Cylon (also spelled Kylon) was an Athenian associated with the first reliably dated event in Athenian history, the Cylonian affair. Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína; IPA ) is the capital of Greece, and of the Attica prefecture of Greece. ...

Cylon, one of the Athenian nobles and a previous victor of the Olympic Games, attempted a coup in 632 BC with support from Megara, where his father-in-law Theagenes was tyrant. The oracle at Delphi had advised him to seize Athens during a festival of Zeus, which Cylon understood to mean the Olympics. However, the coup was opposed, and Cylon and his supporters took refuge in Athena's temple on the Acropolis. Cylon and his brother escaped, but his followers were cornered by Athens's nine archons. According to Plutarch and Thucydides (1.126), they were persuaded by the archons to leave the temple and stand trial after being assured that their lives would be spared. For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... Centuries: 8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 680s BC 670s BC 660s BC 650s BC 640s BC - 630s BC - 620s BC 610s BC 600s BC 590s BC 580s BC Events and Trends 637 BC - Josiah becomes king of Judah. ... Megara (Greek: Μέγαρα; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. ... A tyrant (from Greek τύραννος týrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphi (Greek Δελφοί - Delphoi; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ... Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... Athena from the east pediment of the Afea temple in Aegina After a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ... Satellite picture of the Acropolis The Acropolis of Athens, seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis (high city) in Greece. ... ... Plutarch Mestrius Plutarchus (ca. ... Bust of Thucydides Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ...

In an effort to ensure their safety, the accused tied a rope to the temple's statue and went to the trial. On the way the rope (again, according to Plutarch) broke of its own accord. The Athenian archons, led by Megacles, took this as the goddess's repudiation of her suppliants and proceeded to stone them to death (on the other hand, Herodotus, 5.71, and Thucydides, 1.126, do not mention this aspect of the story, stating that Cylon was simply killed after being convinced that he would not be harmed). Megacles was the name of several notable men of ancient Athens: 1. ... Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ἡροδοτος, Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Bust of Thucydides Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ...

Megacles and his genos, the Alcmaeonidae, were then exiled from the city for violating the laws against killing suppliants. The Alcmaeonidae were cursed with a miasma ("stain" or "pollution"), which was inherited by later generations, even after the genos retook control of Athens. The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids were a powerful noble family of ancient Athens who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon. ...

Resources

• Pomeroy, S.; & Burstein, S (2004). A Brief History of Ancient Greece. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195156811