon the persecution expanded as the Thirty hunted down former citizens and resident foreigners to get their wealth.
In their first months in power, the Thirty seem to have done little more than pursue enemies and search for property to seize. Aristotle estimated that this reign of terror killed 1,500 people (Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 35). If they had a reform program in mind, little trace of it has survived.
The Thirty were meant to expand from a tyranny to a narrow oligarchy by extending citizenship to 3,000 prominent Athenians. But delays in the process and the reign of terror provoked opposition.
At the center of this opposition was Theramenes, himself a supporter of oligarchy and prominent in the failed coup of 411 BCE. Theramenes opposed Critias, but the tyrants disarmed the Athenian populace and took control of the rudimentary law and order apparatus that existed in Classical Athens. For his opposition, Theramenes was seized and executed.
By late 404 BCE, just a few months into the reign of the Thirty, it was clear that this regime was a danger even to moderate oligarchs and any opposition would need to come from outside Athens.
Rallying Opposition: Thrasybulus and Phyle
With the tyrants firmly in power, the nearby cities of Megara and Thebes were said to be full of Athenian democratic refugees (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.1). Amongst these exiles was a man who had already helped bring about one restoration of democracy.
Though little known today, Thrasybulus had a considerable reputation among the Greeks. The Roman-era writer Pausanias considered him to be the greatest Athenian (Pausanias 1.29.3). He was a talented general, perhaps Athens’ best in the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War. Like many Athenian leaders, he came from the wealthy aristocracy, but his career shows him to have been firmly on the side of democracy. During the oligarchic coup of 411 BCE, he was one of the generals who rallied the ordinary citizens of the Athenian fleet and helped bring an end to that regime. Having saved democracy once, Thrasybulus set out to save it again in late 404 BCE.
After decades of a failed war and months of bloody tyranny, the supporters of democracy were scattered and demoralized. Therefore, it is not surprising that when Thrasybulus set out from his exile to challenge the Thirty he had only 70 men (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.2). These 70 democratic exiles were attacking an oligarchy that could call up 3,000 hoplite soldiers and the cavalry drawn from the Athenian aristocracy. Should that not be enough, the oligarchs could call upon the all-powerful Spartans.
Thrasybulus and his handful of supporters began their attempt to overthrow the tyrants by seizing the border fortress of Phyle. This position was strong as Phyle was one of a number of fortifications in the mountains that formed the border of the Athenian territory of Attica. Thrasybulus had a good defensive position, but he was badly outnumbered as the forces of the Thirty ascended Mount Parnitha and marched on Phyle.
Perhaps underestimating Thrasybulus and his men, the Thirty impulsively attacked the fortifications of Phyle. The impressive walls held and, after suffering some casualties, the Thirty fell back and prepared to starve Thrasybulus out. The weather now came to the aid of the democrats. A snowstorm stuck as the oligarchs tried to besiege Thrasybulus, forcing them to withdraw.
The Party of Piraeus
This first victory inspired others and soon Thraysbulus had 700 men at Phyle (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.5). The Thirty remained stronger and Critias brought in a Spartan garrison for additional support. These forces stood guard in the plain between Athens and Mount Parnitha, hoping to contain the democrats around Phyle.
Thrasybulus, however, managed to drive back this guard. Descending the mountain at night, the democrats attacked the Thirty’s camp in the plains at dawn. 120 were killed and the rest were driven off. Thrasybulus was able to escape back up the mountain before the cavalry arrived. This second victory increased nervousness among the Thirty in Athens. They started to prepare a base in the town of Eleusis to protect the road to Sparta and secure a refuge.
The numbers at Phyle grew again to around 1,000 (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.10). An impressive achievement considering they started with just 70, but still far too few to threaten Athens itself. Instead, Thrasybulus sought to move the battle from Phyle to the port of Piraeus.
As Thrasybulus knew from his experience of leading the counter-coup in 411-410 BCE, many of the staunchest supporters of democracy were among the ordinary citizens and resident foreigners who manned the Athenian fleet. While this fleet had been dissolved, its former sailors lived in significant numbers in Piraeus. So when Thrasybulus brought 1,000 men down from the mountain, he found plenty of support.
Having reached Piraeus, Thrasybulus stationed his men on the hill of Munychia and waited for the forces of the Thirty and the Spartans to attack. Some of the heavy infantry, the hoplites, had joined the democrats, but the Thirty still had far more. However, many of the poorer citizens who could not afford to buy the heavy shield and armor of the hoplite, and so fought as javelin throwers and slingers, joined Thrasybulus. For many of them, Piraeus and Munychia were their neighborhoods (Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.4.12).
When Critias and the Thirty attacked the democrats on Munychia, they were driven back. Critias and another member of the Thirty were killed in the fighting.
With Critias dead, the Thirty were in disarray, but the Athenian oligarchs were not beaten. Divisions started to emerge among the 3,000 oligarchic hoplites and the remaining members of the Thirty were deposed and replaced by a new committee of ten. While the surviving Thirty retreated to Eleusis, the oligarchic hoplites and cavalry prepared to resist the growing democratic forces in Piraeus.
In the immediate aftermath of the battle on Munychia, the recognition that Athenians were fighting fellow citizens created an opening for peace. But the oligarchs refused to give in and a series of mutual killings of democrats and oligarchs pointed toward a bitter civil war.
Spartan Intervention
As 404 turned into 403 BCE, the civil war in Athens was no longer just an Athenian affair. The oligarchs in Athens and Eleusis appealed to the Spartans for further support and argued that the democrats were breaking the recently formed alliance between the two cities.
The Spartans dispatched an army under King Pausanias with the support of the formidable Spartan commander Lysander. Having rode a wave of momentum from Phyle to Piraeus, the democrats were now in a dangerous position. The much larger Spartan forces could blockade Piraeus from land and sea, protecting the oligarchs in Athens and ending the democratic insurgency.
When Pausanias approached Piraeus, skirmishes between the two sides expanded into a full battle. A number of prominent Spartans were killed in the fighting and later buried in Athens. But Thrasybulus and his men were driven back into Piraeus.
At this point, Spartan personal rivalries intervened. Lysander had commanded Spartan forces in the last years of the Peloponnesian War and brought about the final defeat of Athens. As he rolled up the Athenian Empire, he often placed oligarchs favorable to himself in command of key cities.
Pausanias and other Spartan leaders grew anxious at Lysander’s growing power and saw a future oligarchic Athens as another potential ally of Lysander. There were also tensions among Sparta’s allies. Two of the most important states, the Corinthians and Thebans, had refused to join the army marching on Athens.
Pausanias could most likely have defeated the party in Piraeus but decided not to due to the possible political consequences. Instead, he negotiated peace between Athens and Piraeus. The terms stated that Athens and Piraeus would be reunited and there would be no reprisals. The oligarchs who wished to leave could do so and settle in Eleusis.
When the deal was agreed, Pausanias and the Spartans departed and Thrasybulus and his men marched into Athens. In a highly symbolic moment, the party of Piraeus marched up to the Acropolis and sacrificed to Athena before heading back down the hill and convening the democratic assembly.
Democratic Restoration: The End of the Thirty Tyrants
Having marched on Phyle with just 70 men, the achievement of Thrasybulus and his democratic band was remarkable. Once democracy was restored, however, Thrasybulus seems to have faded from his leadership position as others emerged to manage the transition. A sign of his declining influence was the failure of an attempt to enroll many of the resident foreigners who fought for the democrats as new citizens. Despite this setback, he remained a prominent figure and served as a general in the 390s before dying on campaign in 388 BCE.
Key to the peace deal that ended the fighting was the idea that the democrats and oligarchs could set aside their differences and live once again in the same city. An amnesty that agreed that no one was pursued for their actions during the conflict allowed Athens to avoid the worst factional violence, but the transition was not entirely peaceful.
The remaining oligarchs at Eleusis were only briefly tolerated. Once a rumor went around that they were raising mercenaries, an Athenian force marched out and executed the leadership.
The events of 404/403 BCE led indirectly to one of history’s most famous trials. Critias and other oligarchs were deeply embedded in the aristocratic circle around the philosopher Socrates. Though Critias had died on the battlefield and other oligarchs were covered by the amnesty, their teacher Socrates was not protected. His trial and execution for impiety and corrupting the youth in 399 BCE happened in the shadow of the Thirty.
While the idea of the peaceful reconciliation of 403 BCE may be something of a myth, what is certain is that the men of Phyle succeeded in restoring their democracy. The participation in politics that many in Athens and Piraeus had fought for was revived and would endure uninterrupted until the rise of the Macedonian monarchy 70 years later.
