ABSTRACT
For the story of Kylon’s coup we are dependent upon fth-century bc traditions, interested less in the coup itself than in the consequences of the manner in which it was suppressed. Herodotos (5.71, Text 32) tells us that Kylon, an Athenian Olympic victor, gathered a group of young political supporters around himself, tried to take the Acropolis, failed, sought sanctuary, was dislodged by the authorities in the form of the obscure ‘prytaneis of the naukraries’, and, together with his followers, was killed by the family known as the Alkmaionidai, who were consequently accursed. ucydides (1.126) similarly explains the curse, adding various details, including a misinterpreted
Delphic oracle and the claim that Kylon was son-in-law of eagenes tyrant of Megara, and disputing both the question of who was in authority – he says it was the nine archons – and whether Kylon himself was killed.
