Bacchiadae - Wikipedia





	
	

	
	

	Bacchiadae

	
		From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

		

		

		
		

		Jump to navigation
		Jump to search
		Noble Greek family

The Bacchiadae (Ancient Greek: Βακχιάδαι Bakkhiadai), a tightly-knit Doric clan, were the ruling family of archaic Corinth in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, a period of Corinthian cultural power.

Corinth had been a backwater in eighth-century Greece.[1] In 747 BCE (a traditional date) an aristocratic revolution ousted the Bacchiad kings of Corinth, when the royal clan of Bacchiadae, numbering perhaps a couple of hundred adult males and claiming descent from the Dorian hero Heracles through the seven sons and three daughters of a legendary king Bacchis, took power from the last king, Telestes.[2] Practising strict endogamy[3] which kept clan outlines within a distinct extended oikos, they dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by electing annually a prytanis who held the kingly position[4] for his brief term,[5] no doubt a council (though none is specifically documented in the scant literary materials) and a polemarchos to head the army.

In 657 BCE the Bacchiadae were expelled in turn by the tyrant Cypselus,[6] who had been polemarch.  The exiled Bacchiadae fled to Corcyra  but also to Sparta and west, traditionally to found Syracuse in Sicily, and to Etruria, where Demaratus installed himself at Tarquinia, founding a dynasty of Etruscan kings. The royal line of the Lynkestis of Macedon was also of Bacchiad descent.[7]  The foundation myths of Corcyra, Syracuse, and Megara Hyblaea[8] contain considerable detail about the Bacchiadae and the expeditions of the Bacchiad Archias of Corinth, legendary founder of Syracuse in 734/33 BCE, and Philolaos, lover of Diocles of Corinth, victor at Olympia in 728 BCE and a nomothete (lawgiver) of Thebes.


See also[edit]

	Aristoi


Notes[edit]


	^ Édouard Will, Korinthiaka: recherches sur l'histoire et la civilisation de Corinth des origines aux guerres médiques (Paris: Boccard) 1955.

	^ Telestes was murdered by Arieus and Perantas, who were themselves Bacchiads. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I p. 450). To what extent this early "history" is genealogical myth is debated.

	^ Herodotus 5.92.1.

	^ Perhaps the designation "king" was retained, for reasons of cult, as a king was normally an essential intercessor with the gods. (Stewart Irvin Oost, "Cypselus the Bacchiad" Classical Philology 67.1 (January 1972, pp. 10-30) p. 10f.) See: rex sacrorum.

	^ Diodorus Siculus, 7.9.6; Pausanias 2.4.4.

	^ His mother had been of the Bacchiadae, but being lame, married outside the clan.

	^ Strabo, Geography, 7.7: "The Lyncestae were under Arrhabaeus, who was of the race of the Bacchiadae."

	^ From the lost Megarian Constitution of Aristotle Plutarch derived his Greek Questions 17, 18 and 59 (W.R. Halliday, Plutarch's Greek Questions, 1928, p. 92.




Further reading[edit]

	Will, Edouard. Korinthiaka. Recherches sur l'histoire et la civilisation de Corinthe des origines aux guerres médiques


		v
	t
	e


Rulers of Ancient Corinth

	Heleidae	
	Aeëtes
	Bounos
	Epopeus
	Corinthus
	Polybus
	Creon
	Jason




	Sisyphidae	
	Sisyphus
	Glaucus
	Bellerophon
	Ornytion
	Thoas
	Damophon
	Propodas



	two kings at the same time	
	Doridas and Hyanthidas








	Heracleidae	
	Aletidae	
	Aletes
	Ixion
	Agelas I
	Prymnes




	Bacchiadae	
	Bacchis
	Agelas II
	Eudaemus
	Aristomedes
	Agemon
	Alexander
	Telestes
	Automenes
	Pritanius







	Cypselid tyrants	
	Cypselus I
	Periander
	Psammetichus (Cypselus II)














Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bacchiadae&oldid=987424942"


		Categories: 	Corinthian mythology
	Dorian mythology
	Mythology of Macedonia (region)
	Ancient Greek patronymics
	Heracleidae
	Ancient Greek dynasties


Hidden categories: 	Articles with short description
	Short description is different from Wikidata




	




	





	Navigation menu

	
		

	
		Personal tools
	

	
			Not logged in
	Talk
	Contributions
	Create account
	Log in


		
	



		
			

	
		Namespaces
	

	
			Article
	Talk


		
	



			

	
	
		Variants
	

	
		

		
	



		

		
			

	
		Views
	

	
			Read
	Edit
	View history


		
	



			

	
	
		More
	

	
		

		
	



			
	
		Search
	

	
		
			
			
			
			
		

	




		

	

	

	
		
	

	

	
		Navigation
	

	
			Main page
	Contents
	Current events
	Random article
	About Wikipedia
	Contact us
	Donate


		
	



	

	
		Contribute
	

	
			Help
	Learn to edit
	Community portal
	Recent changes
	Upload file


		
	




	
		Tools
	

	
			What links here
	Related changes
	Upload file
	Special pages
	Permanent link
	Page information
	Cite this page
	Wikidata item


		
	




	
		Print/export
	

	
			Download as PDF
	Printable version


		
	



	

	
		Languages
	

	
			Български
	Català
	Deutsch
	Ελληνικά
	Español
	Français
	한국어
	Italiano
	Nederlands
	Polski
	Português
	Русский
	Українська


		Edit links

	









		 This page was last edited on 6 November 2020, at 23:33 (UTC).
	Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply.  By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



		Privacy policy
	About Wikipedia
	Disclaimers
	Contact Wikipedia
	Mobile view
	Developers
	Statistics
	Cookie statement