Phalaris 78924 219486143 2008-06-15T13:31:00Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{for|the [[genus]] of [[grass]]|Phalaris (grass)}} {{for|the Thoroughbred racehorse|Phalaris (horse)}} '''Phalaris''' was [[tyrant]] of Acragas ([[Agrigentum]]) in [[Sicily]], from approximately 570 to 554 BC. ==History== He was entrusted with the building of the [[temple]] of [[Zeus]] Atabyrius in the [[citadel]], and took advantage of his position to make himself despot ([[Aristotle]], ''Politics'', v. 10). Under his rule Agrigentum seems to have attained considerable prosperity. He supplied the city with [[water]], adorned it with fine [[building]]s, and strengthened it with [[wall]]s. On the northern [[coast]] of the island the people of [[Himera]] elected him [[general]] with absolute power, in spite of the warnings of the [[poet]] [[Stesichorus]] (Aristotle, ''Rhetoric'', ii. 20). According to the ''[[Suda]]'' he succeeded in making himself master of the whole of the island. He was at last overthrown in a general [[Rebellion|uprising]] headed by Telemachus, the ancestor of [[Theron]] (tyrant c. 488-472 BC), and burned in his [[brazen bull]]. Phalaris was renowned for his excessive cruelty. Among his alleged atrocities is cannibalism: he was said to have eaten suckling babies.<ref>Tatian. "Tatian's Address to the Greeks", Chapter XXXIV.</ref> In his brazen bull, invented, it is said, by Perillus of [[Athens]], the tyrant's victims were shut up and, a [[fire]] being kindled beneath, were roasted alive while their shrieks represented the bellowing of the [[Cattle|bull]]. Perillus himself is said to have been the first victim. Some [[scholar]]s of the early 20th century proposed a connection between Phalaris's bull and the bull-images of [[Phoenicia]]n [[cult]]s (cf. the [[Bible|Biblical]] [[golden calf]]), and hypothesized a continuation of Eastern [[human sacrifice]] practices. This idea has subsequently fallen out of favor, however, although the original arguments have not been refuted. The story of the bull cannot be dismissed as pure invention. [[Pindar]], who lived less than a century afterwards, expressly associates this instrument of [[torture]] with the name of the tyrant. There was certainly a brazen bull at Agrigentum that was carried off by the Carthaginians to [[Carthage]], when it was again taken by [[Scipio Africanus|Scipio]] a.k.a. Scipio - the Elder, and restored to Agrigentum (c. 200 BCE). However, it is more likely that [[Scipio Aemilianus Africanus]], a.k.a. Scipio - the Younger, returned this bull and other stolen works of art to the original Sicilian cities, after his total destruction of Carthage (c. 146 BCE), which ended the Third Punic War. Some four centuries later, however, a new tradition prevailed that Phalaris was a naturally humane man and a patron of [[philosophy]] and [[literature]]. He is so described in the declamations ascribed to [[Lucian]] (who was himself of Phoenician or Syrian heritage), and in the letters which bear his own name (but which [[Richard Bentley]] proved to have been written centuries later, around this time of Phalaris' rehabilitation, possibly by [[Adrianus of Tyre]] who was secretary to the infamous [[Commodus]] around 190 CE). [[Plutarch]], writing around 100 CE amidst this change of tradition, though he takes the unfavourable view, yet mentions that the Sicilians referred to Phalaris' severity as "[[justice]]" and "hatred of [[crime]]". ==References== {{reflist}} ==Sources== *{{1911}} ==External links== *[http://www.livius.org Livius], [http://www.livius.org/pha-phd/phalaris/phalaris.html Phalaris of Acragas] by Jona Lendering *[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2567.html Phalaris] in the [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology|Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology]], ed. [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Wm. Smith]] [[Category:Ancient Acragantines]] [[Category:Sicilian tyrants]] [[de:Phalaris von Akragas]] [[es:Falaris]] [[fr:Phalaris]] [[it:Falaride]] [[nl:Falaris van Akragas]] [[ru:Фаларид]]