Thirty Tyrants

The rule of the Thirty

With Spartan support, the Thirty established an interim government in Athens. The Thirty were concerned with the revision and/or erasure of democratic laws inscribed on the wall next to the Stoa Basileios. Consequently, the Thirty reduced the rights of Athenian citizens in order to institute an oligarchical regime. The Thirty appointed a council of 500 to serve the judicial functions formerly belonging to all the citizens. However, not all Athenian men had their rights removed. In fact, the Thirty chose 3,000 Athenian men "to share in the government". These hand-selected individuals had the right to carry weapons, to have a jury trial, and to reside within city limits. The list of the selected 3,000 was consistently revised. Although little is known about these 3,000 men ‒ for a complete record was never documented ‒ it is hypothesised that the Thirty appointed these select few as the only men the Thirty could find who were devotedly loyal to their regime. The majority of Athenian citizens did not support the rule of the Thirty.

Led by Critias, the Thirty Tyrants executed, murdered, and exiled many Athenians. Critias, a former pupil of Socrates, and considered a cruel, frightening, and inhumane man, "determined to remake the city to his own anti-democratic mold whatever the human cost". The Thirty removed criminals as well as many ordinary citizens whom they considered "unfriendly" to the new regime for expressing support of the democracy. Of the many that Critias sentenced to death, Theramenes was forced to drink hemlock. Critias believed that Theramenes threatened the rule of the oligarchy, so Critias labelled Theramenes a conspirator and accused him of treason. According to Aristotle in the Athenian Constitution, the Thirty executed 1,500 of Athens' most prominent democrats. Many wealthy citizens were executed for the purpose of liquidating their assets, which were then distributed amongst the Thirty and their supporters. They also hired 300 "lash-bearers" or whip-bearing men to intimidate Athenian citizens.

The Thirty's regime did not meet with much overt opposition, although many Athenians disliked the new form of government. Amongst the larger Athenian population, those who did not approve of the implemented laws could either fight ‒ and risk exile or execution ‒ or accept the Thirty's rule. Some supporters of democracy chose to fight and were exiled, among them Thrasybulus, a trierarch in the Athenian navy and noted supporter of democratic government. The uprising that overthrew the Thirty in 403 BCE was orchestrated by a group of exiles led by Thrasybulus. Critias was killed in the initial revolt.

Aftermath

The Thirty Tyrants' brief reign was marred by violence and corruption. In fact, historians have argued that the violence and brutality the Thirty carried out in Athens was necessary to transition Athens from a democracy to an oligarchy. However, the violence produced an unanticipated paradox. The more violent the Thirty's regime became, the more opposition they faced. The increased level of opposition ultimately resulted in the upheaval of the Thirty's regime by Thrasybulus' rebel forces. After the revolution, Athens needed to decide the best way to govern the liberated city-state and to reconcile the atrocities committed by the Thirty. It was decided that all of the members of the selected 3,000 were given amnesty except for the Thirty themselves, the Eleven, and the ten who ruled in Piraeus. After the revolution that overthrew the Thirty Tyrants, Athens and her citizens struggled to reconcile and rebuild.

Mention of the Thirty

Plato in the opening portion of his Seventh Letter recounts the rule of the Thirty Tyrants during his youth. He explains that following the revolution, fifty-one men became rulers of a new government, with a specific group of thirty in charge of the public affairs of Athens. Ten of the fifty-one were to rule the city, and eleven were sent to rule Piraeus. Plato corroborates the general consensus found in other sources: the rule of the Thirty was "reviled as it was by many". The rule of the Thirty made the former democracy resemble a golden age in comparison. Plato also includes an account of the interaction between the Socrates and the Thirty.

In The Republic, Plato mentions Lysias, one of the men from Athens who escaped the Thirty's reign of terror. Lysias' brother Polemarchus "fell victim to the Thirty Tyrants".

Socrates and the Thirty

Due to their desire to remain in complete control over Athens, the Thirty sought to exile or kill anyone who outwardly opposed their regime. Socrates remained in the city through this period, which caused the public to associate him with the Thirty and may have contributed to his eventual death sentence, especially since Critias had been his student.

In Plato's Apology, Socrates recounts an incident in which the Thirty once ordered him (and four other men) to bring before them Leon of Salamis, a man known for his justice and upright character, for execution. While the other four men obeyed, Socrates refused, not wanting to partake in the guilt of the executioners. However, he did not attempt to warn or save Leon of Salamis. By disobeying, Socrates may have been placing his own life in jeopardy, and he claimed it was only the disbanding of the oligarchy soon afterward that saved his life:

"When the oligarchy came into power, the Thirty Commissioners in their turn summoned me and four others to the Round Chamber and instructed us to go and fetch Leon of Salamis from his home for execution. This was of course only one of many instances in which they issued such instructions, their object being to implicate as many people as possible in their crimes. On this occasion, however, I again made it clear, not by my words but by my actions, that the attention I paid to death was zero (if that is not too unrefined a claim); but that I gave all my attention to avoiding doing anything unjust or unholy. Powerful as it was, that government did not terrify me into doing a wrong action. When we came out of the rotunda, the other four went to Salamis and arrested Leon, but I simply went home."

Later on in his Seventh Letter, Plato describes the interaction between the Thirty and Socrates from his own point of view: "They tried to send a friend of mine, the aged Socrates, whom I should scarcely scruple to describe as the most upright man of that day, with some other persons to carry off one of the citizens by force to execution, in order that, whether he wished it, or not, he might share the guilt of their conduct; but he would not obey them, risking all consequences in preference to becoming a partner in their iniquitous deeds."

The Italian historian Luciano Canfora has inferred that another of Socrates students, Xenophon, may have played an important part in the rule of the Thirty, as one of the two commanders of the cavalry, which were the Thirty's militia. Indeed, in his book Hipparchos (Commander of the cavalry), Xenophon only mentions one of the commanders (there were always two), only to revile him, but never mentions the other.

List of the Thirty

The names of the Thirty are listed by Xenophon: