PEISIS'TRATUS, THE TYRANT.

Peisis'Tratus, also spelled Pisis'Tratus, (born 6th BC-died 527BC), a cruel and oppressive ruler who seized power unconstitutionally over ancient Athens, the birthplace of Western civilization. Athens lies 8km/5mi from the Bay of Phaleron, an inlet of the Aegean Sea where the port of Athens is situated, in a mountain-girt arid basin divided North-South by a line of hills. The Kifi'Sos River, only a trickle in summer, flows through the Western half; the Ili'Sos River, often dry, traverses the Eastern half. Mountains that surround the area add the impression of barrenness. Yet, when compared with the fecundity of Athen's bequests to the world, such as its philosophy, its architecture, its literature, and its political ideals, that impression becomes superficial.
In 594BC Peisis'Tratus' mother's relative, the reformer Solon, had improved the economic position of the Athenian lower classes, but it did not eliminate bitter aristocratic contentions for control the chief executive post (archonship). Lycurgus, the lawgiver who founded most of the institutions of ancient Sparta, controlled the Plain, one of the two major political factions, and Megacles, grandson of the Megacles who directed the slaughter of Cylon and his supporters on the Acropolis (612BC), was the leader of the other faction who controlled the Coast. Peisis'Tratus organized his own faction, named the Hills'Men, a group that included noble families from his own district, the Eastern part of Attica, and also a very considerable part of the growing population of the city of Athens.
During a war with the city of Megara (565BC), Peisis'Tratus gained military fame by taking the harbor. At one point he slashed himself and the mules of his chariot and made a dramatic entrance into the agora (marketplace) to show how 'his enemies' had wounded him. The people voted in favor of him and let him use a bodyguard of citizens armed with clubs, which aided him to seize the Acropolis and held power briefly (560-559BC).  Megara, an ancient settlement on the Sar'On'Ikos Gulf within Attica, that sat on the Southern slopes of two hills that served as citadels (acropolises), had commercial colonies that were established on Sicily. Megara colonized Northward and Eastward on the Bosporus River and Sea of Marmara at Chaledon and Byzantium.
To increase the popular support of his power he contracted a short-lived marriage with the daughter of Megacles, the political leader who controlled the Coast, and again acquired temporal power in Athens (556-555BC). Lycurgus and Megacles united their powers to force him out. Peisis'Tratus became an exile in Northern Greece for several years, exploiting the silver and gold mines on Mt. Pang'Aeum and gaining the support of the conservatives in Thebes, Argos, Naxos, and elsewhere. He laid a solid base for his return.
In 546BC Peisis'Tratus went to Eretria on the Island of Euboea, the largest island in Greece, after Crete, in the Aegean Sea, with a force founded by his own funds and by his friends in high circles, and from this base invaded Attica. At Pallene, near Mt. Hymettus, he launched a surprise attack on the Athenian army in the heat of midday, while his enemies were gambling or sleeping. After a complete victory, he became master of Athens for the 3rd time and remained in power until his death in 527BC.