Aristion

{{short description|1st-century BC Athenian tyrant}} {{about|the ancient Greek philosopher|the ancient Greek surgeon|Aristion (physician)}}

'''Aristion''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Άριστίων; died 1 March 86 BC in [[Athens]]) was a [[philosopher]] who became [[tyrant]] of Athens from {{Circa}} 88 BC until he was executed in 86 BC. Aristion joined forces with King [[Mithridates VI of Pontus]] against Greece's overlords, the Romans, fighting alongside Pontic forces during the [[First Mithridatic War]], but to no avail. On 1 March 86 BC, after a long and [[Siege of Athens and Piraeus (87–86 BC)|destructive siege]], Athens was taken by the Roman general [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]], who had Aristion executed.

==Life== Aristion's early history is preserved by [[Athenaeus]]<ref>Athenaeus, v. 211ff</ref> on the authority of [[Posidonius]]. Posidonius calls him Athenion<ref>{{cite book | last1=Cartledge | first1=Paul | last2=Garnsey | first2=Peter | last3=Gruen | first3=Erich S. | title=Hellenistic Constructs: Essays in Culture, History, and Historiography | date=1997 | publisher=University of California Press | isbn=978-0-520-20676-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LNCv7A05JWoC&dq=aristion%20athenion&pg=PA145 }}</ref> and makes him a [[Peripatetic school|Peripatetic]] philosopher, whereas others, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [[Appian]], and [[Plutarch]], call him Aristion, and Appian calls him an [[Epicurean]] philosopher. There is no universally accepted resolution to this confusion, and it is possible that two separate tyrants held power in Athens in quick succession during the First Mithridatic War, whose stories became conflated together. This is the most commonly accepted explanation for the confusion between the two figures. Athenion was likely an Athenian citizen and Peripatetic philosopher elected as a hoplite general in 88 BC. Aristion is a fellow Peripatetic philosopher who seized the reigns of Athenian government in c. 88 BC.

Aristion was the illegitimate son of a Peripatetic philosopher to whose party he succeeded, so he became an Athenian citizen. He married early and began teaching philosophy at the same time, which he did with great success at [[Messene]] and [[Larissa]]. On returning to Athens with a considerable fortune, he was named ambassador to [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates]], king of [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]], which was at war with [[Roman Republic|Rome]]; Aristion became one of Mithridates's most intimate friends and counsellors. His letters to Athens represented the power of Mithridates in such glowing colors that his countrymen began to conceive of hopes of throwing off Roman rule. Mithridates then sent him to Athens around 88 BC, where he soon contrived, through the king's patronage, to assume the tyranny. His government seems to have been of the most cruel character, so Plutarch<ref>Plutarch, ''Praecept. ger. Reip.''</ref> wrote with horror and classed by him with [[Nabis of Sparta|Nabis]] and [[Catiline]]. He sent [[Apellicon of Teos]] to plunder the sacred treasury of [[Delos]], though Appian says that this had already been done for him by Mithridates<ref>Appian, ''Mithrid.''</ref> and added that it was by means of the money resulting from this robbery that Aristion was enabled to obtain supreme power. Meanwhile, [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]] landed in Greece and immediately laid siege to Athens and [[Piraeus]], the latter occupied by [[Archelaus (Pontic army officer)|Archelaus]], the general of Mithridates. The sufferings within the city from [[famine]] were so dreadful that [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] was reported. Eventually, Athens was stormed, and Sulla gave orders to spare neither age nor sex. Aristion fled to the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]], having first burned the [[Odeon (building)|Odeon]], in case Sulla should use the woodwork for [[battering ram]]s and other instruments of attack. The Acropolis, however, was soon taken, and Aristion was dragged to execution from the altar of [[Athena]] and poisoned. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] attributes the unpleasant disease that later killed Sulla as divine vengeance for this impiety.<ref>Pausanias, i. 20. 4</ref>

==Notes and references== {{reflist|30em}} {{SmithDGRBM|title=Artistion}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aristion}} [[Category:1st-century BC Greek philosophers]] [[Category:2nd-century BC births]] [[Category:86 BC deaths]] [[Category:Athenian tyrants]] [[Category:Roman-era Athenian philosophers]] [[Category:Hellenistic-era philosophers in Athens]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:People executed by the Roman Republic]] [[Category:People executed by poison]] [[Category:People of the Mithridatic Wars]] [[Category:Executed ancient Greek people]] [[Category:Ancient Greek tyrants]]