Pisistratus

Pisistratus (600-527 [?] B.C.), Tyrant of Athens, was in early life associated with Solon; but afterwards, in order to promote his schemes of personal aggrandisement, he put himself at the head of the Diacrii, one of the three factions into which Attica was divided. Having persuaded the Athenian people to grant him a bodyguard, he took possession of the Acropolis, and maintained his power for eight years (560-52), at the end of which he was expelled by the aristocratic party. After a period of exile in Eubcea, he returned to Attica in 541 and, after defeating his adversaries at Pallene, again made himself master of the city. After reigning peacefully for fourteen years, he was succeeded by his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. The rule of Pisistratus was at once firm and mild. He introduced useful social reforms, erected many beautiful buildings, and gave a great stimulus to literature by his concern for the arrangement and due recitation of the Homeric poems.